Tag: transgender

Posted on

Affordable Care Act bars transgender discrimination

Chris Geidner is reporting at Buzzfeed  The Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed that under the Affordable Healthcare Act, federally funded agencies and providers will be barred from discriminating against transgender patients:

In response to a letter sent by a dozen LGBT health and advocacy organizations to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in June, Leon Rodriguez — the director of HHS’s Office for Civil Rights — wrote on July 12 HHS considers discrimination based on “gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity” in federal health programs or activities receiving funding under the Affordable Care Act#39;s-covered programs to be illegal.

In the letter, obtained by BuzzFeed, Rodriguez agreed with the groups’ assessment that the prohibition on sex discrimination in Obama’s health care law prohibited discrimination against transgender people and stated that his office would investigate any complaints of such discrimination. Referring to a recent survey, National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling told BuzzFeed that 20 percent of transgender people report being turned away from a health-care provider for being transgender. “That’s illegal now,” she said.

Read the full report here.

Posted on

New American Apparel t-shirt is GAY O.K.

From The Advocate: American Apparel’s next T-shirt slogan – “GAY O.K.” – is now on sale for Pride month, following its popular “Legalize Gay” series.

GLAAD worked with the retailer on casting for the new ad campaign.

American Apparel employees will also join GLAAD staff in LGBT Pride marches across the country, including in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco. Participants will each receive an AA tee, courtesy of American Apparel.

Transgender model Isis King will be part of the ads, a first for the company that GLAAD President Herndon Graddick praised as “bold leadership by being among just a few companies to include transgender people in its national ads.”

“It’s time for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, to accept each other and thrive in harmony,” said Marsha Brady, a creative director for American Apparel. “We hope everyone comes out and joins us.”

Posted on

5 year sentence given for beating of trans woman in Baltimore

Teonna Monae Brown, 19, was charged with the April 18 Baltimore McDonald’s beating of transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, and will now serve the sentence of five years in prison for the crime.

The incident attracted national attention after the video was posted on YouTube by a McDonald’s employee who recorded the incident but did nothing to stop the crime.

You can see the very disturbing video of the attack here. Be warned though – it’s very disturbing.

In the recorded video, the teen, along with another 14-year-old female, is seen beating the transgender woman in the body and head, dragging her across the restaurant after she used the women’s restroom.

“I continue to suffer seizures, bouts of crying, mental anguish and anxiety,” Polis said in a statement. “I fear being alone. I have flashbacks about the attacks. I have twice now been admitted to a crisis center, and I am having extreme mental difficulty.”

Brown’s sentence produced 10 years for each of the charges standing against her, but Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge John Turnbull III suspended five years on both counts, allowing Brown to serve the remaining 5 year sentence concurrently. Brown will also stand on a three-year probation after her release from prison.

The 14-year-old, whose name has not been released, has admitted responsibility to the same charge of hate crime and first degree assault. Her sentence was undisclosed, but she was sent to a juvenile facility for an unknown period of time.
(from LGBTweekly.com)

Posted on

People.com editor comes out as transgender

Janet Mock, an editor at People.com and a blogger, told the compelling story of how she came out as a transgender woman — a secret that she’s kept from almost everyone she knows — to writer Kierna Mayo for Marie Claire.

It’s a brief but intriguing story, which will challenge the way you think about the transgender process.

The flight to Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport felt far longer than I’d imagined. It was Christmas break during my freshman year at the University of Hawaii, and I was 18, anxious, and alone. After high school graduation, many of my classmates were throwing big graduation parties and buying new cars. Those kids went looking for good times and great memories, but I was desperately searching for one thing only: a chance to be in the right body for the first time in my entire life. I had traveled more than 6,000 miles to have gender reassignment surgery — a sex change.

Counting backward as the anesthesia took hold, I surrendered to what I believed with certainty would be a better future. And then, just like that, I was awake again. The sound of Muslim prayers rang through the air, echoing in my brightly lit hospital room. Even though I’d spent the last three hours on the operating table — I could already feel the first tinges of pain in my lower body — I felt completely reborn. Though I had been born a boy to my native Hawaiian mother and African-American father, I would never be a man. It was the birth of my choosing this time. And now it was official: Charles had died so that Janet could live.

I have a thriving career as a Web editor for a very popular magazine. My coworkers don’t know about my past, mostly because I never wanted to be the poster child for transsexuals — pre-op, post-op, or no op. But the recent stories about kids who have killed themselves because of the secrets they were forced to keep has shifted something in me.

Read about Janet’s journey by clicking here.

Posted on

Transgender woman attacked at McDonalds in Maryland

After an unidentified transgendered woman tried to use the bathroom at a Baltimore McDonalds, two patrons started attacking her in full view of other customers and employees. Instead of trying to intervene, the employees filmed it on their phones to post online.

You can see the very disturbing video of the attack here. Be warned though – it’s very disturbing.

While you can see the manager yelling stop at the two women attacking the customer, none of the other employees even try to intervene or keep the women from dragging the victim across the restaurant floor.

The male employee who shot the video appeared to have done nothing to help. On the video, he’s heard telling the attackers that the victim is seizing and that police are on the way.

A brave elderly female customer steps in to help. The manager and employees simply watch as the victim starts to have a seizure and offer no help whatsoever.

Details on the arrest of two suspects from the Baltimore Sun:

The attack occurred April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave., in Rosedale, county police said. Police said a 14-year-old girl had been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman. Police said the incident “remains under investigation and the state’s attorney’s office is reviewing the case.”

Police said the victim was a 22-year-old woman and said an update on her condition was not immediately available.

Equality Maryland identified the victim as a transgendered woman. The group has urged officials to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

As the video spread, McDonald’s issued a statement about the attack:

“We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling,” the company said in a statement posted on its website. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter.”
(via Bilerico.com)

Disgusting.