Free Republic

Kathryn wanted pants. And short hair. Then trucks and swords. Her parents, Jean and Stephen, were fine with their toddler’s embrace of all things boy. They’ve both been schoolteachers and coaches in Maryland and are pretty immune to the quirky stuff that kids do. But it kept getting more intense, all this boyishness from their younger daughter. She began to argue vehemently — as only a tantrum-prone toddler can — that she was not a girl. “I am a boy,” the child insisted, at just 2 years old. And that made Jean uneasy. It was weird. “I am a boy”...

A letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) caused the University of Arkansas at Ft. Smith (UAFS) early this month to reverse policy and allow a 38-year old anatomically male-student permant use of women's bathrooms on campus despite opposition from female students.The university made the reversal on "advice of counsel" after receiving a letter the DOJ sent in response to a complaint that a single, self proclaimed "transgender" student filed with the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. "Because of the stance we took, the individual filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Justice," Mark Horn...

Transgender women will be allowed to participate in the Miss Universe beauty pageant next year, officials announced Tuesday, a week after they ruled a trail-blazing 23-year-old could vie for the crown this year. Pageant officials said they are working on the language of the official rule policy change but expected final word to come soon. Trials for next year's Miss Universe pageant begin this summer.

Miss Universe Canada officials have banned 23-year-old transsexual Jenna Talackova from participating in the pageant finals to be held in Toronto in May, 2012. The Vancouver contestant was one of sixty-five women chosen to compete in the national contest (which is owned by Donald Trump). The Daily Mail Reports that Denis Davila, national director of Miss Universe Canada, asserts that every contestant must be a "naturally born female." Critics of the decision claim that the rules do not specifically address sex change or plastic surgery.

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider reinstating a Wisconsin law that banned hormone treatments or sex-change surgeries for transgender prison inmates. The justices Monday rejected the state's appeal of a ruling that the 2006 Wisconsin law, by withholding treatments that prison doctors deem medically necessary, violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. Three Wisconsin inmates who are male-to-female transsexuals filed suit after prison doctors, who had diagnosed them as having gender identity disorder, stopped providing hormone treatments because of the law. "Refusing to provide effective treatment for a serious medical condition serves no...

This spring, Les and Scott GrantSmith will mark their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple raised two daughters along the way. But 15 years ago, they hit a crisis that nearly shattered their family. Les was keeping a secret, and that became a problem. But they solved it as a family, in a way that kept them together and happy. In the weeks leading up to that day back in 1997, Les was certain of two things: She was a mother who loved her daughters — and she was also transgender, the term for someone born in a body of the...

JAKARTA, INDONESIA, March 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – As a young child in Indonesia, Barack Obama’s nanny was a transgender “woman” who walked around his home in female clothing and let the future president see him trying on lipstick. In 1969, “Evie” – who was born a man with the name Turdi – worked as a cook when he met Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. (Turdi/Evie, like many Indonesians, goes only by one name.) Dunham had moved to the nation’s capital of Jakarta to live with her second husband, Lolo Soetoro. For two years, Turdi watched “Barry”, as Obama was called,...

Danann Tyler, who was born male but now dresses as a little girl and has long hair, says she was bullied at school and felt hurt by other children telling her she was a boy. The eight-year-old MTF (male to female) from Orange County, California, is the subject of a new feature length documentary about transgender people. In a special edition of the Anderson talk show, 'Children &Teens Caught In The Wrong Bodies' which is scheduled to air on Wednesday, she told journalist Anderson Cooper: 'My school, people were telling me that I was a boy and it made me...

With homosexuals now able to serve openly in the military, the gay rights movement’s next battleground is to persuade the Obama administration to end the armed forces’ ban on “transgenders,” a group that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

The father of a 7-year-old born a girl said the second-grader, prohibited from using the boys bathroom at school in McIntosh County, has never fit traditional gender roles. At 18 months, the child told Tommy Theollyn, 28, "I'm a boy." The child's father, who gave birth a year before beginning his own gender transition, said he wants school officials in this rural southeast Georgia county to view his son the way the child has always viewed himself. "I'm fighting to get a second grader back in school," said Theollyn, who pulled his son out of Todd Grant Elementary after his...

