HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced plans to establish the nation`s
first national resource center to assist communities across the country in their
efforts to provide services and supports for older lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) individuals.
Experts estimate that as many as 1.5 to 4 million LGBT individuals are age 60
and older. Agencies that provide services to older individuals may be unfamiliar
or uncomfortable with the needs of this group of individuals. The new Resource
Center for LGBT Elders will provide information, assistance and resources for
both LGBT organizations and mainstream aging services providers at the state and
community level to assist them in the development and provision of culturally
sensitive supports and services. The LGBT Center will also be available to
educate the LGBT community about the importance of planning ahead for future
long term care needs.
The LGBT Resource Center will help community-based organizations understand the
unique needs and concerns of older LGBT individuals and assist them in
implementing programs for local service providers, including providing help to
LGBT caregivers who are providing care for an older partner with health or other
challenges.
The Administration on Aging will award a single Resource Center grant at
approximately $250,000 per year, pending availability of funds. Eligible
entities will include public-private nonprofit organizations with experience
working on LGBT issues on a national level. The funding announcement for the
Resource Center will be made available on the following website very soon. http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Grants/Funding/index.aspxHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced plans to establish the nation`s
first... more
Great video by Gay + Lesbian Advocates + Defenders as part of their Transgender Rights ProjectGreat video by Gay + Lesbian Advocates + Defenders as part of their Transgender Rights... more
Utah Governor Gary Herbert met with lgbt rights groups on Tuesday to discuss his opposition to anti-discrimination ordinances.
Herbert replaced the former Utah governor who supported same-sex marriage and a 2009 bill that would expand discrimination laws. More at the link.Utah Governor Gary Herbert met with lgbt rights groups on Tuesday to discuss his... more
So I haven't seen a Current Group for transgender users (if there is one I haven't found it yet!) so I decided to start my own. Here's a place for us, whether you've already transitioned, are thinking about starting, or still have a lot of questions! Please feel free to post webcam vids, news posts and anything else! - BCSo I haven't seen a Current Group for transgender users (if there is one I haven't... more
“Thy Will Be Done: A Transsexual Woman’s Journey Through Family and Faith” follows Sara Hedwig's, a former Steve, on her quest to become a church minister and highlights the complexities surrounding transgenders in the church.
The US presbyterian church currently requires clergy to live in a functioning traditional marriage, or chastity alone, a rules forbidding practicing homosexuals. The constitution, however, doesn't reference their policies on transsexuals in leadership roles although a professor of the new testament Robert Gagnon argues that transsexuality is a denial of one’s own sex and “an overt attempt at marring the sacred image of maleness or femaleness formed by God” so it should be interesting to see how Hedwig progresses on her journey. The film is scheduled for release in January 2010.“Thy Will Be Done: A Transsexual Woman’s Journey Through Family and Faith”... more
Rumors about Lady Gaga being transgendered (which she denies) have sparked a renewed public interest in people born into ambiguous bodies.
1 in 100 births are classified as neither male nor female, yet they're often treated like freaks and outcasts. StilettoREVOLT celebrates notable transgendered and intersexual people in the public eye, who have succeeded in spite of social stigmas. http://www.stilettorevolt.com/2009/09/intersex-transgender-in-pop-culture/Rumors about Lady Gaga being transgendered (which she denies) have sparked a renewed... more
Michael shares a story where he deals with the shamelessness and disrespectful nature of some judicial system and social services employees.
U People Stories are stories from regular everyday people, gay, straight, black, white and with varied beliefs who have had been made to feel like the "other". These are the kinds of stories that we all have carried with us; where it would make you cry if you thought about it but makes you laugh when you talk about it.
What the U People Story Archive does is build a bridge of understanding that unifies our struggles while at the same time lifting an emotional weight off the shoulders of the storyteller. These stories are humorous, moving and timeless. They are individually a testament of how discrimination and the emotions that result connect, effect and can change us all. www.iloveupeople.comMichael shares a story where he deals with the shamelessness and disrespectful nature... more
Two transgender people who were stabbed Wednesday, one fatally, in Northwest Washington might have been victims of a hate crime, D.C. police said, although investigators had not determined what led to the violence.
The victims, one of whom suffered lacerations that were not considered life-threatening, were found bleeding in the 200 block of Q Street shortly after 2:30 p.m. The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime based on "a shred of information" that detectives obtained from the survivor, said acting Lt. Brett Parsons, the department's top liaison to the city's gay community.
The surviving victim told a detective that the attacker might have used an anti-gay epithet during the incident, Parsons said. But it would be "extremely premature" for authorities to definitively classify the crime as having been motivated by the victims' gender identity, he said.
"Until we're able to do a really detailed interview with the surviving victim, I'm not sure that anyone really knows," Parsons said.
Police identified the dead victim as Joshua Mack, 21, of the 7500 block of Clinton Vista Lane in Clinton. Parsons said Mack was a biological man but was living full time as a woman, using the street name "Nana Boo." Mack was pronounced dead at Howard University Hospital.
The other victim, also a biological man living as a woman, suffered "serious lacerations" that required immediate medical treatment, Parsons said.
