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Despite an economy languishing in high unemployment and low consumer confidence, more American companies are jumping on the bandwagon to provide support for homosexual and transgender employees. More than 300 firms have now received perfect 100 percent scores in this fall's Corporate Equality Index, produced annually by the Human Rights Campaign which ranks businesses on their "treatment" of employees who have chosen homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender lifestyles. The list, which saw a 20 percent increase this year in the number of perfect scores, includes newcomers such as theater giant AMC Entertainment, Costco, Delta Air Lines, Food Lion and General...

The calendar has been produced by the Madrid Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual collective COGAM Controversy in Madrid with the launch of a 2010 lay calendar which shows images of ‘transsexual virgins’ recreating religious scenes decorated with crowns, condoms and phallic symbols. The lay calendar takes the religion out of the dates of the year, so Christmas Day becomes the day you eat the traditional Spanish turron to mark International Democracy Day, for example. The images are all based on famous Catholic images and iconography. The Venezuelan photographer who assembled the calendar, Juan Antinoo, had been commissioned by COGAM, the...

Can Catholic Schools Uphold Catholic Doctrine? thelastcrusade.orgA complaint has been filed by a trans-gendered substitute teacher against a Catholic school board in Canada. Jan Buterman was a substitute teacher for St. Albert Catholic Schools in Edmonton, Alberta, before announcing that she was going through the process of becoming a man through aggressive hormone treatments. When Ms. Buterman began to appear as a male in the classroom, the school board officials opted to hand her a pink slip. Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family - Canada, explained St. Albert’s decision by stating: "The Catholic school...

Students at the College of William and Mary have elected a transgender homecoming queen. Jessee Vasold took the field Saturday at halftime of the Williamsburg school's football game against James Madison. The junior and other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd and posed for pictures. Vasold identifies as "genderqueer," a term for those who don't adhere to either strictly male or strictly female gender roles.

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...

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - About a block from a street concert in downtown Nampa, Melissa Sue Robinson strolls with purpose into a trendy coffee shop - the unofficial liberal embassy of this sprawling Republican stronghold in southwest Idaho. Dressed in a cream-colored pantsuit, a political flier clutched in one hand, a soft brown leather purse in the other, she orders a mocha and takes a seat as a group of teenagers stare at her from near the door. The 58-year-old was born male and still carries the slightly larger-than-an-average-woman build of Charles Staelens Jr., who legally changed his name and...

Today, Deputy Judge David Elvin QC, quashed Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision to continue detaining the prisoner, known only as 'A', in a male prison. He was told that steps were already being put in place to transfer A to a female prison 'as soon as possible'. The move will pave the way for 'A' to have the operation to fully change from a woman to a man. He has to live openly as a woman for two years before having the procedure. A's health authority will have to foot the £8,000 bill for his sex change operation. --- Although...

The homosexual movement in Vermont is using a new transgender-rights law to force schools to recognize "transgender" students and provide unisex restrooms for them in middle schools and high schools-- a beginning of expanded demands in the future and the forced legitimization of transgender behavior targeting children. The homosexual movement is using their familiar tactics: (1) They've identified a "tansgender" victim - a 16-year-old girl who dresses so convincingly as a boy that she sometimes gets nasty comments when she enters a female restroom. (2) The put in place a legal tribunal - the Vermont Human Rights Commission (similar to...

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...

The House of Representatives has approved an addition to the healthcare reform package. It calls for the creation of a “Healthy Teen Initiative”, and allocates $50 million to so-called “comprehensive” sex education. “This was a vote to bring science back into government”, said James Wagoner, president of Advocates For Youth and a leader of the coalition that promoted the amendment. The committee, he continued, “has taken an important step toward ensuring young people get the critical sexual health information they need to make responsible decisions about their lives.” Mr. Wagoner’s statement is astonishing, because Advocates for Youth’s sexual education curricula...

Google has finally given its reason for blocking the MassResistance blog, but it took a call from Fox News in New York to get it. And it seems to be more political - and frightening - than anything else. Since 2005 the MassResistance blog has been hosted on Google's blogspot blogging site with few problems. As we reported in a recent posting, for the last several weeks Google has been blocking the MassResistance blog with a warning screen alleging "objectionable content", (see above) and requiring readers to click through to get in. The block was put on almost immediately after...

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.

“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...