TMZ has learned ... Chaz Bono will be hitting the hardwood on the new season of "Dancing with the Stars."

The transgender victim of a brutal beat-down at a Maryland McDonald's broke her silence to call the attack a "hate crime," and says it's not the first time she's been assaulted. Chrissy Lee Polis told the Baltimore Sun on Saturday the incident, which was captured on video and posted online, has left her "afraid to go outside." "I want to cry, but I need to hold my head up," she said, adding that she's been beaten and sexually assaulted in the past because of her sexual identity.

The transgender community is organizing a rally outside a Baltimore County McDonald's Monday night to condemn the severe beating of a transgender woman at the fast-food restaurant. The rally is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the McDonald's, located at 6315 Kenwood Ave. in Rosedale. SNIP Sandy Rawls, founding director of Trans-United, a Baltimore-based organization that works to decrease discrimination against transgender people, said nearly 100 people have indicated on a Facebook page that they will attend the rally. She said the event is intended to raise awareness of hate crimes against transgender people.

Late Wednesday afternoon, without advance notice and without fanfare, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed an Executive Order mandating the acceptance of "gender identity and expression" -- including transsexuality, cross-dressing, and related behaviors - throughout state government. The order also requires affirmative action in the hiring of transsexuals and diversity training for all state employees.

Worse 'job' in the world...

President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.The kicker? Simpson is a shemale. Just look at the name, "A Man Da." Shiver. I don't by the whole transgendered thing. I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable in the skin God gave you, but chopping off your dangley bits isn't the answer, medication and counseling is. God doesn't make mistakes, men do. In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's board of directors, said that "as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope...

WILLIAMSBURG History was made without fanfare on Saturday. Jessee Vasold, William and Mary's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison wearing a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring to applause and not much other notice. Vasold, a junior, and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd, posed for pictures, and walked off the field. "I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all...

Josie Romero loves the colour pink, braiding her hair and having her fingernails painted. But life has not always been easy for this sweet and charming eight-year-old, who was born in the body of a boy. The transgender youngster, then called Joseph, knew at the age of four that she was the wrong sex and even told her parents: 'I am really a girl.' At five, she was refusing to have her hair cut and only wore colours like orange which were nearest to girly pink. By the time she reached six, Josie had been diagnosed as transgender and was...

A 12-year-old boy reported to have changed sex faces "a critical moment" in his life, a transgender campaign group has said. Bernard Reed, a trustee of the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES), said teachers and pupils at the child's secondary school in southern England were key to his future. The child's parents gave him a girl's name by deed poll and allowed him to wear a dress to school, according to The Sun. The paper said teachers at the school, which has not been identified, called an emergency assembly to explain to pupils the boy would now be...

Boy, 12, Is Having Sex Change, School Announces A school called an emergency assembly to tell children that a 12-year-old male pupil was having a sex change. By Murray Wardrop 18 Sep 2009 The youngster arrived for his first term at secondary school wearing a dress and with long hair in ribboned pigtails after his parents changed his name to a female one by deed poll over the summer holidays. However, the boy, who is preparing to undergo hormone treatment and sex change surgery, was immediately taunted by classmates who recognised him from primary school. As a result, the 1,000-pupil...

A transgender driver's return behind the wheel of a taxi has lasted just a month. Andre Edwards, 51, walked out of her job at Leyland-based Eco Cabs following a series of rows with her new bosses – and they don't want her back. The move comes less than a month after the Evening Post revealed how the company, based on Mellor Road, had given her a chance to work two months after she was sacked from Leyland Taxis

The Silverton, Oregon, city council has censured its transgender mayor. Mayor Stu Rasmussen admitted to wearing an open-back bathing suit, mini skirt, and high heels when he spoke before a group of children at a non-profit organization. A person attending the speech was displeased and filed a complaint. Andrea Lafferty is with the Traditional Values Coalition. "This is a man who's dressing like a woman. He was born a man. He has male DNA. That cannot change," she believes. Lafferty says the idea of making the appearance in front of children is an affront to parents who do not want...

