Thanks for posting this, I also wish the best for another young person going through this. :cheesy:

As I read through the article I kept being struck yet again with just how much the english language needs a non-gendered pronoun for individuals. We as a culture adopt new words into the lexicon all the time, com'on "google" is now a common verb, it shouldn't be this hard. Other languages have them, why are we so stubborn on this? It would eliminate the whole argument entirely instead of this bizarre circle-the-drain debate that seems to overshadow the trans experience in favor of semantics.

Hmm, looks like a rant. Sorry, this bugs me to no end. :seconddoh:

*Rev. Cameron Partridge Will Be First Openly Transgender Priest to Preach
at Washington National Cathedral*

Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge will make history on *Sunday, June 22*, as the first openly transgender priest to preach at the
historic Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in honor of
Pride Month. *The Rt. Rev Gene Robinson*, known as the first openly gay
priest to be elected a bishop, will preside at the service.*

"Cameron Partridge is a priest of great intellect, pastoral presence, and
possesses a deep passion for the Gospel. We are excited for him to preach
at the Cathedral," said The Very Rev. Gary Hall, the dean of Washington
National Cathedral. In a statement sent to The Huffington Post, he said:

"As an advocate both within the Church and wider community, Cameron's
presence in the pulpit, I hope, will also send a symbolic message in
support of greater equality for the transgender community, which suffers
from acts of violence, discrimination, unemployment, homelessness, and
financial inequality. We at Washington National Cathedral are striving to
send a message of love and affirmation, especially to LGBT youth who suffer
daily because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. We want to
proclaim to them as proudly and unequivocally as we can: Your gender
identity is good and your sexual orientation is good because that's the way
that God made you."

Partridge is *one of just seven openly trans clergy in the Episcopal Church*.
He became one of the first trans chaplains at a major university when he
was appointed Boston University's chaplain in 2011, according to Religion
and Politics' profile.
In 2012, the Episcopal Church officially voted to change its "nondiscrimination canons" to include "gender identity and expression" so that transgender people could not be barred from becoming priests, under law.

Partridge was in the process of being ordained as a priest when he told his
bishop, The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, that he was transitioning from female
to male in 2001. Shaw supported his decision and has gone on to become a
dedicated advocate for trans issues within the diocese of Massachusetts.
Boston's Cathedral Church of St. Paul now hosts a memorial on the annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance, to mourn those who have died because they were trans. Shaw told Religion and Politics, "I stand up in front of them each year and say
that the conception of God that judges you is not the conception of God in
this diocese."

Washington National Cathedral is one of the most high-profile Christian
advocates for LGBT equality. In 2013, Hall announced a policy of blessing
same-sex marriages, and held a service to celebrate the Supreme Court's
rejection of the Defense of Marriage Act.

However, policy does not always immediately translate into true acceptance,
which is one reason why Partridge's service at the Cathedral is so
important. Chris Paige, a transgender activist who runs Transfaith, a nonprofit focusing on faith and spirituality issues, told The Huffington Post in 2013 that
"The trans experience is still little-understood in the general community
and even more so at times in churches and spiritual spaces. Most of the
time when we go into a congregation, we have the experience of being the
first one. Even in congregations that say they accept transgender people,
it doesn't mean they have ever met a trans person."

The fact that Partridge is trans means that he has a wealth of experiences
and struggles to share with his congregations. "In one sense, my being
trans doesn't matter," he said to Religion and Politics about his role as
chaplain for Boston University.

"In another way, I'm able to have certain conversations about the
complexities of human identity with college students, who are figuring out
their own identities."

Paige also feels that trans people have a lot to offer religion, and vice
versa. "There is such an intersection between being trans and religious,"
Paige told The Huffington Post.

"Some of the fundamental religious questions -- 'Who am I? How do I fit
into the world?' -- those are very familiar questions that people ask on a
journey of gender exploration."

From Huffington Post. 6/6/14

Just read this today. Another news story about Wren (a young trans boy out west who has been in the news a few times in the past), apparently he has now been granted an amended birth certificate. To my knowledge he's the first trans kid who has managed to get his birth certificate changed in Canada (since laws were recently changed so that you don't need to have had surgery anymore).

Somehow even after all these years, though, I still make the mistake of reading the comments and they still make me fume. At least I don't allow myself to get pulled into signing up and responding to the ignorant assholes anymore, though :p

http://globalnews.ca/news/1395508/al...s-born-a-girl/

New York State Sued Because Trans-Exclusionary Medicaid Regulation Has Got To Go

Posted by Maddie on June 27, 2014 at 5:00am PDT

Last week, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Legal Aid Society and the law firm of Willkie, Farr and Gallagher filed a class action lawsuit against the state of New York, which has discriminated against transgender people seeking healthcare since 1998 with a regulation that categorically denies Medicaid coverage for gender affirming healthcare. SRLP has been working to reverse this regulation since they opened in 2002.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two women, Angie Milan-Cruz and I.H., who have both been denied medically necessary healthcare by New York State Medicaid because of the discriminatory regulation. While Milan-Cruz and I.H.’s names are on the suit, Sylvia Rivera Law Project staff attorney Elana Redfield said, “Class action is the right avenue for this case, because so many people are impacted by the issue. We estimate that as many as 8,000 people could be affected by this regulation — too many to represent on a case-by-case basis.”

