Free Republic

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...

For school officials in Haverford Township, the challenge was daunting: What do you do when a 9-year-old student, with the full support of his parents, decides that he is no longer a boy and instead is a girl? Parents of a third-grade student at Chatham Park Elementary School approached the administration on April 16 to ask for help in making a "social transition" for their child. (Excerpt) Full story: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/chester/20080503_School_challenge__Transgender_student_is_age_9.html The Haverford School District consulted experts on transgender children, then sent letters to parents advising them that the guidance counselor would meet with the school's 100 third-grade students to explain...

TRACY LaGONDINO is pregnant, and that news has drawn a fair amount of attention. It's been in People magazine, on "Oprah," all over the Internet. Tracy's baby, due in July, is doing well. But Tracy has a serious problem, and the rest of us do, too. A 34-year-old who grew up in Hawaii and used to compete in beauty contests - she was once a finalist in the Miss Hawaii Teen USA pageant - Tracy, who now calls herself Thomas Beatie, apparently suffers from Gender Identity Disorder, syndrome 302.85 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association....

The pregnant man completes the second phase of his media trifecta: he/she appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show Thursday. The first phase is to call a press conference: check. The third phase involves the book deal and the TV movie. Then well-deserved obscurity, broken only by appearances as an answer to trivia questions and “Where are they now” stories 10 years later. Reactions to Thomas Beatie and wife Nancy’s second phase.

Thousands of Oregonians a year change their names. But the case of a Bend resident who says he is legally male and five months pregnant has highlighted the much smaller numbers who legally change their sex. That option exists in Oregon, as in most states, for transsexuals who switch genders. "Oregon's law is very typical," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. The crux of the decades-old law is one sentence. The same court with jurisdiction over legal name changes "may order a legal change of sex and enter a judgment indicating...

A transgender man in Bend claims he is five months pregnant -- in a case that would stretch the meaning of the 21st-century family and the limits of personal pronouns. But what sounds on the Internet like science fiction or tabloid hype may be more a matter of semantics, hormones and personal choice. The parent-to-be was born female but identifies as a man, he writes in his first-person account posted this week by The Advocate, a national gay publication. He legally changed his name to Thomas Beatie and married a woman named Nancy. Beatie declined to answer questions from The...

Thomas Beatie, who used to be a woman, appeared in the most recent issue of The Advocate, a magazine for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender readers, Portland, Ore., television station KPTV reported. Beatie wrote the article, which includes a picture of him while he was 22 weeks pregnant. According to the story, he went through a sex change, but decided only to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy. Beatie was able to keep the reproductive organs he was born with. The article said he stopped getting the injections and was able to get pregnant.

To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don’t appear in the least unusual. To those in the quiet Oregon community where we live, we are viewed just as we are -- a happy couple deeply in love. Our desire to work hard, buy our first home, and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child. I am transgender, legally male, and legally married to Nancy. Unlike those in same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships, or civil unions, Nancy and I are afforded the more than 1,100 federal rights of...

It was late on a rainy fall day, and a college freshman named Rey was showing me the new tattoo on his arm. It commemorated his 500-mile hike through Europe the previous summer, which happened also to be, he said, the last time he was happy. We sat together for a while in his room talking, his tattoo of a piece with his spiky brown hair, oversize tribal earrings and very baggy jeans. He showed me a photo of himself and his girlfriend kissing, pointed out his small drum kit, a bass guitar that lay next to his rumpled clothes...

Just one year ago, Megan Wallent's co-workers at Microsoft knew her as Michael. Then, in an e-mail sent to his entire staff, he announced that he no longer considered himself a male. The long-time executive, in charge of the Internet Explorer division for Microsoft, underwent major feminization surgery and legally changed his gender. Wallent's wife, like his co-workers, had no idea that this guy's guy was conflicted about his gender identity. ABC's Neal Karlinksy has the story from Seattle. Read more here and view a slideshow of the transition from Michael to Megan.

A couple at the "cross roads" of a "complicated" love story.  That's how Diane Sawyer set up the feature on a transgendered Microsoft executive, his/her wife, and their son in the 8:00 half-hour on "Good Morning America." The socially progressive bent of GMA was evident in the lack of context or perspective given to the family's story.  No consideration was given to the glaring social issues raised. It was reported as just another human-interest story.Video (2:00): Windows (7.31 MB), plus MP3 audio (917 kB)The five-minute feature, reported by Neal Karlinsky, explained the conflict Michael Wallent had with his identification as a male, his...