Jeremy was refused entry to his high school prom when he arrived in a gown and makeup instead of a tuxedo. KUAM, Guam’s news network, reports that officials at George Washington High School in Guam refunded the money Jeremy spent for a prom ticket, but are unsympathetic about the $400 he spent on clothing and other items, and will not issue him the apology that he wants for being unable to attend the prom. Jeremy claims that he was discriminated against when he was denied entry. “I said, ‘Where does it state in this rule in this paper that there’s...

“How do you tell your kids that mommy is now a daddy? Or that a daddy is now a mommy?” Leave it to ABC to raise these questions on “Good Morning America.” A July 21 segment previewed “Primetime Family Secrets” airing later that night about a transgender woman and the effects of the decision on his family. Correspondent Juju Chang documented the Prince family for one year. In 2008 Ted Prince became “Chloe” through a sex change and his wife, Rene, stayed with him. The couple has two sons: Logan is 7 1/2 and Barry is 6. Since the...

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. — When word got out that Mr. McBeth, a popular substitute teacher at two southern New Jersey school districts was about to come back to class as Miss McBeth, it caused an uproar. 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.

In high school, music was Bill Zircher’s thing, mostly drums. He studied electrical engineering in college. In 1994 he married a woman he met in a band. The couple had a daughter, and Zircher was thrilled to be a father. Dana Zircher still plays the drums, is still a self-described high-tech nerd, and still a parent. She still works as a software design engineer for Microsoft in Beverly, though she now uses the ladies’ room instead of the men’s. As part of an aggressive grass-roots campaign, Zircher will testify today at a State House hearing in favor of civil rights...

AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission ruled Monday that the Orono School Department discriminated against a transgender child by denying her access to the girls bathroom. While the school department’s lawyer warned that schools around the state may not be ready to manage the practical fallout from the decision, civil liberties advocates hailed the ruling as an advancement of human rights.

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...

Cher's former daughter Chastity Bono has stepped out for the first time since undergoing a sex change. The 40-year-old activist, who now wants to be known as Chaz, made his debut as a man after beginning the surgical process earlier this year. Chaz, who now refers to himself as a 'he', was spotted enjoying a massage in West Hollywood yesterday. Wearing combat shorts, T-shirt, trainers and baseball cap, Chaz certainly passed for an overweight American male as he left the Body Well in Santa Monica Boulevard on Tuesday

Political and social activist Chastity Bono – the only child of entertainers Cher and the late Sonny Bono – began undergoing a sex change shortly after her 40th birthday on March 4. "Cher is very supportive and has known about Chastity wanting to do this for a very long time," a source tells PEOPLE. "This will be a long process but it's something Chastity has wanted to do for many years." Bono's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told TMZ, which first reported the story, "Yes, it's true – Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his...

Los Angeles, CA (BANG) - Cher's daughter is having a sex change. Chastity Bono - the 40-year-old daughter of the "Believe" singer and her late husband Sonny - began the lengthy gender reassignment process earlier this year. She has asked family and friends to call her Chaz, and will have surgery to give her male genitals later this year. Her spokesman said: "Chaz has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones." "It is Chaz's hope that his...

To All Shelby County, TN Freepers, please refer to the following URL (http://agendapub.shelbycountytn.gov/sirepub/view.aspx?cabinet=PUBLISHED_MEETINGS&fileid=55753. This document represents and amendment to Chapter 12 of the Shelby County Code of Ordinances. This amendment contains in part what is listed below. This is scheduled to be voted on this Wednesday, 5/27 by the Shelby County Commission. This is another attempt to justify and promote immoral sexual behavior. Ultimately, this amendment will allow homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, etc.. to enter our schools as teachers with no means to stop it. Please call your Shelby County commissioner immediately and tell them to vote NO on this...

