Transgender people in prison - Cruel and Unusual

Five transgender women share their experiences behind bars in this shocking documentary. Though they consider themselves women, their male genitalia forces them into men's prisons, where they face unspeakable abuse from both inmates and officials. Easy targets on the inside and frequently denied the medical care and hormone treatments they require, these inmates spend years caught between worlds, making their sentences even harder to bear.

Cruel & Unusual - Transgender Documentary Preview
by gaysrkool

Intimate partner violence continues to grow

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is widespread. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports that an estimated 25.5 to 53.6% of women will experience IPV in their lives. Although same sex couples and heterosexual men are also victims, women are affected in greater numbers.

The Bureau of Justice shows that IPV is the leading cause of premature of death for African American women ages 15 to 45 and the seventh for U.S. women overall. Since African American women make up 8% of the U.S. population but account for 42% of intimate partner homicides, it requires that we look deeper at the economic and social causes of IPV.

A 2004 study found that women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more than twice as likely to be the victims of intimate partner violence as women in more affluent neighborhoods. The poorest communities, as communities of color and households headed by women often are, suffer from the greatest unemployment, poverty, and lack of social advancement. Research shows that it is poverty, not race, which is the greatest risk factor for IVP. Economic stress may not always lead to violence, but violence of all types, as well as IPV, run higher in impoverished areas.

Unmistakably, the economic crisis and the recession that followed, has led to an increase in violence within American families. In the first three months of 2009, there was a 40% increase in IPV related homicides. The National Domestic Violence Hotline reported that there was a 21% increase in calls in the third quarter of 2008 in relation to the same period in 2007, a majority of callers reporting a downward change in their financial status.....

....Our nation, seemingly at endless war, creates more combat veterans who are exposed to, and trained in violence on a daily basis. Returning veterans, rising unemployment and homelessness due to foreclosures are added on top of the poverty and lack of equal opportunities for working class women and people of color which is already a part of capitalism's profit driven system. And the tensions build...

Original Article

Objectification of Women in Media

Objectification of Women - Think about it

The march of the new feminists

Women's groups are thriving for the first time in a decade as young Britons rediscover gender issues

By Susie Mesure

Sunday, 29 November 2009

They are the Topshop generation: young girls more used to partying than protesting; keener on women's looks than women's lib. But now they have had enough. A new wave of feminists, some still in their teens, are putting the struggle for women's rights back on the agenda for the first time in a decade.

The feminist resurgence has spawned a flurry of new blogs, magazines, books, societies, conferences and protest marches – and this time dungarees are out.

On university campuses, women's groups are thriving once more, while hundreds of women each month are joining new feminist networks in cities from Birmingham and Manchester to Glasgow and London.

The old-school Fawcett Society, which dates back to the suffragists, has seen its membership jump by 25 per cent in the past 12 months and the number of its newsletter subscribers double; while earlier this month, more than 2,000 women took to London's streets to "Reclaim the Night" from the men who make them unsafe. Similar marches have been held in cities all over the country. And websites such as The F-Word, started by Catherine Redfern eight years ago as a forum for contemporary feminism, is getting more than 110,000 hits a month.

Campaigners say the trigger for the new burst of activity is a growing frustration that women still lag men in all walks of life a century after the suffragettes began their fight. In the workplace, the boardroom and the home, not to mention the political system and in popular culture, women are still battling acute gender bias that means globally they earn less, despite working harder than men. According to Professor Richard H Robbins, women do two-thirds of the world's work, yet receive only 10 per cent of the world's income.

Activists also cite a growing "objectification" of women that has recently seen universities reintroduce beauty pageants and the number of lap-dancing clubs in the UK explode to 300 – not to mention the proliferation of lads' magazines such as Nuts and Zoo, which feminist groups such as Object are fighting to get banished to newsagents' top shelves.

Finn Mackay, who heads the London Feminist Network, said young women were leading the new movement "because they are the ones bearing the brunt of today's objectifying culture and they have stopped finding that amusing".

A new poll of feminists revealed that nearly half are under 25, with almost three-quarters of the 1,300 surveyed saying they started to identify with being a feminist while still in their teens.....

Original Article

{Korean} Transsexual Model Fights Prejudice

By Park Si-soo

Staff Reporter

When it comes to sex, whether it refers to gender or sexual intercourse, Korea, built upon Confucianist ideals, has stayed very conservative.

