Poem alleging transgender embitterment draws LGBT condemnation


A poem publicly circulated Friday which ascribed bitterness sprung from transgender status to a political opponent yesterday was condemned by two local LGBT Democratic Clubs.
Emailed to San Francisco elected and community leaders, the poem entitled 'Our Transfigured Robert' was penned by Residential Builders Association (RBA) President Joe O'Donoghue.
It attacked SEIU 790 organizer Robert Haaland whose union is opposing the Yes on D Laguna Honda Hospital ballot measure backed by the RBA.
Haaland is a transgendered man, tenants advocate, and past president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Club. O'Donoghue is a former labor organizer who lends RBA financial and organizational assistance to political campaigns.

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Church units not penalized for refusing gay adoptions
State holds off pending exemption bill


Catholic adoption agencies in Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield will not be sanctioned at this time by Governor Mitt Romney's administration over their refusal to accept gays and lesbians as prospective adoptive parents, even though the policies violate state antidiscrimination laws.

Constantia Papanikolaou -- general counsel for the state Department of Early Education and Care, which regulates adoption agencies -- said it is holding off taking any action because the governor has proposed legislation that could allow the agencies to legally refrain from considering gay adoptions on religious grounds. Romney proposed the bill after Catholic Charities of Boston announced last month it was ending its adoption services because it could no longer reconcile church teaching with state antidiscrimination laws.


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Fisher: Gay parade finds support in Los Altos


Even before the ``Bigotville, USA'' T-shirts went on sale this spring, a lot of the many pillars of the Los Altos community were mortified. Their city council's recent refusal to even consider a Gay Pride Day proclamation had thrown the quiet town uncomfortably into the national limelight.
Now a prominent group of civic leaders has come to the rescue of their city's reputation. The Los Altos Community Foundation board -- not exactly the radical fringe -- is championing efforts by the Los Altos High School Gay-Straight Alliance to hold a parade on Main Street in June, a clear challenge to Mayor Ron Packard and the council majority.
``All the kids wanted was something very simple,'' said Judy Hannemann, a trustee with the Mountain View-Los Altos High School District who sits on the foundation board. ``It didn't even need a vote of the council. But making such a big deal of it was really hurtful.''

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Group Petition Stops City From Adding Gay Rights To Ordinance
Petition Would Put Measure On November Ballot

CINCINNATI -- A group that opposes gay lifestyles has blocked a move by the Cincinnati City Council to add gay people to the city's anti-discrimination ordinance.

Citizens for Community Values filed petitions Friday in an effort to get the matter on the November ballot.

The group says it has collected between 14,000 and 15,000 signatures from city residents who want the issue to go to voters. About 7,000 valid signatures would be required.

Indian eunuch says will 'bare it all' in autobiography

BANGALORE, India (AFP) - The 128-page book titled "Autobiography of a Hijra (eunuch)" and written in Jereena's mother tongue Malayalam, spoken in the southern Indian state of Kerala, is slated for release by the end of March.

"Nobody in India knows how we struggle for a living nor how we feel when people insult us," said Jereena, dressed in an orange sari and a green blouse and wearing ear rings, glass bangles and a necklace.

"I thought I will write a book to tell them about my life's experiences.

"People who read my book will know the pain we undergo every day, every moment of our lives," Jereena,46, told AFP in an interview at her "hamam," or bath house, as the eunuchs' brothel is referred to.

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Gender identity ordinance stirs debate at Common Council 
By Roy Maurer  | Indiana Daily Student

The Sabbagh-Sturbaum sponsored ordinance to amend the Bloomington Municipal Code so that it recognizes gender identity as a protected class met with ardent arguments both in favor and against at Wednesday's Common Council meeting.



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(for every step we make, something stupid like this happens.. and there are six step backwards... )


Bedford schools cancel speech by transsexual
By DAVID MCKAY WILSON
DMWILSON@lohud.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

BEDFORD — Town school officials canceled the appearance of noted transsexual Kate Bornstein at next week's Wellness Day at Fox Lane High following a businessman's complaint that it was inappropriate for teens to hear her message.


