transdada

poetics, time, body disruption and marginally queer solutions

Saturday, April 01, 2006

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.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Final Araujo defendant starts prison term


HAYWARD — One minute, Jason Michael Cazares was cradling his newborn son. The next, he was being led to a holding cell by a sheriff's deputy.


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Massachusetts Court Limits Gay Unions
By PAM BELLUCK and KATIE ZEZIMA


BOSTON, March 30 — Massachusetts's highest court, which legalized same-sex marriage here two and a half years ago, ruled Thursday that gay couples who live in states where such marriages are prohibited cannot marry in Massachusetts.

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Transsexual prisoners can now serve their time in women's prisons


The prison authorities have issued a circular to all prisons in Spain, informing them of new regulations effective on 16th March 2006 that transsexuals can request serving their sentences in women’s prisons.

The new regulation also covers transsexuals who have not had any sex change surgery, or who are still described as male on their birth certificate.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Transgender activists say D.C. prostitution bill will lead to profiling
Police chief defends 'free zones' 
By JOSHUA LYNSEN


Efforts to curb prostitution in the District could lead to increased profiling and arrests of transgender residents, some activists fear.
Part of the proposed Omnibus Public Safety Act of 2005 allows police to establish "Prostitution Free Zones" in public areas. People must have an "apparent lawful reason" to be within the area, or face arrest.

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Trans-American
Ruby Corado on being gender queer in the nation's capital
When Ruby Corado arrived in the Washington area as an immigrant from El Salvador, she was a teenager. She was also male.
"What marked the point when I decided I needed to leave was when I saw that my life was in danger for political and sexual orientation reasons," says Corado of her journey to the U.S.


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JUSTICE SCALIA’S ANTI-GAY COMMENTS ARE REMINDER OF NEED FOR FAIR-MINDED LEGISLATORS
‘Justice Scalia stubbornly refuses to see that all Americans have a right to liberty and privacy under the law,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
WASHINGTON — Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the following statement regarding comments Justice Antonin Scalia made recently at a Swiss law school claiming there is no constitutional right to “homosexual conduct.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Wash. County Bars Transgender Bias
by UPI Wire

SEATTLE, (UPI) -- The King County Council in Washington State has added gender identity to its anti-discrimination law.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Venezuela’s Sexual Revolution Within the Revolution
By: Rachel Evans and Maurice Farrell - GLW
At the January World Social Forum in Caracas, Green Left Weekly’s Rachel Evans and Maurice Farrell caught up with Ricardo Hung from the Alianza Lambda gay-rights organisation and Moises Rivera Lopez, the coordinator of the Sexual Riverside Network for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community.
Rivera Lopez is also employed by the mayor of metropolitan Caracas Juan Barreto to work on anti-homophobia campaigns. GLW also spoke to Marcel Quintana, the president of Consultants for Education and Health Venezuela (ASES), an HIV care group.


Hung explained that Lambda is part of a coalition of gay and lesbian groups that organises activities throughout the year. “In June we organise gay and lesbian rights forums, presentations and workshops, cinema screenings and other political meetings ending with a gay pride march.” Last August, on the international day of action against homophobia, Lambda “held a big protest in the Simon Bolivar plaza ... We took down the national flag and raised the rainbow flag.” In September, Lambda helps with a gay and lesbian film festival and with a December cultural festival.



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Nigeria to Outlaw Homosexuality    

A coalition of 16 human rights organisations has written to Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, urging him to abandon legislation that would outlaw homosexuality entirely. The heavy-handed measure is due to be introduced to the national assembly.