But the strictness on sexual relations has become radically relaxed in recent years to the level that people believe women who keep their virginity until marriage are virtually "an endangered species."

Hostility against sexual minorities such as homosexuals and transsexuals, however, still remains robust, providing the grounds for many sexually straight people to see them as potential criminals, trouble makers or even transmitters of disease.

This invisible but obvious antagonism against sexual minorities here has served as an invincible hurdle to those trying to venture out of the closet. A couple of celebrities including male-turned-female singer Ha Ri-su, who made her debut in 2001, and Hong Seok-cheon, a male model and actor who came out as gay in 2002, have launched campaigns aimed at removing the negative images associated with those with a different sexual identity, but they have fallen short of getting rid of the deep-rooted sentiment.

Choi Han-bit, a 22-year-old male-turned-female fashion model, has recently added her energy to what critics call a "fruitless" campaign with the hope that her efforts will help advance the equal treatment of people regardless of their sexual identity.

Choi made her surprising debut as the first transsexual fashion model in July through a beauty pageant sponsored by SBS. Though she failed to advance to the finals, her passage in the preliminary stage was intriguing enough to draw huge public attention. Capitalizing on the popularity, she now features on a variety of TV shows as a guest, and hopes to become an actress.....

Original Article

Daughter finds long lost dad, living as a woman

London: A daughter was left with eyes wide open after reuniting with her long lost father who was living as a transvestite and called himself Chloe.

Emily Wallis managed to track down Clive Harrison, the "Italian Stallion" her mum Ann had described as her real father.

The 22-year-old found she had more in common with her lipstick-wearing 'dad', who has eighty-two pairs of high- heeled shoes.

"Chloe was squeezed into a silver dress and wearing make-up and a wig. I had no idea what to do so I said, 'You look better than me... and I really like your shoes'," the Mirror quoted Emily as saying.

She added: "For years I had dreamed of us all being reunited. I'd even secretly harboured a hope that Clive and Mum might get back together. But when I saw my dad I realised that certainly wasn't going to happen!"

But Emily is more than happy to be reunited with her biological father and wants him to walk her down the aisle.

She said: "I don't see her as dad or another mum, she's just Chloe and I'm grateful to have her in my life.....

Original Article

GenderVision: Transgender Health Care

Transgender persons, like everyone else, have health care needs, but theirs are most often poorly understood by providers who have little to no experience with this population. Alejandro Marcel, diversity educator and trans health consultant, joins with hosts Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie, PhD., in outlining the concerns and needs faced by transgender persons in their access to health care. Discussion ranges from barriers to receiving treatment, to specific differences between male-to-female and female-to-male needs, to the most recent results of medical studies. Other program segments include a response to a transgender-disparaging Fox News segment, as well as a "Raving Raven" segment on gender diversity among animals.

GROUNDBREAKING REPORT EXAMINES LGBT YOUTH IN JUVENILE COURTS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 12, 2009

Hidden Injustice recommends extensive policy changes to protect youth

(San Francisco, CA, November 12, 2009) — Today, the Equity Project, a collaboration of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Legal Services for Children (LSC), and the National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC), announced the release of Hidden Injustice: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth in Juvenile Courts. This groundbreaking new report, based on extensive surveys and interviews of juvenile justice professionals and youth, provides the first comprehensive examination of the treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth in juvenile courts nationwide

The report paints a sobering picture of the experiences of LGBT youth in delinquency courts. A significant percentage of youth in detention facilities, in some jurisdictions up to 13 percent, are LGBT, according to a recent study by Ceres Policy Research. Yet many juvenile justice professionals are simply unaware that LGBT youth exist, and are often treated unfairly in the system.

“The justice system has historically paid scant—if any—attention to the experiences of LGBT youth in the system. As a result, these adolescents are often misunderstood and mistreated by the very professionals who are responsible for protecting their rights, ensuring their safety, and promoting their rehabilitation,” said Shannan Wilber, LSC Executive Director.

Hidden Injustice exposes the multiple ways in which LGBT youth experience bias, a lack of understanding by juvenile court professionals, denials of due process rights, and a lack of services. Additionally, the report details how these youth are targeted for being LGBT and subjected to unnecessary detention and incarceration and appalling emotional, physical, and sexual abuse within detention and correctional facilities.

