In his latest piece for TheFederalist, arts writer David Marcus takes on what he believes to be a great injustice: the inclusion of trans people in a list of playwrights developed to demonstrate that perspectives beyond those of men actually do exist and are readily accessible. The list, a public google document titled “We Exist,” was developed in response to a recent comment by a director at a gathering of professional DC theater folks that there are too few… Read more.

By Cathy Renna @cathyrenna Possibly inspired by Laverne Cox and Orange is the New Black, I blurted out the title of this post at a recent panel about media coverage of transgender issues, as I was trying to put into context the quality of coverage of transgender issues today, as compared to gay and lesbian issues in the early 1990s. It has stuck in my head since. Back then I was working at GLAAD and gay and lesbian people were still… Read more.

After another exciting weekend and destroying some Pappas barbecue to celebrate my safe airborne arrival at Hobby, I'm back from my trip inside the beltway for the 2014 edition of the LGBT Media Journalists Convening.  So what were my takeaways from this trip? That elements of the community have a serious beef with GLAAD on multiple layers We DEFINITELY need to have deep, ongoing discussions concerning race and class issues in the TBLG community, and non-white LGBT people need to be leading… Read more.

On February 19th an episode called "Tr*****s Twerk It Out" was broadcast on the Jerry Springer show, as we are all aware this show has a long history of making transgender women the object of disgust and disdain. To be perfectly fair, I didn't watch the show, but the title says enough and its problematic nature is on multiple levels. This particular episode not only exploits transgender women in general, it is also pretty obviously racist as well by… Read more.

Cathy Brennan, an opinion leader in of the Trans Exclusionary RadFem movement has chosen to side with the ex-gay organization, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI):   Fails to mention this story was recanted   Worse, Brennan volunteered to serve as the mouthpiece of the right-wing anti-gay activist organization: Trans people are "inherently intimidating and harassing" and no, we've not actually supported anything we've said with any evidence, but trust us. We wouldn't… Read more.

On Sunday, October 13, 2013 the Daily Mail published a story titled, Girls ‘harassed’ in school bathroom by transgender student told his rights trump their privacy, but pulled the article after it became apparent that the story fabricated. An early promoter of the lie was David McCaine at the Examiner:   On October 11, David ran with this story without fact checking. The TransAdvocate took him to task for his irresponsible behavior and I've just learned that David has done the right thing:… Read more.

Hilary Molina Mendiola died September 23rd at 7:30pm after being thrown naked from the Southern Juan Escutia Axis 2 in the Cuauhtemoc borough of Mexico city. Ms. Mendiola had bruises on her face according to Noticias Terra.com. showing signs of a struggle. Hilary appeared feminine however this did not give pause to local media who misgendered her repeatably. Cross-posted from PlaneTransgender Read more.

The above is a picture of militant lesbians and gays protesting against a movie that promoted false gay stereotypes. March 18, 1970 Ladies' Home Journal Sit-In Above is what happened when a bunch of RadFems righteously took over the offices of the Ladie's Home Journal because it was a vector for promoting false stereotypes about women. Protesting negative stereotypes of cisgender women in the media has a long and proud tradition among feminists. Queer Nation's New York… Read more.

I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the near genocidal levels of anti-trans violence that are taking away far too many under 30 transwomen of color before they've had a chance to live their lives.  We are not only losing them, but their potential contributions and talents toward building all the communities we intersect and interact with.   TransGriot  April 5, 2013 29 year old Kelly Young, 30 year old Ashley Sinclair and 20 year old Ce Ce Acoff until this… Read more.

This is a review of the way a single story is handled by two diffident tabloid newspapers. The sensationalistic reporting style is so starkly different that I thought it would make an exceptional case study for the dos & don'ts of trans reporting (even when it's tabloid reporting). DO - From the New York Daily News:   Do keep the focus of the mockery on the criminal and not on his victim A hulking ex-firefighter accused of violently attacking his transgender… Read more.

Nadine Williams, a transgender woman has beencleared of rape and two counts of sexual assault which she was accused of doing before transitioning while presenting as Dean, a male. Ms. Williams who spend 6 months remanded to pretial confinment iwith men while waiting for the trial simply said she was relieved the "torment" was finally over. The unfortunate articles I've seen to date have misidentified Nadine as a 'transgender man,'  further adding confussion by misgendering with male pronouns. But as a testament to her character Nadine… Read more.