As transgender activists protested outside the American Psychiatric Association (APA) meeting, speakers at the meeting were presenting on the same topic: gender identity disorder (GID). Some of their words would add clinical weight to the political slogans. Some of the speakers are activists themselves, including Rebecca Allison, MD, cardiologist who is transgender, widely published author Sarah Hoffman, whose son is gender variant, and Hewlett-Packard engineer Kelley Winters, PhD, founder of GID Reform Advocates. Winters1 has called on the APA to use the DSM-V revision to affirm that “in the absence of dysphoria, gender identity and expression that vary from assigned...

LONDON - A FEMALE model who felt she was a man and attracted to women, has had a sex change and discovered she's now a gay man. Katherine Dalton was a sucessful glamour model in her teens and 20s, reported The Sun newspaper, who had a troubled secret. 'For years I was a man trapped in a woman's body. And although I was a beautiful woman I felt ugly because I was not who I wanted to be," the 31-year-old told The Sun. But after a sex change undertaken in her early 20s, Katherine became Adrian. He works for an...

On Tuesday, January 13th, I was a guest on the "Dr. Phil Show" when a segment was aired on children who want to be the opposite sex. Also appearing on the show was the mother of a transgendered boy who is living life as a girl, and several psychotherapists who believe that transgenderism is normal, natural and healthy for some people. I took the position that children should not, however, be encouraged to think of themselves--and live as--as the opposite sex. All of the other psychotherapists disagreed with me. "Imitative Attachment" in the Gender-Disturbed Boy "Gender-identity disorder is primarily an...

CONCORD, N.H. -- The New Hampshire House reversed itself Wednesday and passed a bill extending anti-discrimination protections to transgender individuals by a single vote. The House voted 181-149 last month to kill the bill but reconsidered Wednesday after a passionate appeal from House Speaker Terie Norelli to include transgender individuals in the state's anti-discrimination law. The House debated more than three hours before voting 188-187 to send it to the Senate. Republicans call it the "bathroom bill" based on the argument it would open all bathrooms to both men and women. Republicans said women and children would be put at...

Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in. Schmidt didn't want to refuse someone in need. Having seen few such cases, however, and with limited space that winter night, she wasn't sure where to place the transgender woman. The shelter has space for homeless men and women but not anyone in between. "Rather than turn them away, we give them a cot," said Schmidt, whose staff allowed the woman to stay a week in the shelter's lounge...

In April, 2007, LA Times sports reporter Mike Penner came to work and announced that he was going to start coming to work dressed as a woman, and use the name Christine Daniels. And that's what he did. For eighteen months "she" was a darling of the transgender world. "She" gave speeches to homosexual groups, was profiled in Sports Illustrated, and was honored for having such "courage" to come out as a woman. And "Christine Daniels" continued to cover and write about sports for the LA times. All we can say is, it's a good thing he didn't quite get...

James M. Mason knew his wife since she was born a boy. The janitor and former military man was a boarder in the child's home and was treated like family. Many were surprised when he married Chris nearly three years ago, not just because he knew she underwent sex-change surgery three years before, temporarily calling herself Christine Newton-John after the pop singer with the same last name. He was in his 70s, she in her 30s. He was mild-mannered; she had a domineering personality. Then, last summer, there was another surprise: Chris Mason was accused of exercising her frail husband...

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio – James M. Mason knew his wife since she was born a boy. The janitor and former military man was a boarder in the child's home and was treated like family. Many were surprised when he married Chris nearly three years ago, not just because he knew she underwent sex-change surgery three years before, temporarily calling herself Christine Newton-John after the pop singer with the same last name. He was in his 70s, she in her 30s. He was mild-mannered; she had a domineering personality. Then, last summer, there was another surprise: Chris Mason was accused of exercising...

Transgender activists believe this is the year they will gain equal protection under the state's anti-discrimination laws. "We feel good," said Jerimarie Liesegang, who leads the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition. "We've done the groundwork, we've done the education and we know we have the votes." A proposal, to be introduced in the legislative session that begins Wednesday, would prevent people who in any way blur gender lines from being discriminated against in the workplace or while seeking housing or obtaining credit. More than a dozen states, including California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island, have enacted similar laws.