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts lawmakers are weighing a bill that would end discrimination based on transgender status. The bill would add "gender identity and expression" to the state's discrimination and hate crime laws. Supporters say the goal is to give transgender people legal protections at work, in public accommodations and in housing. Opponents said the bill would lead to a breakdown in privacy in rest rooms, locker rooms and other single-gender facilities and would open women's bathrooms to sexual predators.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering what is commonly referred to now as a "bathroom bill." Activists want to add transgender to the Bay State's existing "hate crimes" bill. Evelyn Reilly, director of public policy for the Massachusetts Family Institute, tells OneNewsNow that lawmakers who support the measure are bowing to a fraction of the population -- and in that process, are endangering women and children. "[For example] if...a man believes or pretends to believe that he is actually a woman, then you could not question, challenge, or stop him from entering a woman's bathroom, shower, locker room, fitness facility, or whatever,"...

Pride Parade, celebration has a political bent Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, June 14, 2009 The 39th annual San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade is June 28 and is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., traveling west along Market Street from Beale Street to Eighth Street. The party will continue at Civic Center, with live music, speakers, food and drinks. All ages are welcome. The event is free. The Pride Parade caps a month of gay-themed festivities and is expected to draw its regular cast of colorful characters and city leaders, gawkers and cheering spectators. There will...

WHIO Local News Man In Ladies' Swimsuit Harassing Women SUGARCREEK TWP., Ohio -- Women and children continue to witness a bizarre sight along the Little Miami River. A man wearing a women's swimsuit is harassing people -- mostly women and children -- as they paddle by in canoes along a stretch of the river in Sugarcreek Township. Since last Tuesday, the man has strutted his stuff to more than ten people, wearing a green or blue swimsuit and shouting to women as they cruised down the river in canoes. He runs away after the encounters -- police haven't caught up...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release June 1, 2009 LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009 - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride...

Just wondering how those people who decide they want to change there sex get the money to pay for what must be very expensive proceedures and operations? Does Medicaid pay for this? On the Laura Ingraham show this week, she spoke of a case of an 8 year old boy who goes to a Catholic school who says that he wants to be a girl. The parents say that he has wanted to be a girl since he was 2 years old. The parents say that they have been to professionals who are helping him to "transition." Many questions come...

Now that Ben has had his final day at a west Omaha Catholic school, the 8-year-old gets to give away the last of his boy clothes — his school uniform — and live full time as the person inside: Katie

A state appeals court upheld the murder convictions of two East Bay men today for their roles in battering and strangling a transgender teenager after learning she was biologically male. The killing of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo of Newark in 2002 drew national attention to incidents of violence against transgender people, which often include defense claims that the victim provoked the attack by having sex under false pretenses. In this case, lawyers for both defendants argued that the slaying was manslaughter at most, because their clients had acted in the heat of passion when they learned the person with whom they...

The Boston-area transit authority trolley driver who allegedly slammed into another train while text-messaging his girlfriend Friday was hired as a minority because of his transgendered "female-to-male" status and had three speeding tickets on his driving record in recent years, ABC News has learned.

No excerpt allowed, story here . Mutilating the mentally ill is not "compassionate".

All of the people in the four pictures below are men - on Transgender Lobby Day last Tuesday, April 7! If this bill passes, it will be a crime to make any critical comments on this. In fact, this very report could be considered criminal "hate speech" punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine.

A Colorado man was convicted of first-degree murder and a bias-motivated crime and sentenced to life in prison for killing a transgender teen he met on an online social networking site. It was the first time in the nation that a state hate crime statute resulted in a conviction in a transgender person's murder, the advocacy group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said. Seated in the front row of the courtroom, the family of Justin "Angie" Zapata broke out in tears as the verdicts against Allen Andrade were read. The jury deliberated for just under two hours before returning...

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...

Chardon - A transgender woman who exercised her elderly husband to death in a swimming pool was sentenced Friday to four years in prison. Christine Newton-John worked 73-year-old James Mason's weakened heart until it gave out and stopped beating, prosecutors said. Geauga County Common Pleas Judge Forrest W. Burt told Newton-John that she showed "an indifference" to her frail husband's physical condition. The 41-year-old pleaded guilty in February to reckless homicide, a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty of five years incarceration. Newton-John apologized in a shaky voice for pushing Mason too hard on that June 2 day. A surveillance...