“Practitioners and policymakers simply cannot continue to ignore the serious injustices LGBT youth face,” said Katayoon Majd, NJDC Senior Staff Attorney and co-author of Hidden Injustice. “Anyone who works in the system—whether a judge, defense attorney, prosecutor, probation officer, or detention staff worker—has a responsibility to protect the rights, and ensure the safety, of all court-involved youth, including LGBT youth.”

The report contains extensive recommendations for judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors, probation officers, detention facility administrators, policy makers, and advocates. In addition, the report makes eleven core recommendations about how the system can work more effectively with LGBT youth, including that all agencies and offices develop and enforce policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination and mistreatment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Without proper training and policies, juvenile justice professionals do not have the tools they need to meet their legal and ethical responsibilities to ensure the safety of LGBT youth,” said Jody Marksamer, NCLR Staff Attorney and co-author of Hidden Injustice. “The practice and policy recommendations in Hidden Injustice will help defenders, judges, prosecutors, probation, and detention facility staff ensure that all LGBT youth are safe and can live openly with the support they need to reach their full potential.”

As Youth Advocate and Equity Project Advisory Committee member Captain Young explained, “There are problems with the system for all youth, but it’s worse for LGBT youth.”

Original Article

Equity Project report details plight of LGBT youths in the juvenile justice system

By Rubén Rosario

Updated: 11/28/2009 09:05:16 PM CST

Here's something interesting I read this past week:

A 16-year-old boy, defending himself from physical abuse at the hands of his father, is arrested for domestic assault and locked up. The arrest is made in spite of evidence that the man was abusing his son because the boy was gay.

A 16-year-old transgender (male-to-female) youth is the subject of relentless harassment and abuse while in a boys' detention facility. Instead of advocating for his client's safety, the youth's lawyer argued for continued incarceration because of the youth's "nonconforming gender identity."

Staff at an undisclosed boys' detention facility refuse to accommodate a male-to-female transgender youth who refused to group-shower out of fear of being sexually assaulted. It took court action before the facility allowed the youth to shower separately.

Those are just a few thought-provoking examples from "Hidden Injustice," a report released this month on the plight of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths in the nation's juvenile justice and court system.

This group of youths may, indeed, represent the most misunderstood, abused, bullied and marginalized of any in juvenile justice. And the 165-page report, perhaps the first of its kind, provides a sobering portrait of that disparity.

"Across the country, LGBT youth contend with biased treatment by juvenile court professionals, unduly punitive responses, harmful 'treatment' programs, and unsafe conditions of confinement," states the report from the Equity Project, a San Francisco-based juvenile-rights advocacy group.

This is a report worth reading, regardless of where you stand on sexual-orientation issues. These are our kids, too, and they deserve respectful and fair treatment, especially when they are detained.

THEY WERE HURT AT HOME

Consider a recently completed Ceres Research Policy study, cited in the report, which includes Minneapolis among six juvenile-justice reform test sites:

About 13 percent of incarcerated youths surveyed nationwide identified themselves as LGBT or questioning their sexual orientation.

Compared with their "straight" peers, such youths in custody were twice as likely to be removed from their homes because someone was hurting them. They are also twice as likely to have resided in a foster or group home and more than twice as likely to be detained in a facility for running away.

"Practitioners and policymakers simply cannot continue to ignore the serious injustices LGBT youth face," said Katayoon Majd, who co-wrote the report and is staff attorney with the National Juvenile Defense Center in Washington, D.C. "Anyone who works in the system — whether a judge, defense attorney, prosecutor, probation officer or detention staff worker — has a responsibility to protect the rights, and ensure the safety, of all court-involved youth, including LGBT youth."

Among the report's findings:

LGBT youths are often detained because they lack family support.

Many jurisdictions lack alternatives to detention that are appropriate for LGBT youths.

Youths and professionals interviewed "overwhelmingly agreed" that secure facilities are particularly dangerous and hostile places for LGBT youths.

Recommendations include better training of juvenile-justice staff on LGBT youth concerns, services targeted specifically to such youths and the enforcement of anti-discrimination policies.

MANY CAN'T GO HOME

The section that disturbed me most concerned the lack of family support.

"While many families support their LGBT children, studies indicate that numerous LGBT youth of all races and ethnicities experience family rejection because of their sexual orientation," the report noted. "In particular, youth who experience conflicts at home because they are LGBT are at risk of entering the system for status offenses (particularly rebellious behavior and running away), domestic disturbances, and survival crimes, such as shoplifting and prostitution."

