http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news...n-south-africa
Transgender pageant winner murdered in South Africa
By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

A South African who had won a Miss Gay pageant was found in his rented room with his throat slit, news24 reported.

Thapelo Makutle, 23, had argued late Friday night with two men about his sexuality, his friend, Shaine Griqua told mambaonline.com. Those two men followed him home, broke down his door and killed him, Griqua said.

Makutle, known as Queen Bling, was active in the LGBT community in the Kuruman region, a rural area in the north, Griqua told mambaonline.com. He said his friend identified as gay and recently started calling himself transgender.

"It's so sad. I can't describe the pain that we are feeling right now," Griqua told mambaonline. "We have lost a young, talented, gay man who was open about who he was. The last few days have been like a dark cloud."

Griqua, the director of Legbo Northern Cape, a nonprofit that provides sexual health education, released a statement saying that witnesses had seen Thapelo?s body, and that his genitalia had been ?severed and inserted into his mouth.?

There was no sign of burglary, Griqua said, according to globalpost.com.

Police have not arrested anyone in the case, according to media reports.

South Africa has long been lauded for its liberal positions on gay rights. The country was the first to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution, and same-sex marriage became legal in 2006.

But a Human Rights Watch report from 2011 found that black lesbians and transgender men in rural areas of South Africa face ?extensive discrimination and violence in their daily lives, both from private individuals and government officials.?

Nearly all 120 people interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they lived in fear of sexual assault and that they were reluctant to approach police for protection.

I was very saddened to read this. Too bad someone wasn?t there for him. My heart goes out to Thapelo?s friends and family. Many of the comments are troubling as well. :broken:

From MSNBC this morning:
http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/...-medicine?lite

Certainly worth reading.
I'm sure we have at least a few members here who can closely relate.

From NBCNEWS.com this afternoon
Judge orders sex-change surgery for prison inmate.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012...-by-judge?lite

A short bit on Yahoo! about Lana Wachowski:

Lana Wachowski opens up about sex change

This may be old news to all you lot, but I've only just heard about it. As usual, try to avoid scrolling down to look at the comments unless you want to have your day throughly ruined by the stupidity of a small minority :(

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard either!

She's lucky to have a supportive family and clearly the industry is behind her.

Dsm-5
 

Just saw this today. Hope everyone had an awesome holiday! :cool:

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/27/being-transgender-no-longer-a-mental-disorder-in-diagnostic-manual/


Unfortunately, the comments reveal that much of society has a long way to go... :(

From NBCNews this morning:

Boston fraternity raises more than $16,000 for brother?s sex change surgery
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...e-surgery?lite

This is huge news here in Boston, with the local TV stations and newspapers all running the story ... and, overall, the coverage has been very positive.

Something that may well interest a few of you - from the BBC website...

Richard O'Brien: ?I'm 70% man'

Portland?s largest public high school has repurposed six bathrooms for ?third gender? students, or those who identify as transgender, reports Good Morning America.

http://living.msn.com/family-parenti...4-144d9eecd55d

TG News from Idaho?
 

From NBCNews.com this morning.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...uG8lw5K0.email

"The store security officer said he had been dealing with a problem over a couple days with the person going into the women's restroom and urinating while standing up," Lanier said.

How did they know?

Transgender 6-year-old
 

I'm certainly not competent to comment on this. Read the article for yourself.

Transgender 6-year-old wins civil rights case to use girls? bathroom

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...AAtcLSZw.email

TG News
 

From NBCNews this morning:

Police Seek Suspects in Shooting of Transgendered Woman

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/lo...213608791.html

Not sure if this really belongs here or if it deserves a thread to itself - however, I'll post it here for now.

So, what are we to make of this post-verdict story?

Bradley Manning: 'I am a woman named Chelsea'

what's new?
 

who's doing what?, upcoming events? where are they now?

Cassidy Lynn Campbell
 

Congratulations to Cassidy Lynn Campbell the first transgender to be voted Homecoming Queen in Huntington Beach, California! :respect:

Here's the story link: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?se...nty&id=9256575

Seconded ^^^^^^^ :yes:

Transgender Teen Named Homecoming Queen in Huntington Beach
 

C-O-N-G-R-AT-S, Cassidy!

