2/19/13

Body Discovered In Dumpster Near Where Transgender Rapper Evon (Young LT) Young Was Murdered


The badly decomposed mutilated body discovered last night had been covered in a white sheet was less than a mile and a half from where Evon Young LT was murdered. The police have yet to identify the body. I will update when they make a identification.

Although five people have been charged with Young's murder his body has not been recovered. The police gave up trying to finding him in the Menominee landfill last week.

*Update Feb 20: The lawyers of the five who are charged with murderering Evon were in court for a hearing the 19th .

WTMJ has more on this story.

2/18/13

Vida Plena Negado: Trans Woman Slain in Mexico Minutes From Where Anges Torres Was Murdered

A young trans woman was found dead in Santa Isabel Cholula with her head stove in, her body showing signs of torture according to Sinembargo.mx.

This murder is only 21 Kilometers from Puebla Mexico where trans activist Anges Torres was burned to death in 2012.

Source Sinembargo.mx:

For his part, the President of Vida Plena(Full Life) organization, dedicated to the defence of homosexual rights, Onán Vázquez Chávez, said that "there are indications to suspect that it is a crime for homophobia".

Vazquez recalled that in the past 14 years is a record reading of 29 crimes by homophobia in that State, of which only four have been resolved by the authorities.

"They are committing these crimes with the certainty that the authorities will not do anything and that is unfortunate," said the leader of Vida Plena.
Source Wikipedia on LGBT rights mexico:
Former assistant attorney for crime victims at the Federal District Attorney General's Office (PGJDF) Barbara Illan Rondero strongly criticized the lack of sensitivity and professionalism on the part of investigators in crimes committed against homosexuals and lesbians:

"I still can't determine if this is due to negligence, lack of preparation or down-right covering up, and is a matter that has to do with the intention of not solving these crimes because they carry no weight of importance".[19]
Alejandro Brito Lemus, director of the news supplement Letra S (Letter S), claimed that only four percent of gays and lesbians who suffer from discrimination present their complaints to authorities:

"In spite of the gravity of the aggressions suffered, the majority of gays, lesbians and transsexuals prefer to keep silent about what happens and to remain isolated in fear of being attacked again in revealing their sexual orientation".

2/17/13

The Table is Set: A Teen "Son" Tells her Mom She's Really A Girl. ABC's What Would You Do?

CLICK Here Opens Video In a New Window



Kenyan Teen arrested for being Trans is Facing New Charges

In 2012 Kenyan transgender teenager Brenda Stella Achieng was arrested for Pretext/defamation of character after her employer on the Nyamasaria estate discovered she is transgender. According to Identity Kenya.com she was treated very badly during the arrest. Brenda was paraded about the city and while awaiting trial and held in solitary in a mens prison.

Since then Changing Attitudes has received a report from Brenda's hearing confirming that those charges were dropped.

A couple of months after she was fired the family Brenda worked for had her arrested again for allegedly stealing cell phones from their home. But those charges are extremely suspect according to Voices of Women in Western Kenya (VOWWEK) and Jinsiangu because of how long it was after her dismissal that the charges were filed.

But more than likely these recent charges against Brenda were motivated by hate, just like the previous ones.

I have reached out to Idenity Kenya for more information to update this post with.

So its a call to the worlds bloggers and journalists and activists to publish about our family in African, especially Nigeria, Uganda and Brenda's country Kenya. We care about you. You are our family.



Genderation Rebels: Trans Visibility leads To Trans Murder

There has been a shocking increase in reported murders of trans people worldwide over the past years. There are many reasons why these numbers have jumped, but the number one reason is us.

Transgender Europe's Transrespect Transphobia project reports "Most reported cases were from Central and South America, which amount to 643 cases in 21 countries and account for roughly 80 % of the globally reported murders of trans people since January 2008. In this region, there has been the strongest increase in reports (2008: 94, 2009: 165, 2010: 180, and 2011: 204)."