In cases where parents refuse to take the youths back home, "courts rely on detention as a default without considering possible alternative placements," the report also noted.

"Several defenders who were interviewed described LGBT clients who were detained solely because their families disapproved of their sexual orientation or gender identity and refused to allow them to return home," the report said. It suggests that judges place such kids in kinship or foster care rather than confinement.

With the juvenile-justice system becoming more punitive than rehabilitative in recent years, the problem will likely get worse.

So what to do? How about loving your children, regardless of sexual orientation? That would be a start.

Rubén Rosario can be reached at 651-228-5454 or rrosario@pioneerpress.com.

ONLINE

To read the "Hidden Injustice" report, go to www.equityproject.org

Original Article

Local (Delaware) Org. Holds Fundraiser for Children Living with HIV/AIDS

by KYW’s Karin Phillips

A local organization is holding a fundraiser on Friday that will raise funds for children living with HIV/AIDS.

The event is called TOY and it’s a lavish cocktail party, silent auction and music designed to raise funds for the Family Care Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the pediatric HIV/AIDS practice that cares for 350 children and adolescents living with HIV.

Stormy Lundy is vice-chair of the event, held by the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund:

“They come to this center to get their medicines, get nutritional advice, to get guidance.”

The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund is a community foundation that provides funds to support organizations serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community as well as straight allied organizations. For more information on TOY 2009, go to dvlf.org/TOY.

Original Article

Kicking Back and Kicking Off the Heels (Trans positive}

By MALIA WOLLAN

Published: November 28, 2009

Vicki Marlane, 75, is a transgender drag queen. Every Friday and Saturday night she performs with The Hot Boxxx Girls at Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, a postage-stamp-sized bar in the city’s Tenderloin District, where she is known as “The Girl with the Liquid Spine.” Ms. Marlane started entertaining as a female impersonator at 17.....

....On Sunday I wear my everyday garb: jeans, a sloppy shirt and tennies. I wear glasses. When I’m performing, I don’t wear them. I like to be blind. I make believe that the audience is staring at me in adoration, going, “Oh, Vicki.” That’s how I’d like to die, on stage. At the end of one of my big numbers I’d just fall to the ground. They’d be applauding, saying, “This is so great,” and then they’d start wondering, “Why is the poor thing not getting up?”....

Original Article

Transgender officer living his dream - {A Trans positive story}

By Rosemary Winters

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 11/28/2009 07:18:19 PM MST

As a child, Kerry Bell dreamed of growing up to become a policeman -- both a police officer and a man.

Becoming a cop was relatively simple -- Bell joined the Bountiful Police Department 14 years ago. Becoming a man took more time.

Born female, Bell came out as transgender about a year and a half ago and started a transition to a new life as a man. He always had felt male, but did not think switching genders was a viable option until he saw transgender people gaining wider acceptance, along with advances in medical technology.

Surprisingly, the 42-year-old -- working in what many perceive as a super-macho culture -- says he did not fret about telling the police chief or his co-workers to start referring to him as "he," not "she."

"I wasn't worried about coming out at work," says Bell, who has had hormone treatments and surgeries. "I've worked for Bountiful for 14 years. I know everybody I work with."

Although some employees have trouble remembering to use masculine pronouns, Bountiful Police Chief Tom Ross says, "everyone's done a great job of accepting Kerry and staying focused on why we're here in the first place."

Bell, a corporal and SWAT member, is a "well-rounded police officer," Ross adds. "We're glad that he works here."....

Original Story

Transsexual sportswriter Mike Penner - Christine Daniels, commits suicide

May she rest in peace!

BY TRACY CONNOR

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, November 28th 2009, 7:07 AM

A Los Angeles sportswriter who stunned readers with the announcement that he was a transsexual - and then later abandoned his sex change plans - has committed suicide.

Los Angeles Times veteran Mike Penner, 52, was found dead at his home, the paper reported Saturday.

In 2007, Penner made headlines around the world by announcing in a column for the paper that he planned to live life as a woman named Christine Daniels.

"Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation. As Christine," he wrote.

"I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words."

He blogged about his transitioning experience for several months, then took a leave of absence.