Seton Medical Center in Daly City, CA Daly City, CA, Mar 4, 2008 / 04:19 am (CNA).- A Catholic hospital that refused to allow its facilities to be used for breast implant surgery on a man that had undergone a sex-change operation will now allow the procedure, the California Catholic Daily reports.In 2006 a doctor told Charlene Hastings, 57, that Seton Medical Center in Daly City would not allow him to perform breast-enhancement surgery on a transsexual.  Hastings claimed that upon further inquiry a surgical coordinator at the hospital said to him, “It’s not God’s will” and “God made...

Transgendered independent write-in U.S. presidential candidate Bennie Lee "Ben" Ferguson recently selected Vince Bostic of Wichita, Kansas as her running mate.

So this topic of a Transgendered 8 year old has been posted several times on FR, but Neil Cavuto interviewed some wacky child psycholgist... While he is interviewing this dude, He shows my FR post in the background!!! I believe Caputo is a FReeper...

Here's an example of how schools should be treating diversity in their schools. Perhaps this kind of example can help prevent incidents like the murder that happened in Oxnard, California. CNN interviews Kim Pearson of Trans Youth Family Advocates about an eight-year-old transgender-identified child who is returning to a school in Douglas County, Colorado that has adjusted its facilities and teaching environment to accommodate her. According to CNN, two unisex bathrooms have been provided for the student, teachers will call the student by her name, parents and teachers will get info on transgender people, and officials will be made available...

Transgender residents of Broward County are now protected from discrimination in the workplace and housing, as well as in public venues from restaurants to hospitals. County commissioners on Tuesday expanded their human rights ordinance to encompass gender identity, 13 years after agreeing to protect gays and lesbians. Unlike in 1995, there were no threats that government would incur the wrath of voters or God. Broward becomes the largest Florida community to outlaw transgender discrimination, and one of the largest in the nation.

Colorado: HIGHLANDS RANCH – The issue of being transgender usually pops up with students in high school. However, a 2nd grade biological boy wants to dress as a girl and be addressed with a girl's name. < snip > Pearson says children as young as 5 years old are realizing their true gender identity and her group wants to help parents who may be resisting the acceptance of this.

An 8-year-old boy is preparing to return to his home school district in Colorado as a girl, so school officials are designating two school restrooms as unisex facilities, and preparing to counsel other students on the issue of transgenderism. The report comes from KUSA-Television in Denver, which did not identify the third-grade student or his family in the Castle Rock suburban district. But the report said the student had attended his home district several years ago, as a boy, and then had taken classes in another district for a time. One parent, identified by the television station as Dave M.,...

The parents of an 8-year-old boy who wants to live and be treated as a girl have been working with the Douglas County School District to allow their child to attend school as a girl. The child attended the unnamed school two years ago, and the family and the district have been talking since last fall about the child re-enrolling, said district spokeswoman Whei Wong. "The discussion has been how best to do it," Wong said Thursday. The goal, she said, is "to ensure the kid feels safe physically and emotionally and other kids don't feel threatened in any way."...

Trannyweb member Bennie Lee Ferguson has recently announced her candidacy as an independent for the office of President of the United States. Bennie will also be challenging Republican incumbent Michael O'Neal for the Kansas House of Representatives seat in Kansas District 104.

A transgender Mexican who claims he'll be killed in his homeland for dressing like a woman is getting a second shot at refugee status in what may be the first case of its kind in Canada. Jose Arturo Contreras Hernandez, who now lives in Toronto, claims his life is in danger in Mexico because he's a transgender cross-dresser. "He fears danger to return to Mexico because he is a homosexual and likes to dress as a woman," Mr. Justice John O'Keefe said in a Federal Court of Canada decision last month. Hernandez arrived in Canada in 2006 and filed an...

Rather than seeing our gender as a gift and a given, this movement tries to place some perceived power over sexual identity in the hands of individuals so that they can make their own decision as to whether they are men or women; or even change their minds regularly on the subject.