Bornstein was expected to talk to students in a workshop based on her upcoming book, "Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Teen Suicide." Bornstein, who was born male and became a woman through surgery in the late 1970s, today considers herself neither man nor woman.

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D.C. bus driver fired over anti-gay poster


A bus driver for one of the city’s new Circulator tourist buses was fired last month for telling a passenger to move to the back of the bus after the passenger complained about a message hanging behind the driver’s seat that equated homosexuality with murder. 

“Those comments were completely unacceptable,” said Karen Meachman, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Transportation, which created the Circulator bus system.
“We don’t know if he posted these signs,” she said. “But the fact that he told the passenger to go to the back of the bus was completely unacceptable.”

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Police Investigate Gay Beatings In Fort Lauderdale

(Fort Lauderdale, Florida) The beatings of two gay men in separate attacks in Fort Lauderdale has the LGBT community on guard and the tourist industry worried.
Both attacks occurred in the gay-friendly Northeast area and one involved a tourist.
Police say they are not ready to say the two attacks were the work of the same person but note there are similarities.


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Nigeria broadens anti-gay bill

A far-reaching Nigerian legislative proposal criminalizing same-sex marriages and LGBT organizations has been expanded to include punishing people who support or celebrate same-sex unions.

According to the Vanguard newspaper, the bill imposes a five-year jail sentence for those who violate the proposed law, including those who "witness, celebrate with or support couples involved in homosexual relationship." It als

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Gay activists plan rally in Williamsburg


The University of the Cumberlands -- which has drawn national attention for expelling a gay student -- is under attack simply for upholding scriptural teachings on homosexuality, Kentucky Baptist Convention President Paul Chitwood said today.

The overwhelming majority of the convention's 790,030 members back the Southern Baptist school's decision to expel 20-year-old Jason Johnson, Chitwood said. "I personally am 100 percent supportive," he said.


The Louisville-area preacher spoke out on the same day that gay rights activists announced plans for a protest rally near the school's Williamsburg campus next week.

Phony Phil
Giving new meaning to Good Lie
4/13/2006
BY VIVEK RAVISHANKER


.....Watching Mickelson calmly obliterate the field at the Masters last Sunday should have rankly offended to me, almost like watching a post-op transsexual beat a field of world-class female marathoners at the Boston Marathon. rest of article

please send letters to the editor of the Harvard Independent Online!.... there is no reason to use "transsexuals" as a cheap metaphor... this is wrong, and transphobic.
send all letters to:
ekman@fas.harvard.edu

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SU transgender students become fully covered in health insurance policy

College students rarely concern themselves with the topic of health insurance, often leaving the matter to parents. Most college students do not have to worry about not being covered by insurance companies.

While Suffolk prides itself on diversity, for a group of students, their differences were overlooked by the health insurance plans offered by Suffolk. The oversigh was corrected as of March.

Until recently, transgender students attending Suffolk were not covered for hormone treatment under Suffolk's health insurance plan. The university requires that all students use the health insurance plan that is offered, unless they have their own plan.

Coverage will become available starting August 15 for all transgender students.

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Bloomington votes on protections for transgendered people
Associated Press


BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The City Council has given preliminary approval to adding protections for transgender people to the city's human rights ordinance.

Bloomington is a diverse community, said Councilman David Sabbaugh, a co-sponsor of the amendment. "I'm very happy to support this thing," he said.
Supporters of the change want to see city code treat "gender identity" as a category protected against discrimination, just like race, religion, disability or sex.


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Transvestites brave Islamic law in Indonesia's Aceh

 
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, April 13, 2006 (AFP) - Her face heavily made-up, 'Bella Saphira' struts a darkened length of cement path along the Krueng Aceh river in Indonesia's Banda Aceh, wearing a loosely flowing dress but no Islamic veil. 

Elsewhere in the staunchly-Muslim province of Aceh, which has been gradually implementing Islamic sharia law, Muslim women are required to cover their heads -- but then, Saphira is not a woman. 

She belongs to Banda Aceh's small community of transvestites, who stake their claim on this riverside stretch every weekend after dark in an area where courting couples met before the December 2004 tsunami. 