"The new result update moreover reveals that in the last 4 years, 59 killings of trans people have been reported in Asia (2008: 12, 2009: 14, 2010: 16, 2011: 17), 53 killings have been reported in North America (2008: 18, 2009: 13, 2010: 8, 2011: 14), 53 in Europe (2008: 13, 2009: 19, 2010: 9, 2011: 12), 4 in Oceania (2008: 3, 2009: 1) as well as 4 in Africa (2008: 1, 2009: 2. 2011: 1)."


Photo TGEU Click to enlarge

We are rebels living our gender revolution. In many countries such as Canada our right to life to larger degree is respected. That has come about through decades of effort and sacrifice which is not to say the battle is over in Canada.

In the US, like many European countries, we have found marginal success. The US still holds the distinction as a leader in the numbers of murdered, many being victims of unemployment, drugs and prostitution by no fault of there own. Much of the progress there is localized but the domino effect of perceived acceptability helps us in neighboring states.

South America is currently on the cutting edge of the transgender sword. There have been unconscionable amount of trans murders of our southern community in the past years and it seems as if this sad trend is continuing unabated.

Many factors contribute to the numbers. One, our sisters and brothers are openly transitioning despite north American's religious rights increasing presence and influence. Two the drug wars, fueled with US dollars places many of our family directly in the line of fire.

There's no language barriers so when we are murdered in South America the world knows it.

Africa has one of the fewest reported trans murders. Again there are many reasons. Most of Africa's social climate does not allow for a person's gender to be perceived as anything other than cisnormal. In some countries such as Uganda it's a death warrant. Again, there is not many reported murders because the press won't even acknowledge us when we are alive, let alone dead.

Russia has two reported murders. Vladimir Putin and his partners in the Orthodox Church have crushed the trans community throwing our progress back centuries. This is particularly disheartening to me personally as a former cold war soldier. It has taken years of beating of LGBT activists by police to attain that brief visibility, now they are being cut off from the rest of the world, again.

The subcontinent. India's trans population is struggling mightily against embedded societal bigotry and they are winning. Neighboring countries trans populations seem to have more work to catch up.

China has only six reported murders but that can be attributed to there being so very few who have dared to transition in the country. Combined with state censorship and little access in the world wide Internet leaves our family's progress there in a perpetual stall.

Oceania apparently is leading the world in the battle against transphobia. There have only been four reported murders in this region with such excellent access to media.

So there are many contributing factors worldwide that lead to the incredibly high numbers of trans murders, but none more so than our willingness to take the risk, to put our lives on the line so the next genderations may thrive.

Rebel on!



2/16/13

I'll Be in Philadelphia for the LGBT Media Convening Next Weekend. Meet you there?

I'll be in Philadelphia flying out of Cow Town on Friday to attend the 4th Annual LGBT editors, bloggers, and reporters convening.

This all expense paid invitation came as a suprise as it is a first for me. I've generally been viewed as a upstart outsider partly because I am a functioning illiterate, partly because I'm a radical trans activist. But apparently thats my ticket because one of the purposes of the convening is to encourage new blood participation in the blogosphere.


This convening is supported by the National Lesbian Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) ). Bil Browning board member being crucial to the convening. The Forum is sponsored by the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund.

Friday night we will attend a greet and meet with NBC News and Comcast. Saturday will be spent learning better how to connect with other minorities, something I say I do but in fact am not that good at.

(from the invite) Saturday night's party will be at Tavern on Camac from 9-11. Invite your local readers to come out and join the festivities; Joe.My.God. and Bilerico usually host a meetup for fans that weekend, but this year we can all co-host! The party is being thrown by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.

We'll be staying at Loews Philadelphia and after a tour of the city I will fly home on Sunday.

It's a long ways from cowtown and planetransgender grass roots. I look forward to meeting all of the people I have agreed with, argued with but all ways respected. I hope I can meet you there.