When John Fulton picked up the phone and heard a man's voice in June of 2006, he didn't quite know what to make of it. Mr. Fulton had just advertised his new women-only gym in St. Catharines, Ont., and was offering a special introductory rate to attract members. "I'm thinking, 'It's a guy who wants the women's price,' so I just kind of wrote it off as a guy who misunderstood the price plan," Mr. Fulton said. "And two days later, a woman shows up." The middle-aged woman with the man's voice, among other unseen attributes, turned out to be...

George Mason University senior Ryan Allen dresses in drag and doesn't mind being called a queen — homecoming queen, to be exact. Allen, who is gay and performs in drag at nightclubs in the region, said he entered the homecoming contest as a joke, competing as Reann Ballslee, his drag queen persona. But he considers the victory one of his happiest moments and proof that the suburban Washington, D.C., school famous for its run to the Final Four a few years back celebrates its diverse student body. "I was very touched by how Mason was so supportive through the whole...

(ChattahBox) — A bizarre case of spousal abuse with an unknown motive ended in a transgendered woman pleading guilty to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death in a swimming pool. Police in Middlefield, Ohio, said surveillance video showed 41-year-old Christine Newton-John (photo left) pulling James Mason around the pool by his arms and legs and preventing him from leaving. Mason eventually had a heart attack on June 2 after the extended swim session. Police Chief Joseph Stehlik said he counted 43 times on the videotape in which Newton-John prevented her frail husband from leaving the water. He...

Metro Weekly: Washington, DC's gay and lesbian magazine Inauguration Celebration GLBT Groups to hold inaugural ball at Mayflower Hotel by Yusef Najafi email A coalition of GLBT-advocacy organizations, including the nation's largest, the Human Rights Campaign, have announced plans to celebrate Inauguration Day 2009 with a party, ''Out For Equality: The LGBT community commemoration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Inauguration,'' at D.C.'s Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. ''This is the dawn of a new political era of hope and engagement in the life of this country,'' said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund,...

A transgender, Shawn Shannon “Nicole” Quinnones assaulted, harassed guard. By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com Staff Writer WILKES-BARRE – A former inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas was sentenced to up to eight years in prison on Tuesday for spitting on a corrections officer. Shawn Shannon “Nicole” Quinnones, 34, who was found guilty by a Luzerne County jury in September, was sentenced to four years and three months to eight years and six months in state prison by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Chester Muroski. Quinnones, who is transgender and infected with HIV, was found guilty of assault...

Students attending Drew University next fall will not have the option of living in a "gender-neutral" dorm after officials shot down a student proposal, saying the idea had become too controversial. The proposal, which students spent four years drafting, aimed to accommodate Drew's transgender freshmen in 2009 by designating a dorm where males and females could live together. After months of debate, however, officials announced in September they were rejecting the plan, citing heavy opposition from trustees and alumni. University officials also asked how parents of prospective students might react, and how such a policy would fit in with Drew's...

...nowhere are attitudes toward sex and gender quite as elastic as in the far reaches of the southern state of Oaxaca. There, in the indigenous communities around the town of Juchitán, the world is not divided simply into gay and straight. The local Zapotec people have made room for a third category, which they call “muxes” (pronounced MOO-shays) — men who consider themselves women and live in a socially sanctioned netherworld between the two genders...

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.

Hayward Parents Upset Over Anti-Gay Slur Pledge HAYWARD (AP) ― A Bay Area elementary school got caught in the crossfire of a ballot initiative seeking to outlaw same-sex marriage in California on Tuesday after a kindergarten teacher asked her pupils to sign pledge cards promising not to use anti-gay slurs. ProtectMarriage.com, the coalition of social and religious conservative groups sponsoring Proposition 8, offered the episode at Faith Ringgold Elementary School in Hayward as proof for its claim that the measure is needed to prevent public schools from discussing gay unions with students. "Since the words 'between a man and a...

Monday, October 13, 2008 BREITBART: Obama High: No child left benign Andrew Breitbart ANALYSIS/OPINION: Elected officials in Chicago made international news last week by proposing to create a public high school for gay, lesbian and transgender students. The Pride Campus of the School for Social Justice is set to open with 600 students in 2010, and its curriculum promises to "teach the history of all people who have been oppressed and the civil rights movements that have led to social justice and queer studies." Yet no American journalist covering the presidential race has queried the Chicago-based Sen. Barack Obama about...