Detectives conducted a brief interview at the scene, Parsons said, before the surviving victim was sedated. Authorities hoped to talk more with the victim Thursday, Parsons said.
The surviving victim was a witness to the incident, and D.C. police do not publicly identify witnesses. Parsons said investigators were not completely sure of the survivor's identity.
Officers responding to a report of an assault on Q Street found a blood-soaked crime scene, Parsons said. "It was a moving scene, like the stabbing occurred at one location and the victim collapsed at another location, all within the block."
It was unclear whether a weapon was recovered.
As for Mack's wounds, Parsons said: "I can tell you, just looking at the scene, it was an artery. There was blood splashed everywhere along the block."
As is standard for D.C. police in homicide investigations, the department offered a $25,000 reward for a tip leading an arrest and conviction in Mack's killing. Police urged anyone with information about the case to call 888-919-2746 or send a text message to 50411. The department pledged to honor requests for anonymity.Two transgender people who were stabbed Wednesday, one fatally, in Northwest... more
L’Associazione i Ken Onlus, in occasione della II edizione del Festival Cinematografico Omovies, bandisce un Concorso per cortometraggi a tematica omosessuale e questioninog con la collaborazione della Mediateca Santa Sofia di Napoli.L’Associazione i Ken Onlus, in occasione della II edizione del Festival... more
If this were a White Transgender Killing, Murder 1 would have been the only option?
Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of Lateisha Green, who was born Moses Cannon.An upstate New York man has been sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison for the hate-crime killing of a transgender woman.
The 20-year-old construction laborer is only the second person in the nation to be convicted of a hate crime for killing a transgender victim. In April, a man was convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime in the death of a transgender teen in Colorado.
Green, 22, was born and raised in Syracuse as Moses Cannon. At age 16, Green came out as transgender and began living as a girl.
She faced bullies and threats at school but had a supportive family, said Michael Silverman, director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which has worked closely with Green's family.
In November, Green and her brother, Mark Cannon, drove to a small house party. When they arrived, several guests started yelling slurs about Green's sexuality, witnesses later testified.
Green was sitting with her brother in their car outside the house when DeLee walked up, raised a .22-caliber rifle and fired a single shot.
DeLee was acquitted of murder.
The manslaughter conviction means he intended to injure, not kill, his victim.If this were a White Transgender Killing, Murder 1 would have been the only option?... more
More than 58,000 Referendum 71 signatures have been checked as of Friday, the secretary of state's office reports.
R-71 is the measure seeking to overturn Washington's "everything but marriage" same-sex domestic partner law.
The new signature total is 58,493 checked, said David Ammons, secretary of state spokesman. "That total includes 51,645 signatures accepted and 6,378 rejected – 5,502 because they weren't found in the statewide voter registration database, 30 with signature images pending from the voter's home county, 501 where the petition signature doesn't match the one on file, and 345 duplicates," Ammons said.
Boxer Rob Newbiggin will fight for the last time Aug. 14 - as a man, that is.
The Southport, England, boxer will undergo a sex change operation, after which he will be a female known as Mercedes, The Southport Visiter reported.
Newbiggin, born in Pennsylvania in 1964, had the anatomy of a male but high levels of the female hormone estrogen, which mean he could not be definitively classified as either sex.
His parents abandoned him, and he was adopted at age 2 1/2 by Ted Newbiggin and his wife, who had immigrated to Canada from Manchester, England.
Around age 12, Newbiggin picked up boxing, after his father encouraged him to act more masculine.
“My dad said that I had to act like a man because people wouldn't accept me as anything else,” the younger Newbiggin told the Southport Visiter.
“He was trying to protect me. I didn't find out I was adopted until I was 16, and then about how I was born, but then it all started making sense to me,” he said.
Newbiggin's announcement was first printed in the daily tabloid The Sun, and he said afterward he had “lost every friend I have ever had in the world in this town.”
“My friends don't want to know me. I’ve got people winding their windows down shouting abuse at me while I go for my run – that’s why we are having to relocate. I have to think about my kids,” the boxer said.
As far as his kids are concerned, Newbiggin says sex will have no bearing on his ability to be a parent, and he might even do better as a woman.
“When it comes to my kids, it doesn't matter whether I’m a mother or a father as long as I’m a good parent,” he said. “And I think I'll be a better parent as a woman. I haven't provided enough financial stability in my male life for my children.”
He and his wife, Emma, who have been married for three years, are going to stay together, Newbiggin said, and added that she has been extremely supportive.
“I am so lucky in that respect because she understands what I'm going through.”
After becoming Mercedes, Newbiggin said, he hopes to have a future in modeling, painting and interior design. He also said he plans to apply for a boxing license as a female to continue his career.
Newbiggin said he has been flooded with supportive correspondence from people whom his story has moved to come forward.
“So our family’s sacrifice of our privacy is already working to help others, and that’s what this whole things is about.”Boxer Rob Newbiggin will fight for the last time Aug. 14 - as a man, that is.
The... more
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Crowds packed 5th Avenue in Manhattan for New York City's 2009 Gay Pride Parade. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a violent clash that ushered in the gay liberation movement.