Tonight about 30 "waria" -- Indonesian transvestites so named because they have the characteristics of a "wanita", or girl, but are born a boy or "pria" -- congregate and chat. Some are in full drag, others wear men's clothing but wear carefully applied make-up. 


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Greedy clubs tell gay players to keep quiet about sexuality

The Independent's survey of professional footballers in England reveals today that a majority of players believe their industry is homophobic, but the only openly gay man on the Football Association's Council says that the major hurdle for any player in coming out is concern over how t

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White House Easter: Gay Friendly?

 Hundreds of gay and lesbian parents hoping to take their families to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll plan to start lining up Friday evening to make sure they get tickets for the Monday event.

Chastity, M.D.
Conservatives teach sex ed to medical students. Thanks, Congress.
By Amanda Schaffer

As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents. But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use the institute's work.

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Harvard adds gender identity to anti-discrimination policy
Written by HRC   

WASHINGTON - Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher learning in the nation, announced April 11 that it would be adding gender identity to its non-discrimination policy, safeguarding transgender students and faculty. "Harvard's step forward will ensure that its students and staff continue to represent some of the best this country has to offer," said Human
Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Colleges and universities are increasingly aware that to attract the best and the brightest, they need to ensure equal treatment regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.By ensuring protection for all students and staff, Harvard is continuing its centuries-long tradition of advancing understanding and nurturing national leaders."


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Transgender Person Elected to Italian Parliament
 
ROME, Wednesday April 12, 2006  –  Five lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) politicians have been elected as members of the Italian parliament.  While Europe is more accustomed to the presence and visibility of LGB people in politics, the case of Vladimir Luxuria, a transgender person being elected as a parliamentarian, is probably the first a European ‘first’.

This is a significant result not just for Italy but for the entire Europe and European politics as LGBT people are taking more prominent and visible place within the political arena. The majority of the centre-left coalition Unione lead by the former President of the European Commission Romano Prodi is expected to introduce some form of legal recognition for same-sex couples as most coalition members supported the idea in their election manifestos




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ACTION ON ANTI-GAY TASMANIA ADS  
by Ian Gould

Tasmanian activists have welcomed a decision by the state’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner to investigate election campaign advertisements that lobbyists claim incited hatred of the transgender community.

The office of the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner announced this week it would look into a complaint by transgender activist Martine Delaney about the half-page newspaper ads that appeared in the lead-up to Tasmanian elections last month.

As Sydney Star Observer reported at the time, the advertisements claimed the Tasmanian Greens’ progressive transgender and intersex policies would “ruin our families and societies”.

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The 2006 queer tax guide


Taxes are confusing for everyone. But for LGBT people it's even more maddening, especially this year. Which tax benefits do we get this week? Should we file jointly if our spousal status is still being argued in court?



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Advocates expect challenge to ban on N.C. gay-straight alliance
The Associated Press

Supporters of a club for gay students and supportive heterosexuals at South Rowan High School say they expect a legal challenge to the school board's decision to ban the club and similar groups.

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'Open season' on gay employees

Yesterday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and others held a celebration for diversity throughout the commonwealth.
The Governor announced an executive order that would protect employees throughout various state agencies from discrimination. As it should be throughout our state's merit system, employees need to be judged on the merits of their work, not on who they are or what kind of political connections they have.


However, this executive order was not really necessary. We've had one in effect for almost three years now, but the one the Governor announced today changes the state policy in a key way: Sexual orientation is no longer covered.

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Testimony on gay nuptial ban starts
By Russell Nichols, Globe Staff  

The debate over gay marriage returned to the State House yesterday with supporters and opponents gathering for an emotional hearing on a proposed ban on same-sex nuptials for the 2008 ballot.

Two Dozen Gay Rights Protesters Arrested At BYU

Two dozen gay-rights activists were arrested Tuesday and cited for trespassing on the campus at Brigham Young University while protesting what they consider discrimination by campus officials. 

The protest was organized by Soulforce, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender group that is taking part in a nationwide tour of schools it believes discriminate against gays. Five protesters were arrested and cited for trespassing Monday.

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Gay protection left out of new anti-discrimination policy
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Gov. Ernie Fletcher eliminated a policy Tuesday that protects gay state employees or job applicants from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

He replaced the 2003 employment policy of his predecessor, former Gov. Paul Patton, with an executive order that bans employment discrimination because of “race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, veteran status and disability.”

