From the Examiner: The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the state of Alaska on behalf of a transgender woman, alleging that it denied her a driver’s license listing her gender as female unless she provided proof that she’d undergone a sex change operation. The lawsuit, which ACLU said was filed in state court in Anchorage Monday, states that denying the woman a license that accurately reflects her gender identity because she hasn’t undergone surgery is unconstitutional. “No one should have to disclose sensitive personal information or be forced to make major medical decisions in order to get an accurate driver’s license,” Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Alaska, said in a news release. A message was left late Monday afternoon with the Department of Law’s civil division. According to the lawsuit, the woman, a pilot identified only as K.L., has lived her life as a woman for nearly two years. The lawsuit states she officially changed her name and is identified as female on her passport and other documents. It states that she receives hormone therapy and “could not imagine a circumstance in the future in which she would no longer identify as a woman.”]]>

This may not be something most people are aware of or consider: the need for transgender students to choose their roommate based on gender and what will be most comfortable and safe for them. From The Ledger:

TAMPA | A transgender student made University of South Florida officials stop and think. Frustrated by a hostile housing experience, Taylor McCue wanted USF to join the growing number of colleges across the country — like Rutgers and Harvard — now offering students the option to live with anyone of any gender. Couldn’t USF do the same? Yes, it turns out, and it is. Today the university goes beyond what other universities in Florida typically do with transgender students, by actively offering them the chance to live alone or with a friend of any gender. They can also live with a random roommate without being outed. At other schools, the burden to ask for special treatment is often on the student. This is just USF’s first step. In the spring, the school will launch a pilot program offering several gender-neutral dorm rooms, where anybody of any gender can live with anybody else.]]>

Donna Milo, a transgender woman running for office in Miami, is clarifying – sort of – her position on marriage equality. It serves as an example that even lgbt people are a diverse group. For all I know she doesn’t like being included in that acronym; I suspect not, but she has taken issue with being labled anti-equality. She just thinks marriages are for opposite sex couples, but as long as the government is doing the licensing we should all be able to get one. Does that clear things up? From Gay South Florida: Miami City Commission candidate Donna Milo — a conservative Republican, Cuban-American, transgender woman — got herself into hot water last year during a run for Congress when gay SiriusXM radio journalist Michelangelo Signorile asked her position on marriage equality. “I view marriage as a religious sacrament,” Milo told Signorile during his May 21, 2010, program. “I believe that marriage, at this time, the way my definition, marriage is a man and a woman, but I support domestic partnerships for all consenting adults. [SNIP} Now Milo would like to clarify her position on same-sex marriages: She’s against the government performing weddings for anyone, male or female, straight or gay. Religious bodies should perform all marriages, she said. “If however, the government is going to remain in the marriage business, then NO ONE should be excluded because of gender or sexuality,” Milo wrote in a statement Friday to The Miami Herald. Signorile said Friday that Milo is “clearly shifting her position and that is a good thing.”]]>

There’s an excellent article by Eliza Gray in the New Republic about the obstacles faced by transgender people, from job losses to being assaulted. And be sure to see her photo gallery here. It’s called “Breaking Boundaries – interviews conducted and compiled by Eliza Gray and Margy Slattery.” From the New Republic: On April 18, a transgender woman named Chrissy Lee Polis went to the women’s bathroom in a Baltimore County McDonald’s. When she came out, two teenage girls approached and spat in her face. Then they threw her to the floor and started kicking her in the head. As a crowd of customers watched, Polis tried to stand up, but the girls dragged her by her hair across the restaurant, ripping the earrings out of her ears. The last thing Polis remembers, before she had a seizure, was spitting blood on the restaurant door. The incident made national news—not because this sort of violence against transgender people is unusual, but because a McDonald’s employee recorded the beating on his cell phone and posted the video on YouTube. Transgender people are some of the least protected, most persecuted people in the United States. In a recent study of transgender students, nearly half said they’d been “punched, kicked, or injured with a weapon” at least once in the last year. On average, a transgender person is murdered because of their identity every month, according to the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. In 2008, for instance, Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old Colorado woman, was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher when her attacker—a man she met through a social-networking site—realized that she was born male. Continue reading]]>

I’m not so sure I buy the “he ran into my scissors” defense. From the StarTribune: Advocates for transgender rights are rallying behind Chrishaun McDonald, charged with murder in a stabbing outside a south Minneapolis bar that the accused says was ignited by the victim’s gay-bashing and racist remarks. McDonald, 23, of Minneapolis, a person in transition from a man to a woman, is charged with second-degree murder in the June 5 stabbing of 47-year-old Dean Schmitz, of Richfield, outside the Schooner Tavern. In response to an interview request from the Star Tribune, McDonald said in a letter from the Hennepin County jail that “none of this mess wouldn’t be happening if it weren’t for the victim and his group being rude and disrespectful to people they never knew.” McDonald was among a group that encountered Schmitz and other bar patrons shortly after midnight June 5 in a clash that started with Schmitz’s remarks, according to the charges. McDonald told police that Schmitz charged and ran into scissors that McDonald was holding, the complaint added. [SNIP] Katie Burgess, executive director of the Minneapolis-based Trans Youth Support Network and a friend of McDonald’s, said that McDonald’s supporters will rally Tuesday outside the Hennepin County Government Center. McDonald has a court appearance Tuesday morning. McDonald’s case “is a tragedy, but unfortunately it’s not a rarity,” Burgess wrote in announcing the rally. “Transgender women of color face disproportionate levels of violence and harassment, and are pulled into prisons and jails at extremely high rates,” Burgess added. “Although none of us knows all the details about what happened on June 5th, we do know that the deck is stacked” against McDonald.]]>

The state of Oregon is being sued after an insurance claim for one of its transgender employees was denied. From the Bendbulletin.com: SALEM — A national civil rights group has filed a lawsuit against the state of Oregon, claiming it denied insurance coverage for a transgender state worker. Lambda Legal said it filed the suit Tuesday on behalf of Alec Esquivel, a law school graduate who is an Oregon Court of Appeals clerk. The legal group says Esquivel was a woman who is making the transition to a male gender identity. As part of his transition-related health plan, Esquivel’s doctor recommended he undergo a hysterectomy because of a heightened risk for uterine and ovarian cancer. Esquivel’s doctor submitted a request for insurance coverage that was denied last year.]]>

The world’s largest conference on transgender health issues started today in Philadelphia and will run for three days. Chaz Bono will be having a book reading and signing of his new book during the conference. From CBS Philly: PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The largest transgender-specific conference in the world begin today at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The tenth annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference will be held over three days and will address what health means for transgender people, their allies, families and health providers. Conference Chair Chris Page says this year, there’ll be more workshops than ever before. “Medical and mental health, but also legal, spiritual, and family issues,” Page says. “We have workshops for partners of transgendered people.”
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