13-year-old child allegedly murdered in Mahotari district, southwest from Kathmandu, Nepal after his father can't stop him from being a transgender.

Thirteen-year-old Rupesh Mandal from Agileshore VDC, Mahotari studying is class 8 was found dead inside his room by his mother early in the morning of 30th March 2006. Tapeshore Mandel, father of Rupesh, abused him two months ago when he found that Rupesh had been visiting Blue Diamond Society's (BDS) Drop in centre in Janakpur (two hours from their village) with her transgender friend from the same village. He kicked her out of the family home. Later, Rupesh rejoined the family saying she would stop going to BDS. But his father continued to abuse and assault Rupesh in an attempt to stop her from being transgender. However, it was not possible for Rupesh to change from what she was.

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Under the full moon, India defies categories
Tishani Doshi

MADRAS, India Koovagam is a village in Tamil Nadu, tucked away in India's south. With a single street of mud huts and a temple surrounded by sugarcane fields, it isn't the kind of place you'd expect to play host to the largest transgender gathering in the country. But every April, on the night of the full moon, it manages with considerable panache to do just that, in a burst of revelry that is a combination of village fair and traveling circus.

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Transgender case against Library of Congress advances

An employment discrimination lawsuit brought by a transgender Army veteran against the Library of Congress can go forward, a federal court ruled on Friday. In the case of Diane Schroer, the court found that sex may not be "a cut-and-dried matter of chromosomes," ruling that federal protections against sex discrimination may also protect transgender people who are discriminated against based on their gender identity.

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Anti-gay groups won't reveal their true, ugly agenda

Wouldn't it be great to open the paper one day and read, "Conservative religious groups welcome protections for their gay neighbors. While these groups say they do not understand why people are born with wiring to make them love the people they do and they're not sure about the whole marriage issue, they agree that nobody should be denied housing or fired because of who they love. A spokesman said, 'We're all God's children and our country is all about equality, so we're OK with protecting the basic human rights of gay people.'"

I wonder why that should be such a far-fetched fiction. Then I wake up and find that in response to Cincinnati City Council re-instituting a prohibition on firing people due to their orientation or gender identity (straight or gay, by the way) with a maximum $1,000 fine, a small group has begun the work to divide our city again.

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Death Squads Target Iraqi Gays
By Doug Ireland

Following a death-to-gays fatwa issued last October by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, death squads of the Badr Corps have been systematically targeting gay Iraqis for persecution and execution, gay Iraqis say. But when they ask for help and protection from U.S. occupying authorities in the Green Zone, the secure area officialdom has carved out within Baghdad, gays Iraqis are met with indifference and derision.


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Dog muck taunts led to transsexual suicide 

Abuse from neighbours led a transsexual recluse to hang herself, an inquest heard today

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Gay chef wins right to partner's estate
One of the last pieces of legislation that discriminates against same-sex relationships was declared inconsistent with the Constitution by the Pretoria High Court on Friday.