It makes no mention of sexual orientation

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Gay marriage foes urge lawmakers to put proposed ban on ballot
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer  


BOSTON --Paul McMahon met Ralph Hodgdon in New York's Central Park on a May Sunday in 1955, and the couple quickly moved in together. Nearly 50 years later the two waited outside Cambridge City Hall on another May morning to become one of the first gay couples in Massachusetts to obtain a marriage certificate.

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Michigan Gay Couples Have No Right To Health Benefits Appeals Court Told
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Lansing, Michigan) The Michigan Court of Appeals was told Tuesday that the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage bars publicly funded entities, including the state, cities, and universities from providing health insurance and other benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees.
Michigan voters in 2004 amended the state constitution say the union between a man and a woman "shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose."



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Church that wouldn't accept transsexual denied future clients

ST. FRANCIS, Minn. A Minnesota county is refusing to send any more clients to a church that denied care to a transsexual.
The Anoka County Social Services Department had sent disabled senior citizens and other vulnerable adults who need care during the day to Trinity Lutheran Church -- in St. Francis.

But the church turned away a client who had undergone surgery to be changed from a man into a woman. Associate Pastor John Maxfield says that's "contrary to God's revealed will."


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Brethren in poll ads row

TASMANIA'S anti-discrimination watchdog has decided to investigate claims that state election ads placed by religious group Exclusive Brethren breached anti-discrimination laws.

Transgender rights advocate Martine Delaney claims the ads breached the laws by declaring that transgender and intersex human rights would "ruin families and society".
"It's high time a stand was taken against political parties and interest groups who demonise minorities during election campaigns," she said.

The life history of a eunuch

Bangalore: Years of persecution and social ostracisation. Life has not been easy for the eunuch community in India.
But Jarina, a eunuch from Kerala has risen above discrimination, and has now penned and published her autobiography.
Jarina lives in a busy basti in Ulsoor in the heart of Bangalore. She stands out at home and amidst her friends.
This 45-year-old eunuch from Palakkad in Kerala has been living in the basti with her friends for the last 28 years.


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Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer

ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.

Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.

Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech revoke its tolerance policy.


Gay pride organizers grapple with censorship

Halifax -- Organizers and participants of gay pride festivals and parades in Canada say they're struggling to stage inclusive events that will be appropriate for families without censoring outrageous behaviour.
Over the weekend, organizers from across the country discussed the issue at the InterPride conference. Bob Fougere, a gay parent from Halifax, said during a panel discussion yesterday that his teenage grandson refuses to attend gay pride parades because some of the nudity makes him uncomfortable.


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Sex Workers Getting Help With Income-Taxes

Manhattan, NY (AHN) – An unusual tax workshop is being held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center until the mid-April tax filing deadline where prostitutes gain help from the workers on hand to explain things like the earned-income-tax credit.

The event was organized by a group called Prostitutes of New York, a support and advocacy group, and by a sex industry magazine called Spread. Prostitutes of New York advocate the legalization of prostitution and meets clandestinely to avoid the police and pimps.

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Virginia Governor Refuses To Sign Anti-Gay Amendment
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Richmond, Virginia) Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced Monday he will not sign a bill that puts a proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the fall ballot.
But it will not prevent the measure from going to voters in November. Kaine said that he will allow the bill to take force without his signature.
He made his intentions clear in a statement that was issued by his office. "I urge other Virginians to vote against it as well," the governor's statement said.

Gay pride organizers grapple with censorship

Halifax -- Organizers and participants of gay pride festivals and parades in Canada say they're struggling to stage inclusive events that will be appropriate for families without censoring outrageous behaviour.
Over the weekend, organizers from across the country discussed the issue at the InterPride conference. Bob Fougere, a gay parent from Halifax, said during a panel discussion yesterday that his teenage grandson refuses to attend gay pride parades because some of the nudity makes him uncomfortable.


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Sex Workers Getting Help With Income-Taxes

Manhattan, NY (AHN) – An unusual tax workshop is being held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center until the mid-April tax filing deadline where prostitutes gain help from the workers on hand to explain things like the earned-income-tax credit.