The real story: Long-standing medical and psychiatric literature demonstrates clear benefits of medical and surgical interventions to assist gender variant individuals seeking transition. However, transgender and gender variant people are frequently denied medical, surgical, and psychiatric care related to gender transition. Access to medical care (both medical and surgical) positively impacts the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals. Discrimination and lack of equal civil rights is damaging to the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals. For… Read more.

Multiple news outlets have reported on the recent torture, murder, and mutilation of a mid-western trans rapper. The rapper, Evon Young went missing January 2. The official story is that 5 men were arrested for torturing, mutilating, murdering, immolating and then throwing Evon in a dumpster because someone thought Evon maybe stole something... or maybe it's that Evon was killed as part of a gangland initiation rite... or may it's that Evon was killed in a burglary gone wrong. While the official story… Read more.

Why in Hades is it so hard for professional journalists to get this breathtakingly simple concept? Per the AP Stylebook: transgender-Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the individuals live publicly. Once again (sigh), we have another example of media misgendering of a transperson.… Read more.

So about once every year or two, somebody comes out as trans in a rather high profile way. Two years ago it was Chaz Bono. Before that there was Christine Daniels, Susan Stanton, and others before them. When this happens, I usually experience a mix of emotions. Lots of trans folks celebrate the visibility that comes with these high profile coming outs, and how it can humanize us in the eyes of the world. In my case, when I came… Read more.

Ashley "I'm Colonized" Love So, Ashley Love supposedly held a rally outside of a GLAAD meeting. She writes: Though GLAAD does some good work, primarily for gays and those who support transgender socio-politics, we hold this education rally to inform attendees that the medical condition transsexualism is actually not about third gender politics or homosexuality. Our legitimate birth challenge stems from being born with chromosomal and/or anatomy diversity, and is treated by affirming doctors who aide us is ensuring our body is aligned… Read more.

Update April 4, 4:00 AM: I propose we start a twitter campaign criticizing the Fox affiliate station for putting together this disrespectful and transphobic report on Coko’s murder. Please tweet to FOX 2 News (https://twitter.com/#!/FOX2News) your criticisms and questions, and be sure to use the hashtag: #RespectCoko Please be polite but firm in your critique. A suggested tweet: Your report on trans woman Coko William’s murder was transphobic and extremely offensive. @FOX2News apologize now! #RespectCoko **************************************************************** Update April 4, 3:30… Read more.

After finally hearing Dr. Zucker’s comments on the CBC Radio show I participated in that aired this past Monday, I had to sit and reflect. Dr. Zucker referred to us (parents of gender diverse children and the children themselves) as a “social experiment”. That doesn’t feel right, at all. He also called us a social movement, and a culture that meets for conferences and such, but that didn’t grate on me the same way his reference to a “social experiment” does,… Read more.

  For those of you who have been keeping up with the latest news and views in the trans community as the 2k12 goes through week one of the 51 remaining in this year you are probably aware of the kerfluffle that has been building since May over the problematic show Work It. It has garnered protests, pleas from transpeople and our allies to either rewrite, recast or cancel the show with those requests being ignored by ABC and the… Read more.

Kelly Osbourne recently opened up in a Glamour UK interview about being cheated on by her ex-fiancé Luke Worrall and let loose some transphobic commentary while doing so. “Having to tell them (my parents) my fiance had cheated on me with a tranny who sold his/her story to the press (was the most uncomfortable moment). It was so humiliating. Everyone kept telling me that Luke was cheating on me, but I never believed them. It’s hard enough to get your… Read more.

Today's guest post is from Marina Mahathir. Mahathir describes herself as  "a newspaper columnist, blogger, occasional TV and film producer, activist and general nuisance. She feels most comfortable amongst colourful characters and despite a great fondness for clothes and shoes, can't abide cocktail parties for the smart set. Most people know her by her constant talk about safe sex for HIV prevention but occasionally she also irritates some people by going on about feminism and Islam. She yearns for the… Read more.

Back in 1977, in the Jefferson's fourth season we were introduced to George's old Navy buddy who was in New York to visit for a few days.   George's buddy had a reputation in the Navy as a practical jokester and he was eager to see his old friend. However, there had been some major changes in the intervening years since George had seen his old buddy, and he was shocked to discover Edie's transition.   He handled their initial… Read more.