Last year, he suddenly returned to the newsroom as a man and began using his old byline.

Penner, who was taking female hormones but never had sex change surgery, didn't publicly explain his decision.

Original Article

Lebanon's other (LBT) women 'out' in force

By Natacha Yazbeck (AFP) – 18 hours ago

BEIRUT — They remain anonymous, but their voices are out in force and bold print: a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women have braved law and social taboo in Lebanon with a little pink-and-white book.

"Bareed Mista3jil," Arabic for "Mail in a Hurry," is a collection of 41 true stories of women grappling with coming out, religion, family and emigration.

One story is by a woman struggling to reconcile her religion and sexual orientation. Another speaks about the hardships of coming out in Lebanese society and a third deals with rape.

The book, the first such initiative in the largely conservative Arab world, is published by Meem, a support group for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning women in Lebanon.

Often silenced and marginalised by society and overshadowed by their straight, siliconed counterparts promoted in the media, the stories of Lebanon's other women have resonated with local and international audiences, and the book has been reprinted after the first batch of hundreds sold out.....

...."Being an underground group, we are careful of how much out there we are and how much we are mainstream," Shant told AFP.

Shant, like many members of the group, only goes by her nickname to protect her privacy in Lebanon, where women cannot pass citizenship on to their children and non-heterosexual activity is still technically a crime.

Article 534 of the penal code criminalises "unnatural sexual intercourse," punishable by up to one year's imprisonment.....

Original Article

HIV diagnoses for gay and bisexual men levelling off

Figures released today show that the number of gay and bisexual men being diagnosed with HIV in the UK has fallen slightly in the last year.

Data published by the Health Protection Agency shows that in 2008, an estimated 2,760 men who have sex with men were newly diagnosed with HIV. This is six per cent fewer than in 2007.

HIV charities have been quick to emphasise that this does not mean that not enough gay men are coming forward for tests. Figures show that the numbers coming forward for testing rose in 2008. However, they urged gay and bisexual men to continue getting tested regularly.

It is thought that 24,000 gay and bisexual men are living with HIV in this country, while a further 9,000 are thought to be undiagnosed.

In response to the new statistics, Nick Partridge, chief executive of Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), said: "The level of undiagnosed HIV in the country is completely unacceptable. With early diagnosis and effective treatment, most people with HIV can live to old age. If left undiagnosed, they will die earlier, be significantly more ill and more likely to infect others.

"HIV testing is easy, quick and saves lives. Every sexually active gay man should get tested. There should be more testing offered in more settings and we need the political will to make this happen."....

Original Article

Transsexual Is Argentina’s “Woman of the Year”

BUENOS AIRES – A transsexual who recently prevailed in a 10-year-long court battle to receive a new identity document recognizing her as a woman has been honored by lawmakers as Argentina’s “Woman of the Year.”

“I am what I am. The right of one person is the right of all,” Marcela Romero said during Tuesday night’s event in the Argentine Congress.

The honor was conferred by the lower house’s committee on women and the family...

Original Article

Woodside (Queens, NY) men indicted in transgender attack

By Jeremy Walsh

Friday, November 27, 2009 4:11 PM EST

Two Woodside men have been indicted on hate crime charges for allegedly assaulting a transgender woman in Jackson Heights this spring, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

Gilberto Ortiz, 32, and Trinidad Tapia, 19, were arraigned Friday on seven counts, including assault as a hate crime, attempted assault, weapon possession and harassment. If convicted, each faces up to 15 years in prison, Brown said. The men were released on their own recognizance and ordered to return to court Jan. 28....

....According to Silverman, the defendants repeatedly called Mora gay slurs and did not stop beating her until a passing motorist threatened to call police. Both men were arrested that night and charged with assault and weapons possession, authorities said. They were released on their own recognizance after being arraigned....

....The indictment makes the attack on Mora the second against a transgender person in Queens to be prosecuted as a hate crime this year. On July 8, two men were arrested and charged with hate crimes on suspicion of throwing rocks and beer bottles at a transgender woman in St. Albans while shouting gay slurs.

The allegedly shouted slurs were the basis for the hate crime charges. State law allows for an attack to be prosecuted as a hate crime if it was based on the victim’s perceived sexual orientation, but it does not include transgender individuals.

A bill that would amend the law to include gender identity has passed the state Assembly, but has not made any legislative progress in the state Senate since February.

Original Article