The event was organized by a group called Prostitutes of New York, a support and advocacy group, and by a sex industry magazine called Spread. Prostitutes of New York advocate the legalization of prostitution and meets clandestinely to avoid the police and pimps.

******

Virginia Governor Refuses To Sign Anti-Gay Amendment
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Richmond, Virginia) Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced Monday he will not sign a bill that puts a proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on the fall ballot.
But it will not prevent the measure from going to voters in November. Kaine said that he will allow the bill to take force without his signature.
He made his intentions clear in a statement that was issued by his office. "I urge other Virginians to vote against it as well," the governor's statement said.

Moscow mayor asked to “review” gay pride ban

The Council of Europe has called on the mayor of Moscow to reinstate the city’s gay pride parade.

President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council, Giovanni di Stasi asked Yuri Luzhkov to “review,” his policy and allow the gay community to march in Russia in May as it is an entitlement according to human rights conventions of free expression and protection from discrimination.

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State moves toward legal protection for civil partnerships
By Michael O’Farrell, Political Reporter
THE Government is about to take the first step towards providing legal protection for civil partnerships with the establishment of a new working group to advise on the issue. 2

Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting agreed that the Department of Justice would establish the working group and instruct it to prepare an options paper for the Government.

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Greece does not want gays in its armed forces

 
ATHENS, March 28, 2006 (AFP) - Greece officially does not want gays in its armed forces, excluding both those serving under its compulsory conscription system and those enlisting voluntarily, the Greek armed forces general staff said Tuesday. 

The Greek army bars gays from its ranks under a 2002 presidential decree which excludes from military service all persons "suffering from psycho-sexual or sexual identity disorders," a general staff source told AFP.



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HIV is gay couple's escape route

Once condemned to silence and secrecy, India's homosexual and eunuch community is perhaps far more visible today than it ever was. Though this visibility has brought empowerment, it has also led to increased persecution, societal condemnation and abuse. Across India, gays are being forced into heterosexual marriages by unknowing or unrelenting families. What follows is a relationship of deceit and double life. In a special series, The Third Sex CNN-IBN does a reality check on sexuality choices and unconventional (sic) sexuality in India.


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Araujo's tragic story coming to small screen
Lifetime channel may broadcast movie about slain transgender teen in June

NEWARK — The story of slain Newark transgender teen Gwen Araujo has been told in court, on TV and in the newspapers. Now, it will appear in movie form.

The Lifetime channel, in conjunction with Sony Pictures Television, began production of the film, currently titled "The Gwen Araujo Story," April 2 in Vancouver. It is expected to air in June. Its creators hope to educate people about the struggle of gender identity.


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Transsexual UK
Sarah fell in love with Stephen. But Stephen was born a girl. Their wedding is one of hundreds involving sex-change partners since a change in the law
By Marie Woolf

Sarah and Stephen met as students in the 1970s. They have a secure and loving home in Manchester, and four young children. When they were married in June last year, after 26 years together, dozens of family and friends shared their special day.
But the wedding was not only a joyful affair, it was a historic one. For Stephen, a successful law lecturer, was born female. Now a bearded, tattooed family man, living in a £600,000 home in the south of the city, he is one of 1,200 transsexuals who, since a change in the law last April, have been granted the right to marry.

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Anti-gay slurs chalked on Tech campus
Mroz: ‘Incidents ... are unacceptable’
By Kayla Stewart, Gazette Writer


HOUGHTON — Written in multi-colored chalk, from the ground in front of the Memorial Union Building all the way down to the Rozsa Center, anti-gay slurs hit Michigan Tech University in the middle of the night Thursday.

The timing of the writings, which included bodily harm threats to gays involving bats, mutilation and guns, was sandwiched in a week of gay pride events. But Les Cook, vice president of student affairs, said they don’t know for sure if the threats are a direct response to the week’s activities.

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Gay-rights rally attracts huge crowd
By the Associated Press


RICHMOND, Va. -- More than 1,300 people attended a dinner Saturday night, signalling that there is significant support for a campaign to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in Virginia.