New Location for this Blog

Hi everyone, in my ongoing effort to streamline my online presence, this blog will NO LONGER be updated:  I have moved this blog to a new location on Blogger: Candidly Transgender blog (candidlytransgender/blogspot.com).

This Candidly Transgender blog will be updated regularly on my Google+1 account and frome time to time on my Facebook profile and/or columnist page,

My website Brianna Austin.com will also feed this blog on the right side of any article in Features section of that site, as well as the left side of the TGlife.com home page.

So if you have a Google account, please find and friend me on Google +1.

Trans Beating at Mc D's

For those that are not living as trans-girls 24/7, it's possible that the all the headlines about T-girls beat and killed doesn't resonate for them.  This video might bring it into perspective.

Hate crimes are bad enough when committed, but what does it say about the intolerance of our society when the crimes are committed by teenagers?  

Read the full story and see interviews with the victim here

Kylie, LGBT And Everyone Else Lose Their Minds At Sydney Mardi Gras

According to Gay Cities, " Aphrodite herself, Kylie Minogue, was on hand to celebrate Sydney Mardi Gras, the city’s unique version of a gay Pride festival. Thousands marched down Oxford Street on Saturday—the culmination of weeks of parties, concerts, screenings and more—decked out in costumes celebrating a theme of “Infinite Love.” Other performers included Sam Sparro, Sneaky Sound System, Shauna Jensen and RuPaul. (You can watch an hour of highlights from the parade on the Sydney Mardi Gras website.)

This was the first Mardi Gras since producers re-branded the event as a more hetero-friendly affair. (the “Gay and Lesbian” was removed from “Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.”)

Click here to view all the great photos, and get a link to watch an hour of footage.

Obama Keeps Pushing

Say what you want, this president has been the most inclusive of minorities than any before him.  And finally, a president has reached out to include transgender people.  Beginning with the appointment of Amanda Simpson as technical advisory for the Department of Commerce,  he is once again pushing the boundaries. Yesterday the White House hosted the LGBT Conference on Housing & Homelessness in Detroit, Michigan, in partnership with the Ruth Ellis Center. It is the second in a series of conferences being held across the country to address the unique needs of gay and transgender Americans, and comes on the heels of the announcement by Secretary Shaun Donovan of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who's department in January announced the new equal access rule, which will help reduce housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

If we can get legislation to protect transgender people, while at the same time activists and advocate can educate the general public, slowly, I think we'll continue to see the gap on injustice and discrimination close.  

Obama’s former transgender Indonesian nanny overwhelmed by sudden celebrity, job offer

As many of you may know, the Associated Press broke the story recently about the former caretaker to the president (when he was a child in Indonesia). Born a he, Evie considers herself a woman, but after years of abuse has lived mostly male. Now at 66 years old,m she says that “After living without hope for so long, like I was locked in a dark room, I now feel like the door is open,” said Evie, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. “It’s like the winds of heaven are blowing hope for me. Even my relatives who never cared about me are now coming to see me.”

Read the full article here

There are so many that suffer to same -- or worse -- discrimination for presenting themselves the way that feels most natural to them, this kind of world attention might provide much needed attention on the transgender topic.

What do you think?  Will it help?  

Are Pinoys ready for a transgender president?

Heart Diño’s election as the first transgender chair of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Student Council last March 1, 2012 excites many political observers who view it as a portent of greater participation among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Filipinos in the political arena. They have every reason to be excited. Today, indicators suggest that the Philippines will be electing more LGBTs into public offices, including Congress, in the 2013 elections. But are we ready for a transgender president? Read More here.

Judging by what is happening around the world, with so many gay and transgender people assuming roles in government and politics, that we should see more in the Philippines. However, being that it took 200 years for a black man to reach president in the United States, I don't see a transwomen obtaining that position in the Philippines -- or anywhere else for that matter -- in a VERY VERY long time, if ever. 

Should We Lock Away The Different?

Yet another story of a kid with such a strong sense of gender identity, that before she could "learn" who she was expected to be, she already knew who she was.  That seems to scare onlookers when :"who she is" doesn't fit the status quo of who she should be. Why do adults believe that when a kid feels something so strongly that they (the adults) actually know better the internal feelings of the child?

I would argue that a child -- who has not yet had any social conditioning -- is better in touch with who they are than adults are.  How many adults follow a life's path based on the expectations of others?  They have passions as a child and teenager, and then are molded by parents, teachers, and/or peer groups to fulfill the agenda of someone else.

When I am out and about, I've had so many "straight" men tell me that they admired the freedom that I display in being who I am, or choose to be. Is there a component in our society that inhibits men from being open and pursuing what makes them happy?

The kid in question is being torn between parents, who divorced over the issue.  But the father has  gotten a court to commit the child, while the mother filed an appeal.

Progressive Transgender Movement

For all its chants of being the greatest country on the planet, America has really lagged behind Asian and South American countries when it comes to transgender rights, which is really just equal rights. Argentina recognized same-sex marriages a few years back, while South Korea and others have recognized post transition females as women, and many of them have married. Colombia has also been showing signs of a new respect for trans-people there; demonstrated by the recent appointment by the mayor of Bogota, who appointed Tatiana (shown above) to head up the Social Integration Department. The more we come out and hold jobs of responsibility, and do them well, the sooner we can get the mainstream past their ignorance and bigotry. Well done Colombia!!

Lady Bunny

I've had the pleasure of meeting Bunny at several events, and although she is not for the faint of heart, she is still funny as can be.

Transsexual Returns to Original Gender After Relationship With Christ

Walt Heyer says that no one can really change their gender. He should know, too, because he's tried. When he was only about five years old, Heyer's grandmother began to dress him as if he were a girl and even made a dress just for him. The result was a very confused little boy.

"I look at it today as being pretty abusive. While it seemed very benign at the time, and maybe even playful, I can see today...that it was really abusive to my psyche,” he told The Christian Post on Wednesday.

He is the author of the books Trading My Sorrows and, most recently, Paper Genders,

While I respect Walt's story, hear his regret, and I am happy that he has found his own happiness, his statement that "You're not born transgender, something happens in your childhood that causes you to not want to be who you are...And today the only thing that is...socially acceptable is calling yourself a transgender,” should be noted as opinion; especially because science everyday is finding more evidence to refute such a statement. Which doesn’t mean it’s untrue in his case, or some others. but it shouldn't be stated as fact for everyone.

Walt, in my opinion, suffers from the same problem that many trans-people do:  reciting Myth and Misinformation as fact; they falsely believe that having a trans-experience somehow makes them an expert on the topic.   Yet, because someone has a transgender experience doesn't make them an expert in anything except HOW IT AFFECTS THEM, no more, no less.

Clever or Offensive?

Football King Transitions and Runs as Woman

Gina Duncan was a former football homecoming king and now running for office as the woman she evolved into in 2006.  Every time a transperson steps into the spotlight and carries themselves well, they advance equal rights just by dispelling the myths of imagination that the mainstream has had of trans-people for so long.

Gina is comfortable in who she is, and well spoken, and with a little luck will prevail.  Watch her interview.