3/7/13

Emerson College Transgender Student's SRS will Be Covered By Insurance After All

You remember Donnie Collins the Emerson College student who's fraternity raised $20,000 dollars after learning that his insurance rejected his application for top surgery?

Well it seems Aetna corrected a error in the policy after being contacted by the college and will cover Donnie's surgery after all. And what of the money raised by his Fraternity? The rest of the money will be donated to the Jim Collins Foundation a non profit which helps people obtain gender confirming surgeries.

3/6/13

Would You Sign Coy Mathis Parent's Petition?



"Our Transgender Daughter Is Just Another Girl: Tell Her School to Stop Discriminating".

[Petition Text]

We are Kathryn and Jeremy Mathis, the parents of five children in Fountain, Colorado. One of our daughters, Coy, is six years old and in first grade. Just before Christmas, Coy's school told us that after winter break, they would no longer allow her to use the girls' bathroom, because she is transgender.

They gave Coy three options for where to go to the bathroom; the boys' room, the staff bathroom with adults, or the nurse's bathroom which is used by sick children.

Coy is not sick, she is not an adult, and she is not a boy.

Coy is a girl. She wears girls' clothes, is addressed by everyone at the school using female pronouns, and has been accepted by her classmates and teachers as a girl. But if the school separates her from all her classmates to use the bathroom, they are singling her out for mistreatment, and teaching her classmates that it's okay to discriminate.

We want our daughter to have the same educational opportunities as every other Colorado student.

We have filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division asking the school to treat Coy like any other girl, because that's been the law in Colorado since 2007, when the state banned discrimination based on gender identity.

But we want our children's school to treat our daughter equally because it's the right thing to do, not because the law forces them to.

Please tell officials at Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 that teaching children to discriminate is wrong.

Click Here to Sign

MMA Fighter Fallon Fox Comes Out As Transgender Amid A ROAR Of Controversy

Cage fighter Fallon Fox lived stealth for five years demolishing opponents in the MMA ring but a phone call changed all that. Reluctantly Fallon Fox revealed to her fans, trainers and other fighters her post operative trans status.

Now that Falln Fox is "out" cries of impropriety are echoing expecially after her 39 second knock out of a Coral Cables Florida woman this week and four first round wins.

In an apparent mix up, a receipt from the California Athletic Commission which appears like a licence was mistaken by Fallon Fox as such and was most likely helpful in getting her Florida licence. The California Athletic Commission has now said that they are in the process of modifying those receipts to eliminate this confusion in the future.(after all this time?)



Most people commenting on Cage Junkie seem to think she lied and should be disqualified.

Outsports a recognized authority on transgender participation has a different take:

"She has solid ground to stand on. Given her physical transition, she would be eligible to compete in the Olympic Games as she meets the International Olympic Committees' standards for trans athletes. If she were so inclined, she would be eligible to compete on the LPGA Tour and the WTA."

The Florida Commission has Fox Fallon's licence under review but what about her next bouts?

USA Today reports that "In the meantime, Fox's next bout, which was scheduled for April 20 as part of a semifinal bout in an eight-women tournament at 145 pounds, is on hold as her promoter, Cage Fighting Alliance, has canceled the event in a show of support."

"We stand 120,000 percent behind Fallon," CFA CEO Jorge De La Nova said. "She's a female. She's a very sweet girl. There's a lot of money on the line for her, and she's performed very well. We're going to give her a couple of weeks to see how this thing turns out."



3/5/13

Your Trans Voice Got You Locked Down? Get Your Key and Break Free!

Long ago decided my voice was not going to inhibit my transition after coming to the conclusion it was not going to reflect my gender no matter what I did. It was a hard thing to come to terms with as my gender presentation at the time was, lets just say rough, undefined and unrefined. Sounding like a man just did not help.


Even with today's more inclusive social atmosphere vocal presentation remains an obstacle for many, particularly male to female trans people. For instance, I have a friend who has told me the major issue that is keeping her from fully transitioning is her voice. To me she sounds and looks enviable but it is our own self perception that holds us back after all.

There may be help for the vocally insecure as there are people who are studying this issue. Given time and effort who knows what might be possible? Yesterday I was contacted by Stefanie Hays, a graduate student at Louisiana State University who's conducting a study which could lead to drastic improvements in our lives.

She explained "I’m doing a research project about attitudes and perceptions about voice among people who identify as trans. The speech/voice field has done some previous research about trans voice, but hasn’t traditionally (received) a lot of input from the trans community itself. I’m hoping to start addressing that problem through a research project, using an online survey."

This survey was designed to collect information about personal satisfaction with voice, how voice impacts the participant’s life, what (if anything) the participant has done to change their presentation of gender vocally, and overall satisfaction with those procedures or behaviors. The results will be published in my master’s thesis.

I just finished the ten minute survey. She has included all of her contact information including the supervising professors phone number. Of course you are free to opt out at any point during the survey.

Film "Çocuğum" ile Türk tabu yıkıcı Shattering Turkish Taboos With the Movie "My Child"

The news from Turkey nearly always heartbreaking, is instead today, groundbreaking.

 Just released a movie made in Turkey about LGBT youth and the incredible hardships they face. But who would make such a thing in this land where we read about the horrific murders of trans people many regulated to sex work and honor killings , the tragic slaughter of sons and daughters by family compelled by a false sense of shame and guilt?

The answer is Turkey's bravest  LISTAG (Families of LGBTs in İstanbul)! These souls, who I am so honored to write about today, are the ones featured in this documentary titled My Child.




Meet Mother Pinar, a founding member of Listag and the mother to a transgender child who "was raised in a traditional family with “honorable woman”, “not to come home after it’s dark” kind of myths and of course with sins, taboos and disgraces like many of woman in her generation."

So how was it that Mother Pinar found herself with her daughter on our road less traveled? Read about this incredible woman in Gays of Turkey.

Visit the offical My Child website and learn how you can bring this documentry to your family.




NYPD Releases Pictures and Names of the Men Wanted For Rape Of Transgender Woman


Domique Fennel, Wayne Green, Kalif Halie, Jorge Castro are wanted in connection with the Rape and beating of a midtown transgender woman Febuary 28th 2013 according to NY1.

Thursday DNA.com reported that "at least three men sexually assaulted a screaming transgender woman at gunpoint after a fight erupted over money in their Midtown hotel room early Thursday morning, police said.".

"The attack occurred about 2:15 a.m. in a hotel on 57th Street, in the Midtown North Precinct, according to the NYPD."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS. Members of the public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at Crime Stoper.com, or by texting tips to CRIMES (274637), then entering TIP577