There is an enormous and growing body of research, encompassing the fields of biochemistry, neurobiology, physiology and psychology, which all point to a clear conclusion: that there are profound differences between men and women. These go well beyond the obvious physical appearances and reproductive differences; men and women differ at many levels, and also approach relationships differently. As such, this document rests upon, and makes the case for, these four foundational principles: 1. Gender differences exist; they are a fundamental reality of our biology and impact our psychology. Our maleness and femaleness is a key aspect to our personhood. 2....

Barack Obama wasn't the only candidate who made history Tuesday. On the same day the United States elected its first black president, the tiny town of Silverton, Ore., elected the country's first openly transgender mayor. Stu Rasmussen served two terms as Silverton's mayor in the 1990s, but he was still living in the closet -- and dressing in men's clothing. He came out a few years ago, proudly donning a skirt and high heels. On Tuesday, Rasmussen won a third term, by 13 percentage points. He attributes his victory to his deep knowledge of the issues.

A former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job as a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit on Friday.U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress discriminated against Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., by not giving her the job after the former David Schroer disclosed he would start becoming Diane before beginning the new job. "The evidence establishes that the Library was enthusiastic about hiring David Schroer -- until she disclosed her transsexuality," Robinson wrote in his decision. "The Library...

A former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job as a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit on Friday. More News * Radical rescue: Hundreds of billions for bailout 09.19.08 * Q&A on cleaning up the financial crisis mess 09.19.08 * Light rail train hits bus in LA; 14 injured 09.19.08 * CHP warns of 'star 72' phone scam 09.19.08 U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress discriminated against Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., by not giving her the...

A Yeshiva University professor left two years ago as a man - and returned last week as a woman. Literature Professor Joy Ladin, formerly known as Jay Ladin, 47, showed up for her first day of school sporting pink lipstick, a tight purple shirt and a flirty black skirt. She cheerfully strutted through the doors of the Midtown campus' main building, where she oversees the writing center. Many at the Jewish university are horrified by the presence of the transgender professor. Some fear the news could cut alumni donations. Ladin and the school won't comment on the situation, but some...

Diane Schroer, a 52-year-old former Army Special Forces commander, testified yesterday in federal court that she was "disappointed and dismayed" when an official at the Library of Congress rescinded a job offer even though she was the star candidate. The offer, for a job as a terrorism research analyst, was pulled the day after Schroer told her future boss that she was making the medical transition from being a man, David, to being a woman, Diane. "I honestly felt a little surprised and shocked," Schroer testified during the first day of the trial in her discrimination lawsuit against the Library...

We may have MORE babies Exclusive: Dad-to-be reveals joy..just 4 weeks before HE is due to give birth THESE extraordinary new pictures show the world's first pregnant man—captured just four weeks from the birth of his baby girl. In an exclusive and moving interview with the News of the World, sex-change dad Thomas Beatie and his wife Nancy tell of their joy. And he reveals unseen family snaps of his astonishing early life as a teenage beauty queen. "I feel fantastic," he said. "I cannot wait to see my baby's face." In a tender and intimate moment, Thomas shares a...

Anger at 1-Day notice School Gave ParentsA Pennsylvania elementary school has confirmed its membership in the "Brave New Liberal Schools" club by holding counseling sessions with 100 3rd-grade students to announce that one of the boys would soon start showing up at school in girls' clothing and taking a female name. Counselors will ask the 3rd-graders to accept the boy as a girl and not to make childish remarks that may be unkind. The exercise in "social transition" was initiated by the boy's parents who approached the administration at Chatham Park Elementary School in Haverford Township asking that the school...

A Pennsylvania elementary school has angered parents by giving them one-day's notice of planned counseling sessions with 100 third-grade students to explain that one of their male classmates would soon begin wearing girls' clothing and taking a female name and to ask that they accept him as a girl and not make unkind remarks. The exercise in "social transition" was initiated by the boy's parents who approached the administration at Chatham Park Elementary School in Haverford Township asking that the school help in having their child's female identity find acceptance among his peers. After consulting experts on transgender children, the...