Talk radio host Michael Savage doesn't mince words. He often says that "liberalism is a mental disorder." He's right. Liberal ideology and political correctness, infused with public policy, begets social insanity. Case in point: A recent report on a popular homosexual "news" site declares, "A transgendered student says he is the victim of discrimination at a small Massachusetts community college because he is biologically female." Say what? "He" is "female"? Welcome to PC-ville. Come for the oxymoron, stay for the cognitive dissonance. In other news, "French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte says he is the victim of discrimination because he is biologically...

The Court of Appeals for the U.S. Ninth Circuit upheld this summer an Oakland, Calif., city government declaration that the phrase "marriage is the foundation of the natural family and sustains family values" was inflammatory and promoted harassment based on so-called sexual orientation. The phrase was also deemed to be homophobic and disruptive. It seems a few Christian women working for Oakland's city government formed a Good News Employee Association, and in promoting the club, included the aforementioned phrase on a flier. Later, a lesbian worker complained that the flier made her feel "targeted" and "excluded." Most recently, hate crimes...

Whenever some group wants to legitimize their cause, they think it apropos to liken their inconvenience to what Blacks went through during the aftermath of slavery and segregation. They use the phrase "civil rights", which is code for Black people. One minor point: there is no comparison, thus any attempt at such is a disgrace and insult to every Black person in America, and his or her intelligence. Many in Bay Area call anti-bias measure an act of betrayal San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Leslie Fulbright Thursday, November 8, 2007National civil rights organizations are celebrating the passage by the House...

Coming to a School Locker Room Near You: Governor Signs SB 777 New law will open female locker rooms to transgender men Governor Schwarzenegger has signed into the law the highly controversial SB 777 (Kuehl) that will permit transgender students to enter the locker rooms and restrooms of the gender with which they identify. Under the guise of preventing discrimination and bias against homosexuals, transgenders and other sexual variants, SB 777 will force innocent school children to accept alternative lifestyles. "We are shocked and appalled that the governor has blatantly attacked traditional family values in California," stated Karen England, Executive...

Washington -- San Franciscans might be more educated than most about the distinctions among transsexuals, cross-dressers and ordinary drag queens. But an irony of the debate in Washington over whether to include transgender people in a bill banning job discrimination against gays and lesbians is that a lot of straight people in other parts of the country draw no distinction between gays and transsexuals - lumping gender identity and sexual orientation together. Transgender people have been part of the gay movement since its birth at the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City in part because much of the public...

Toronto Police Slough Off Gay Pride-Related Criminality By Tony Gosgnach TORONTO, September 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In response to media reports of apparently criminal moral and sexual excesses associated with this year’s “gay pride” events in Toronto this past summer – and what seemed to be a police conflict-of-interest with respect to them – the Life Ethics Information Centre wrote seeking clarification to the mayor of Toronto, David Miller, Police Chief William Blair and the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, Alok Mukherjee. In its letter, the LEIC began by referring to a “Pride Week Reception” that the Toronto...

Chilean Homosexual Non-Discrimination Law Fails Following Protest Activist Believes Bill's Proponents Will Try Again on September 11th By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman CHILE, September 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A bill whose opponents warned would make opposition to homosexuality illegal in Chile was quietly defeated last week when it was removed from a scheduled vote in the Chilean Senate, according to Salvador Salazar, president of Muevete Chile! (Go Chile!). The tabling of the measure followed a campaign by multiple groups and individuals to encourage senators to oppose the measure and preserve the Chilean people's right to speak against homosexual behavior. The bill,...

BALTIMORE — The Rev. Ann Gordon stood in front of her United Methodist congregation last fall and announced that she was now he. Surgery and testosterone had transformed Ann into the Rev. Drew Phoenix -- still as liberal and laid-back as always, but now legally male. Most in the small congregation accepted their pastor's transition; they even threw him a renaming party, complete with birthday cake. But when Phoenix, 48, was reappointed to another year of ministry this spring by his bishop, it sparked a protest in the United Methodist Church. The denomination's highest authority, the Judicial Council, will take...

