Fears become real
Life of drugs, prostitution ended violently
By BOB HOLLIDAY, STAFF REPORTER


Fears became a reality for friends of Divas B yesterday when RCMP revealed a body found near Portage la Prairie on Wednesday was the missing transgender sex-trade worker. "Oh my God, no," exclaimed Gia, a friend of Divas. Gia, who quit working the streets when Divas went missing Sept. 30, had difficulty speaking after she was told of her friend's death by The Sun.

"I'm not surprised something like this happened. It's more dangerous on the streets than people think," said Gia. "I used to go out every night but I haven't been back since she disappeared. It could have been me."

Divas, 28, was born a male named David Boulanger but had been living as a woman for many years, said Gia.

Her body was found by a couple of hunters in some brush near a rest stop eight kilometres east of Portage. An autopsy revealed Divas was beaten to death but did not reveal when the death occurred, said RCMP.


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Kansas City's TransGender Day of Remembrance


Speakers from Kansas City Anti-Violence Project, Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Stonewall Democratic Club, The Kansas LGBT Caucus, CAMP and Kansas City Anti-Violence Project.

On Saturday, November 20th, TransGendered Kansas City will be conducting Kansas City's 3rd Transgender Day of Remembrance at Spirit of Hope Metropolitan Community Church at 3801 Wyandotte. This event starts at 4:00 PM. This event is to remember those people who have been murdered because of their gender identity or expression.


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Small Positive Changes in Aetna Health Insurance


The Aetna health insurance plans have issued a policy on the treatment of trans folks... Their new policy, states that, "if an employer does not exclude coverage of sex reassignment surgery, that "Aetna considers sex reassignment surgery medically necessary when /all/ of the criteria are met."


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this is just the beginning, get ready!!! we must stand up for our rights and stop this now before we cannot walk on the side walks...!!


Charlotte Christians say gay festival too obscene for public park
Associated Press


CHARLOTTE, N.C. - About 30 Christians in the Charlotte area want city officials to stop renting park space to an annual homosexual festival because they say last year's event was lewd and obscene.

Sheryl Chandler of Charlotte this week brought City Council members photos she said she snapped in a Gay Naturists International booth during the Charlotte Pride festival last May.

Chandler was one of 15 festival opponents who attended the 2003 event to spread the Gospel to attendees.

She said the photos show naked men, some apparently engaged in sex acts, and that the booth only had three sides so passers-by could peer in. One of the photos showed a uniformed Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer in the booth.


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Janklow pans GOP operation
By Carson Walker, Associated Press Writer

SIOUX FALLS — Former U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow broke his months-long silence Tuesday and broke — or at least bent — Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment not to speak ill of fellow Republicans.
The former South Dakota attorney general, governor and congressman criticized the GOP's Victory operation, saying it has introduced scandal into an otherwise honest voting system by breaking election rules.

"These people are cheating," he said in a telephone interview.

"When you tamper with it, you cheat the system. And cheating in elections is the worst form of cancer because it's uncontrollable."


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New York Times Killed "Bush Bulge" Story


Five days before the presidential election, the New York Times killed a story about the mysterious object George W. Bush wore on his back during the presidential debates, journalist Dave Lindorff reveals in an exclusive report on this week's CounterSpin, FAIR's weekly radio show. The spiked story included compelling photographic and scientific evidence that would have contradicted Bush's claim that the bulge on his back was just a matter of poor tailoring.

"The New York Times assigned three editors to this story and had it scheduled to run five days before the election, which would have raised questions about the president's integrity," said Lindorff. "But it was killed by top editors at the Times; clearly they were chickening out of taking this on before the election."

Lindorff says two other major newspapers, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, also decided not to pursue the story, which featured a leading NASA satellite photo imaging scientist's analysis of pictures of the president’s back from the first debate.