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's top court ruled in favor of a transgender politician who was slapped with a lawsuit by two political opponents who claimed she misled voters by running as a female. The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on Monday found that the two political opponents who filed the lawsuit failed to produce evidence of fraud, misconduct or illegal action after claiming that Michelle Bruce bamboozled voters by identifying herself as a female. Bruce, who was believed to be the state's first transgender politician, landed one of four council seats in Riverdale, Ga. in 2003. Running unopposed, she pledged...

Raising Transgender Awareness by: Deborah Lambert, September 26, 2008 Transgender students at Yale are concerned that the school is not focusing enough time and energy into providing “gender-neutral housing,” according to Anthony Paletta on mindingthecampus.com. School spokesmen explained that their efforts are being hampered by the residential housing layout on campus. But “Yale’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, pointing to what they say is a disturbingly low number of openly transgender students on campus, are pushing the University to do more to make Yale feel welcoming to transgender students. “Yale is currently one of only two Ivy League schools...

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...

To Allyson Robinson, it means accompanying her young children to public restrooms in Montgomery County without worrying that someone will call the police. For Colleen Fay, it brings the hope that the next time she applies for a driver's license she won't be badgered about her previous life as a man. And for Chloe Schwenke, it means other people like her will be able to enjoy the job security she has found in her international development work in the District. With the decision by Maryland's highest court last week to block a referendum petition, Montgomery County's law banning discrimination against...

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...

The new season of America's Next Top Model will include Isis, the show's first transgender contestant. "My cards were dealt differently," Isis, 22, told Us. The aspiring model is from Prince George's County, Maryland, and describes herself as "a woman born physically male."

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...

Female transsexuals may have their genes to blame for feeling like they belong to the wrong sex. Scientists identified a specific gene variant in female-to-male transsexuals that meant they had been exposed to higher levels of sex hormones during their early development. Almost half the female-to-male transsexuals in the study carried the gene variant.

Proposed legislation in Sweden that would require gender reassignment patients to be castrated is insulting, a transgender rights group says. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights said while the hormone treatments used in reassignment procedures can cause sterilization, mandating castration for all patients is discriminatory, The Local reported Saturday. The proposal suggests that anyone undergoing gender reassignment surgery be required to have their ovaries or testicles removed to prevent any chance of pregnancy. The battle over the proposal comes after it was revealed this year that a British transgender patient had become pregnant. The Local said...

A former state employee living as a transgender woman on Friday filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against leading Georgia lawmakers and the supervisor who fired her. Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn, a former employee in the General Assembly Office of Legislative Counsel, was fired after she told supervisors she no would no longer come to work as a man. The lawsuit names the office's director, Sewell Brumby, House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Senate President Pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). Glenn is represented by lawyers with Lambda Legal, a gay rights advocacy group. According to the lawsuit, Brumby...

He has been called "demonic," "barbaric," and has been compared to Nazi doctors. And when you read about his work, it is easy to see why Americans are so outraged. Dr. Norman Spack is a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital. Not long ago, he opened a clinic for what he terms "transgendered" children. Incredibly, he is giving kids as young as seven drugs that delay the onset of puberty—the first step in sex-change surgery when they are older. Spack injects children with hormone-blocking drugs to prevent them from developing secondary sexual characteristics, like breasts or facial hair. The idea...

Thomas—who changed sex ten years ago but kept his ovaries and womb so he could have children—told us: "I feel on top of the world. "I'm 36 weeks now and almost due but I feel fantastic. Every day Nancy a nd I think about how we just cannot wait to hold our daughter for the first time, to finally get to touch her and see her face. "We have her nursery ready and her diapers are lined up in her bedroom. Everything is ready to go. "We have even picked a name which we both love—although we're waiting until she...

... On Thursday, Ritter signed Senate Bill 200 which expands "ant-discrimination" law to cover sexual orientation, meaning not only homosexuality or bisexuality, but also "transgender status or another person's perception thereof." ... A major criticism of the bill by conservatives is that it appears to allow men who self-identify as "transgender" a legal right to demand to be able to user women's bathrooms, health club showers, bathhouses, and any other "public accomodation". Importantly, the bill does not define "transgender". ...In other words, not only is there no legal definition for transgender, but there isn't even a solid dictionary definition for...