The California legislature is expected to approve this month a bill redefining “gender and “discrimination” in a way that poses a moral threat to California’s schoolchildren. According to Catholics for the Common Good (ccgaction.org), the bill, SB 777, would “promote discrimination against the Judeo-Christian understanding of human sexuality.” Termed the "Student Civil Rights Act," the bill’s intent, says the its author, Sheila Kuehl, is to protect California students from "bullying and harassment" and to "ensure a safe learning environment." The legislation’s main impact, however, would be to prohibit any "instruction, school activities, or instructional material" that "reflects or promotes a...

In a groundbreaking move to recognize the experiences of transgender Jews, the Reform movement has published several prayers for sanctifying the sex-change process. The Union for Reform Judaism this week released the second edition of Kulanu, the union's 500-page resource manual for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inclusion. The guide includes two blessings authored by Rabbi Elliot Kukla for transitioning genders. Kukla, who was known as Eliza when ordained in 2006 by the movement's New York seminary, originally wrote the blessings for a friend who wanted to mark each time he received testosterone therapy. Still, Kukla believes they are appropriate...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The highest court for the United Methodist Church is taking up the case of a minister who changed gender from female to male. The Reverend Ann Gordon had spent five years as minister at St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore before undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to become the Reverend Drew Phoenix. Bishop John Schol of the Methodists' Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference reappointed Phoenix this spring as pastor of the church, noting that the denomination's Book of Discipline says nothing about transgender clergy. The Judicial Council, scheduled to meet Oct. 24th-27th in San Francisco, will look at...

AN FRANCISCO — Alexis Giraldo was born as a man and takes hormones to feminize her appearance, a fact she(?) says prison officials didn't care about even as her(?) male cellmate repeatedly raped and beat her. Giraldo is suing the state prison system and several guards over the state's policy of assigning inmates like her to men's or women's prisons depending on whether they have had a sex change. "Prisons are violent places, and male prisons are especially violent places," said Greg Walston, a lawyer who took Giraldo's for free and asked a jury this week for unspecified damages. "You...

Current vote count: Yes: 31% No: 69%

Did you know that as a U.S. taxpayer you have helped fund a transgender beauty pageant? That is just one on a long list of bloated expenses by the tax-funded Centers for Disease Control (CDC). CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding recently told the U.S. Senate that her agency needed an additional billion dollars. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) decided to see how the CDC had spent its last $10 billion. What he found will make you sick.

Jessica, a Kansas City police officer, is 6 feet tall with a chin dimple, pink manicured fingernails and a birth certificate that says “male.” But in her mind, Jessica believes she has always been a female. She legally changed her name from David to Jessica last year. And in January, she gained the right to dress as a woman at work. She asked co-workers to refer to her in female pronouns, like “she” and “her.” She started hormone therapy and removed most of her body hair with laser surgery, but she hasn’t had a sex-change operation, known as gender reassignment...

Britain's first sex-change mayor is to be sworn in at a special ceremony today. Jenny Bailey, 45, who was born a man, will be made civic leader of Cambridge City Council. The mayoress is expected to be her partner, former councillor Jennifer Liddle, 49, who also underwent a sex swap. The pair met while undergoing hormone replacement therapy. Ms Bailey, who has two children aged 20 and 18, and was once married, had a sex change operation when she was in her 30s. A spokesman for the Local Government Association confirmed she would be the first transgender mayor in the...

The Transgender Double Standard By Randy Thomas It's always astounded me how willing some in the gay activist community are to celebrate someone surgically altering their body to "become" who they perceive to be internally. Yet when I determine I want to reorient my sexual orientation, which does not require drastic surgery or body altering drugs, according to those same activists, I am the one doing damage to myself and others by simply holding to a particular worldview that brings me contentment and sexual reorientation. The transgendered are applauded for radically altering their bodies while I am scolded for holding...

April 25, 2007— This past Christmas, Riley Grant received a present that can be described as bittersweet — a video game that allowed her to morph a digital body into anything she wanted. Almost immediately, Riley, a 10-year-old transgender girl who is biologically a boy, adopted a virtual female persona. If only life were so easy, that she could punch a button and turn into a girl. "She has a birth defect, and we call it that. I can't think of a worse birth defect, as a woman to have, than to have a penis," Riley's mother, Stephanie, told Barbara...