Transsexual News?
 

I don't think so.
The headline reads:
'Painless death' or 'precipitous cliff'? Transsexual chooses euthanasia after failed operation
but the article is really about the increasing number of legal euthanasia cases in the Low Countries.

To me, singling out the one transsexual individual is an attempt at sensationalism to attract more attention to the article and might be considered a slap in the face to the entire LGBT community. You be the judge.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2...operation?lite

"How Evan Smith Became Vivienne Ming"

From the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_3998281.html

From Foxsports this morning:
Transgender woman sues CrossFit over competition

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story...tition1-030714

-

I spotted this article and did a little digging. Chloie Jonsson is the lady in question. Take at look at the following pictures. If you are like me, the CrossFit folks are not likely to come out of this looking so well.

-mS

TransGender Teacher
 

NBCNews this morning:

A California high school science teacher gave students and colleagues a new lesson in biology Monday, showing up for the first time as a woman a week after her plans to switch genders became suddenly public.

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health...l-woman-n60076

Thanks for sharing. Very inspiring. Much respect to Karen Scot!

Crazy Arizona strikes again.

We often overlook our friends who were born female and transitioned to male. These men should be admired for their courage and in many cases for their impressive physical development. As a former college football player who still works out several times a week, I think the physiques of Buck Angel and Loren Cameron are awesome. :respect:

http://www.oddee.com/item_98038.aspx

Major News, 6/21/14
 

This appears to be a huge national policy announcement made today.
Check it out:
http://news.msn.com/us/without-fanfa...sgender-rights

Laverne Cox
 

This article appeared this morning.

http://tv.msn.com/emmys/laverne-cox-nomination/story/

I think it has bigger implications than just the entertainment angle.

Frank Maloney
 

Homecoing
 

TG Students
 

Boys wear skirts to class in support of classmate.

http://www.advocate.com/politics/tra...s-girl-wearing

The school's decision was overturned.

I'm a big fan of Sons of Anarchy. As it enters it's final season it's worth noting the character Venus Van Dam played by Walton Goggins:

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/...29-10ndof.html

Killed and cooked trans woman was high-class ‘shemale’ sex worker
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/q...-1227081886168

I'm embarrassed to be an Australian. <major facepalm>

‘Killer chef’ Marcus Volke’s and murdered trans woman Mayang Prasetyo’s former employer speaks
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/n...-1227084903463

Brisbane murder-suicide: Candlelight vigil to honour Indonesian woman Mayang Prasetyo
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-1...asetyo/5804836

What the fuck. I'd like to punch whoever came up with that headline in the junk. Repeatedly. Signing a petition just doesn't seem sufficient.

Petition signed.

Signed... Thanks for sharing this. Looks like they are getting a lot of responses. :respect:

Military TG's
 

From this morning's Washington Post:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tra...sal/ar-BBbAK9L

-

TG News from Maine
 

Check out this brief news article which appeared thismorning:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dis...fn09?ocid=iehp
-

Some Of The World's Most Famous Transgender Women Cover CANDY magazine
 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...usaolp00000592
WOOP WOOP!

TG News
 

Self explanatory -

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/%e2...UtBT?ocid=iehp
-

Serbian Army Major
 

In Serbia, this is pretty high-profile news.
A 20-year Serbian Army major comes out.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...jor/ar-BBi2j1U
-

Planet Fitness
 

In today's national news:
Planet Fitness cancels a woman's membership when she complained about a
TG woman in the women's locker room.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/r...oom/ar-AA9uYW9

-

Ashamed to live in Indiana
 

By now most of you have probably heard about the legislation that was signed by Governor Mike Pence that would allow Indiana businesses to effectively discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation or gender identification. :(

On a more positive note the public backlash against this misguided law has been strong and united. The New York Times ran the following article today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/us...gays.html?_r=0

Here's an update to my previous post...

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/l...rday-afternoon