In a press release on the SRLP website, SRLP Staff Attorney Pooja Gehi said, “This regulation aggravates discrimination against a community that is already struggling to survive… When our clients cannot access healthcare they need, they have a harder time getting identity documents such as state ID, or getting jobs, housing, and basic social services.” The release also described the legal case they are making against the regulation:

“The lawsuit challenges the regulation on three main legal points:

>>> New York State’s Medicaid regulation conflicts with the federal Medicaid Act, which prohibits certain forms of discrimination in state Medicaid programs. Medicaid discriminates because it provides most of the healthcare transgender people need to others who are not transgender.

>>>> New York State’s Medicaid regulation conflicts with the Affordable Care Act, section 1557, which prohibits discrimination in health care on the basis of gender identity expression amongst an entity that receives federal funding.

>>> The New York State Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which includes sex stereotyping. Denial of necessary medical care solely on the basis of assigned birth sex is discrimination on the basis of sex stereotyping.”

The suit comes shortly after the Obama administration’s recent announcement that gender affirming healthcare will no longer be excluded from federal Medicare coverage. While this announcement still leaves state Medicaid programs like the one in New York free to keep regulations like the trans exclusionary one intact, Redfield is hopeful states to follow the federal government’s lead:

“Since the Medicare decision, we have also seen Massachusetts reverse its exclusion, and Washington state declare that transgender discrimination is illegal in private healthcare. I think it’s only a matter of time before other jurisdictions follow suit.”


http://www.autostraddle.com/new-york...-to-go-242956/

Man Crush Monday: Jaden Remy Introduces You to Philly’s Hottest Trans Bachelors

http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/...4/07/Riley.jpg

http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/20...t=#gallery-1-1

'Trans Bodies, Trans Selves': A Modern Manual By And For Trans People

http://media.npr.org/assets/bakertay...347-s2-c85.jpg

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/17/332051...r-trans-people

I heard the interview on NPR yesterday it was really meaningful

All Women's College now accepts Trans students
 

California
 

Bill AB1577 the "respect after death" law was signed into effect by Governor Jerry Brown, allowing a person to have their gender identity of choice listed on their death certificate.

The person "closest" to the deceased will be allowed to say what the gender is, and people may sue to be that person or bring forth documentation from the deceased if it looks like someone is not using what the deceased would say was their identity.

I've been making it my goal to find happier stories on Trans individuals and ran across this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...n_5948248.html

10 Misconceptions every trans ally needs to understand
 

http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/11/...ly-understand/


Good read!

That is a VERY good read, to my mind. :)

I hope it will help and folks understand.

Ugandan Transgender Web Series ‘The Pearl of Africa’ Releases Episode 3

http://oka-cdn.okayplayer.com/wp-con...-kambugu-2.jpg

http://www.okayafrica.com/news/the-p...ies-episode-3/

India has elected a transgender mayor.
Madhu Bai Kinnar – an independent candidate – defeated her opponent from prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) by more than 4,500 votes to be elected mayor of Raigarh, in the central state of Chhattisgarh, on Sunday.
Kinnar, 35, is a member of the lowly Dalit caste, once known as ‘untouchables’. Before running for mayor, she earned a living by singing and dancing on Howrah to Mumbai trains, collecting money for her performances. She only stopped when asked to represent her community.
“People have shown faith in me. I consider this win as love and blessings of people for me. I’ll put in my best efforts to accomplish their dreams,” said Kinnar after her win.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/wom...ted-mayor.html

How did I miss this about Warren Beatty's son?
 

http://www.eonline.com/news/612713/a...rss_topstories



Awesome, thanks for posting this!

On the golden globs award show tonight, Transparent won two awards,check it out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robi-l...ar,transgender

I love reading stories like this, more trans men having positive news articles.

Thanks, this is one of the best I've seen in a while.

I have known or known of a large number of trans men who are way more attracted to other men than they are to women and yet marry or partner with women. I do not get that. Seems the case with this marriage. I also don't get being married to someone who is more hot for a gender that is not yours. To each his or her own. But I don't get it.

Indeed, I try to find more positive instead of negative.

Pennsylvannia
 

The Governor of the state has named a woman to the office of Physican General, which is the highest office a transgendered person has achieved in Pennsylvannia.

Congratulations to Dr. Rachael Levine!

medicare now covers surgery
 

Well, it actually isn't that it covers surgery per se, it is just that it doesn't actually outright refuse to pay for surgery.

To my knowledge, there isn't actually a case yet where they have paid. However, Dr. Marcie Bowers has been willing to do surgery under the assumption that they will pay.

BU researchers find biological basis for transgender identity

http://dailyfreepress.com/wp-content...er-400x161.jpg

http://dailyfreepress.com/2015/02/18...nder-identity/

Thanks for posting this. As the people said in the comments, I wish they had linked the journal article.

I clicked on the word 'review' in the article and was brought to the Journal where you can get the article. Here it is:

http://www.endocrinepractice.org/con...6/fulltext.pdf

Ugh,I dislike when there is no link to a medical journal but good article.

Thanks for posting this.

It appears to be a well-done study, with many citations and sources.

I learned a great deal.

Ah. Thank you so much, Soon.

Planet fitness and gym locker rooms in the news

I think it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Interesting. When I had contacted them as a gym one time they said that the sex on my ID had to match which room I'd use for changing. And since that hasn't been altered yet I was like "nope, not going here" simply because it'd be fairly obvious I didn't belong in the women's room.

Hey, Linus. Can I ask why you haven't altered your gender marker on your I.D. yet? I know that you had top surgery, correct?

See the Real Me

Transgender girl, Jazz Jennings, Becomes Face of Clean & Clear.

Stellenbosch University doctors perform first successful penile transplant in the world


http://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty...nsplantSU_.jpg

http://www.sun.ac.za/english/Lists/n...m.aspx?ID=2328