As they stepped out of cars and limousines and made last-minute adjustments to their outfits, most Fresno High School students seemed reluctant to talk about the reason their prom had become national news. They were all well-dressed, they all smiled -- but most politely said "no thank you" when asked about a classmate nominated for prom queen who ran for prom king instead

When school officials announce the name of the Fresno High School prom king on Saturday, Cinthia Covarrubias will be wearing a tuxedo just like the six boys vying for the honor. School officials this week added the 17-year-old's name to the ballot for prom king, reversing a previous district policy that allowed only males to run for king and females for prom queen. Gay youth advocates called it a landmark victory for campus gender expression and said they believe it's the first time in the U.S. that an openly transgender student has run for prom royalty. Covarrubias, who wears black-and-white...

See for example this thread first. Some lawmakers in the state of Ill Grew ribald, debating a bill They thought it was strange to have a sex change Which reminds me of Bill and Hill...

CLEARWATER, Florida (AP) -- Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in a Florida court Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife's attorneys said the operation does not alter the agreement. The lawyers and Circuit Judge Jack St. Arnold agreed the case delves into relatively uncharted legal territory. They found only a 2004 Ohio case that addressed whether or not a transsexual could still collect alimony after a sex change. "There is not a lot out there to help us,"...

A transgender sex worker found strangled last week near Interstate 280 in Potrero Hill was identified Thursday as a 27-year-old Nicaraguan immigrant. Ruby Ordenana, also known as Ruby Rodriguez, was last seen in the Tenderloin the day before the slaying, said Alexandra Byerly, a project coordinator for EL-LA, a local nonprofit group working with the transgender community. Ordenana was found naked and strangled after 5 a.m. on March 16 at Cesar Chavez and Indiana streets. The medical examiner's office has established her identity and is trying to locate her next of kin. But the local community is holding a vigil...

LCC may yank SAU contract Tuesday, March 06, 2007 By Chad Livengood clivengood@citpat.com -- 768-4918 Lansing Community College may sever contractual ties with Spring Arbor University over its decision to fire a transgender professor. LCC officials say Spring Arbor's treatment of Julie Nemecek violates their nondiscrimination policy, which applies to students, faculty and organizations LCC contracts with. Spring Arbor is under contract to begin offering classes at LCC's new University Center in summer 2008. An LCC spokeswoman said the college would wait to render a decision against Spring Arbor after the outcome of a mediation session today between the local...

Up until now, transsexuals in Spain could only change name and gender officially after a sex change operation and with the approval of law courts. Spain's parliament on Thursday passed a law allowing transsexuals to change their name and gender on official documents without needing to undergo surgery first. The law, which had progressed through the country's lower legislative chamber earlier in the week, was opposed by the conservative opposition Popular Party. The new legislation requires transsexuals to present an official medical diagnosis stating a clinically proven case of gender dysfunction and to have undergone appropriate treatment for two years...

The mayor at his side, longtime Largo City Manager Steve Stanton disclosed to the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday he is undergoing hormone therapy and counseling in preparation for a sex-change operation. Through the process, which could take well over a year, Stanton plans to remain as the chief executive of this city of 76,000. He has the support of Mayor Pat Gerard, who was elected last March. “He’s a dedicated city manager and puts his job first,” she said. Stanton, 48, said he eventually will change his name to Susan, the name his late mother would have given him...

VIENNA, Austria, January 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A boy of 12 began receiving radical hormone treatment to stop the natural development of male puberty and prepare his body for a sex-change operation, after doctors and psychiatrists diagnosed him as transsexual. The boy, now 14--called Kim instead of his original name of Tim--convinced his parents and medical professionals that he was “in the wrong body” and needed to receive treatment to prevent him from developing into an adult male, the UK Telegraph reported earlier today. His parents said they initially assumed their son’s desire to be a girl was a temporary...

In 1973, Eric Karl Swenson was ordained in the Presbyterian Church and went to work doing what he’d always dreamed of: ministering to a congregation of the Southern Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. More than 20 years later, one dream almost ended when another began. When the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta discovered in 1996 that Swenson had finally fulfilled another lifelong desire—having sex-change surgery to become a woman—it started proceedings to revoke Swenson’s ordination.At the time of her “transition,” Swenson did not resist the church’s questions nor blame its reluctance. “I had been in the closet for 30 years, learning to...