By Video Journalist Olu Gittens (Producer / Reporter/ Cameraperson / Editor / Writer / Narrator)
Program on Manhattan Neighborhood Network
Production Facilities courtesy of MNN
Copyright 2009 by Olu GittensNEW YORK, NEW YORK - Crowds packed 5th Avenue in Manhattan for New York City's 2009... more
"The former William McBeth had undergone sex-reassignment surgery and was now Lily McBeth. The schools' 2006 decisions to keep her on as a substitute were hailed around the nation as a model of tolerance and acceptance of transgender Americans.
But the storybook ending never happened: She got only a handful of assignments since then and is resigning in frustration.
...
Before her transition from male to female in 2005, McBeth said she averaged between 15 to 18 assignments a year as a substitute teacher for elementary students in the Eagleswood school district, and 16 to 20 a year in the Pinelands Regional School District, teaching high school students."
Just goes to show discrimination is alive and well. I understand the lack of comfortability that may arise from those that are not familiar with transgender people, but even though she's a substitute, isn't this a violation of worker's rights?"The former William McBeth had undergone sex-reassignment surgery and was now Lily... more
The Queer Youth Network has written to the Press Complaints Commission following the publication of an article in The Sun newspaper which described sex change operations as "Sick Body Mutilation".
Upcoming dance artist Kim Petras who last year signed a record deal with Joyce Records has been described as "tacky" by tabloid columnist, Sky News presenter and former TalkSport radio presenter Jon Gaunt.
Earlier this year, The Sun interviewed Petras as she talked openly about her gender-reassignment surgery, which Gaunt described this week as "misguided" and more "odd" than Michael Jackson.
Milo Twistleton of the Queer Youth Network told Queer News: "She is someone who has a dream like thousands of people in the world" and felt Gaunt's article was "full of ignorance and incites transphobia".
The youth organisation claims that sensationalising the experiences of Transsexual people in the media makes hate crime seem more acceptable and more of a threat.
Crime statistics show Trans people are especially vulnerable to violent, unprovoked attacks and are significantly over-represented in hate crime figures nationwide. Many more incidences are thought to go unreported.
Promotional film about Queer Youth London and South East LGBT Youth Group.
We are a youth-led regional group that is part of the Queer Youth Network, a national organisation by by and for LGBTQ Young People.
Find out who we are, what we do how you can get involved at one of our regular monthly meetings. March with us in your local Pride parade, join us for an LGBT Youth picnic or local gathering. Regular events also take place in other cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Plymouth, Cardiff, Leeds, Newcastle and Liverpool.
We are a national youth-focused organsation that supports the overall well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Transsexual, Intersex, Questioning, Curious, Asexual, Pansexual or Queer and /or people who are potentially socially marginalised as a result of their identity, as well as those who advocate on their behalf by:
-Creating effective opportunities for our voices to be heard.
The American Civil Liberties Union is hailing the Obama administration's decision not to fight a court ruling on behalf of a man who underwent a gender change to become a woman.
The Associated Press notes Diane Schroer, a retired Army Special Forces commander, had been offered a job at the Library of Congress when he was a man, David Schroer. The job was rescinded after Schroer told a library official he was going to have the gender-change operation.
Schroer was awarded nearly $500,000 by a federal judge in back pay and damages because of sex discrimination. The Library of Congress and President George W. Bush had argued there was no discrimination because transsexuality is not illegal sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.
Sharon McGowan, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender Project, said the administration's decision to let the deadline pass for an appeal "is a welcome sign" that the Obama White House "intends to live up to its commitment to help end transgender discrimination in the workplace."The American Civil Liberties Union is hailing the Obama administration's decision not... more
What can the progressive movement learn from the LGBT community? On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall there has been a good deal of reflection and soul searching on the role of the struggle for gay rights within the larger civil rights movement. Yesterday when Barack Obama met with gay couples in the White House he said, “It’s not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. We’ve been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.” That could be applied to a number of issues, not only those affecting the LGBT community.
Richard Burns, Chief Operating Officer of the Arcus Foundation, Naomi Clark of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Richard Kim, Associate Editor at The Nation, and independent journalist Nancy Goldstein on the role of LGBT politics within the progressive movement.What can the progressive movement learn from the LGBT community? On the 40th... more
Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday.
The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws.
Though transgender men and women are not believed to make up more than a fraction of a percent of the federal work force, their inclusion in the discrimination guidelines is seen as a breakthrough by transgender and gay rights advocates.
“The president is making a very clear statement that transgender people won’t be discriminated against,” said Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, a group that has been talking with the White House about the new provisions.
The provisions will help give transgender workers avenues within the federal government to protest a job action as discriminatory, though Ms. Keisling added, “There is also a very important symbolic value to that, from our point of view.”
The rules are almost certain to stoke criticism from cultural conservatives already displeased with Mr. Obama’s stand on gay rights, abortion and stem cell research.Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines... more
This show was on channel 4 last night and was about a pageant in America for the most beautiful (pre- or post-op) transsexual in the world.
There are some clips and info on the page, I thought it was really interesting and you get some insight into what it's actualy like going through the transformation.This show was on channel 4 last night and was about a pageant in America for the most... more