Note: Update 9/19/2011, here’s my ethics complaint letter against Dr. Ablow before I sent it off today:   By now, you are probably aware of the disgusting and shameful professional behavior of Dr. Keith Ablow, a pop psychiatrist employed by Fox News. Here’s a quick refresher: On September 2,  Dr. Keith Ablow, the Fox News psychiatrist, advised parents not to allow their children to see a transgender person on television because he feels that doing so might turn children into… Read more.

Here’s the text of the Clear Channel apology letter: We would like to apologize for remarks made on KTBZ that has caused distress to people in the Houston Transgender Community. We addressed the insensitivity of both content presented on air with our staff and the manner in which we responded to concerned members in the community. No offense was intended. Cristan, we want to thank you and members of your organization for reaching out and enlightening us to foster a… Read more.

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Transgender blogs (here, here, here, here, here, here, here and that's not counting the numerous blogs by Katrina Rose here and on ENDAblog)  have been buzzing over the lack of public accommodation protections in Maryland's HB235. The head of TransMaryland,  Jenna Fischetti, wrote this post saying: "House Bill 235's introduction and language came as a shock to the majority of the transgender community because its lack of protection in respect to not only previous bills, or currently enacted laws in both Montgomery County… Read more.

Sometimes the intersection of two seemingly unconnected stories come together to show how little respect for trans people there is and how transition/surgery are treated as luxuries, not medically necessary. Many people will argue that transgender prisoners do not "deserve" treatment for GID in prison.  That argument is based on the thought that transition is a luxury and not medically needed. Some media outlets may think that they only have to follow the AP stylebook when they address transgender people in a good or… Read more.

Given the current political climate it looks as if the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA) is dead for at least the next couple of years. What should we do? We need to look at the example of Haverford. From Philadelphia Gay News: "Haverford is on its way to becoming the 19th jurisdiction in the state to ban LGBT discrimination, as the township commission voted 5-3, with one abstention, at its Jan. 10 meeting to adopt a measure that prohibits discrimination based… Read more.

I'm tired. Tired of the so called "liberal media" disrespecting our dead.  Hell, even our own "LGB(t) media does it. Ya know, "Today a transgender woman, Jane Doe,  who was formerly known as John Doe, was murdered today."  A few examples: "The Essex County Prosecutor's Office reported today that the victim of a fatal shooting in Maplewood on Sunday was Victoria Carmen White, formerly James White. White had legally changed her name to Victoria Carmen following sex reassignment surgery."- Maplewood… Read more.

The Tribeca Film festival has announced it's 2010 lineup of films and "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives" is among them. "When a group of transgender women are violently beaten and left for dead, the violated vixens turn deadly divas in this hilariously campy homage to the exploitation films of the '70s and '80s ("Transploitation," anyone?). Loaded with bodacious bods and extreme violence, this revenge fantasy proves that it takes more than balls to get even." And guess what, it's billed as… Read more.

First they aired a tranphobic episode of The New Adventures Of Old Christine, then CBS News decided to ditch the accepted guidelines of the AP Stylebook to write this ugly little post, and now this: CBS was recently criticized for airing an anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl while refusing to sell ad time to a gay dating site.  CBS's repeated promotion of ugly stereotypes of transgender people show an obvious disregard for our community. When GLAAD gave the The… Read more.

Apparently CBS has decided that the AP sytlebook is too tame for its content, and would rather go the way of Jerry Springer. Read more.

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Recently, I saw a tweet by Diana Cage on twitter. I'd heard Cage on her nightly show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's "Diana Cage Show", and I decided to subscribe and listen in on her show. I came in during Derek and Romaine's "Desperately Fucking Angry" segment where people call in and complain about things that piss them off. "Trans Trucker" called in the following audio: And "Trans Trucker" isn't alone. Last December, Becky Juro referred to Sirius XM's… Read more.

According the Washington Blade, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) approved a policy statement that"the group will not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, if it excludes language protecting persons from discrimination." The Advocate followed suit with: "The Human Rights Campaign adopted a policy statement on Wednesday that says the group will not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act if it excludes protections for transgender individuals. The statement was approved by the HRC board of directors in Washington, D.C. 'It’s the… Read more.

From the AP Stylebook: "Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics (by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery) of the opposite sex and present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly." Now keeping that in mind when you see this image: Name: Francis Renee White Headline from WTKR Suffolk Man Charged… Read more.