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AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Human Rights Commission ruled Monday that the Orono School Department discriminated against a transgender child by denying her access to the girls bathroom. While the school department’s lawyer warned that schools around the state may not be ready to manage the practical fallout from the decision, civil liberties advocates hailed the ruling as an advancement of human rights.

Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday. The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws. Though transgender men and women are not believed to make up more than a fraction of...

Cher's former daughter Chastity Bono has stepped out for the first time since undergoing a sex change. The 40-year-old activist, who now wants to be known as Chaz, made his debut as a man after beginning the surgical process earlier this year. Chaz, who now refers to himself as a 'he', was spotted enjoying a massage in West Hollywood yesterday. Wearing combat shorts, T-shirt, trainers and baseball cap, Chaz certainly passed for an overweight American male as he left the Body Well in Santa Monica Boulevard on Tuesday

Political and social activist Chastity Bono – the only child of entertainers Cher and the late Sonny Bono – began undergoing a sex change shortly after her 40th birthday on March 4. "Cher is very supportive and has known about Chastity wanting to do this for a very long time," a source tells PEOPLE. "This will be a long process but it's something Chastity has wanted to do for many years." Bono's spokesman, Howard Bragman, told TMZ, which first reported the story, "Yes, it's true – Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his...

Los Angeles, CA (BANG) - Cher's daughter is having a sex change. Chastity Bono - the 40-year-old daughter of the "Believe" singer and her late husband Sonny - began the lengthy gender reassignment process earlier this year. She has asked family and friends to call her Chaz, and will have surgery to give her male genitals later this year. Her spokesman said: "Chaz has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones." "It is Chaz's hope that his...

To All Shelby County, TN Freepers, please refer to the following URL (http://agendapub.shelbycountytn.gov/sirepub/view.aspx?cabinet=PUBLISHED_MEETINGS&fileid=55753. This document represents and amendment to Chapter 12 of the Shelby County Code of Ordinances. This amendment contains in part what is listed below. This is scheduled to be voted on this Wednesday, 5/27 by the Shelby County Commission. This is another attempt to justify and promote immoral sexual behavior. Ultimately, this amendment will allow homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, etc.. to enter our schools as teachers with no means to stop it. Please call your Shelby County commissioner immediately and tell them to vote NO on this...

As transgender activists protested outside the American Psychiatric Association (APA) meeting, speakers at the meeting were presenting on the same topic: gender identity disorder (GID). Some of their words would add clinical weight to the political slogans. Some of the speakers are activists themselves, including Rebecca Allison, MD, cardiologist who is transgender, widely published author Sarah Hoffman, whose son is gender variant, and Hewlett-Packard engineer Kelley Winters, PhD, founder of GID Reform Advocates. Winters1 has called on the APA to use the DSM-V revision to affirm that “in the absence of dysphoria, gender identity and expression that vary from assigned...

LONDON - A FEMALE model who felt she was a man and attracted to women, has had a sex change and discovered she's now a gay man. Katherine Dalton was a sucessful glamour model in her teens and 20s, reported The Sun newspaper, who had a troubled secret. 'For years I was a man trapped in a woman's body. And although I was a beautiful woman I felt ugly because I was not who I wanted to be," the 31-year-old told The Sun. But after a sex change undertaken in her early 20s, Katherine became Adrian. He works for an...

On Tuesday, January 13th, I was a guest on the "Dr. Phil Show" when a segment was aired on children who want to be the opposite sex. Also appearing on the show was the mother of a transgendered boy who is living life as a girl, and several psychotherapists who believe that transgenderism is normal, natural and healthy for some people. I took the position that children should not, however, be encouraged to think of themselves--and live as--as the opposite sex. All of the other psychotherapists disagreed with me. "Imitative Attachment" in the Gender-Disturbed Boy "Gender-identity disorder is primarily an...

CONCORD, N.H. -- The New Hampshire House reversed itself Wednesday and passed a bill extending anti-discrimination protections to transgender individuals by a single vote. The House voted 181-149 last month to kill the bill but reconsidered Wednesday after a passionate appeal from House Speaker Terie Norelli to include transgender individuals in the state's anti-discrimination law. The House debated more than three hours before voting 188-187 to send it to the Senate. Republicans call it the "bathroom bill" based on the argument it would open all bathrooms to both men and women. Republicans said women and children would be put at...

Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in. Schmidt didn't want to refuse someone in need. Having seen few such cases, however, and with limited space that winter night, she wasn't sure where to place the transgender woman. The shelter has space for homeless men and women but not anyone in between. "Rather than turn them away, we give them a cot," said Schmidt, whose staff allowed the woman to stay a week in the shelter's lounge...

In April, 2007, LA Times sports reporter Mike Penner came to work and announced that he was going to start coming to work dressed as a woman, and use the name Christine Daniels. And that's what he did. For eighteen months "she" was a darling of the transgender world. "She" gave speeches to homosexual groups, was profiled in Sports Illustrated, and was honored for having such "courage" to come out as a woman. And "Christine Daniels" continued to cover and write about sports for the LA times. All we can say is, it's a good thing he didn't quite get...

James M. Mason knew his wife since she was born a boy. The janitor and former military man was a boarder in the child's home and was treated like family. Many were surprised when he married Chris nearly three years ago, not just because he knew she underwent sex-change surgery three years before, temporarily calling herself Christine Newton-John after the pop singer with the same last name. He was in his 70s, she in her 30s. He was mild-mannered; she had a domineering personality. Then, last summer, there was another surprise: Chris Mason was accused of exercising her frail husband...

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio – James M. Mason knew his wife since she was born a boy. The janitor and former military man was a boarder in the child's home and was treated like family. Many were surprised when he married Chris nearly three years ago, not just because he knew she underwent sex-change surgery three years before, temporarily calling herself Christine Newton-John after the pop singer with the same last name. He was in his 70s, she in her 30s. He was mild-mannered; she had a domineering personality. Then, last summer, there was another surprise: Chris Mason was accused of exercising...

Transgender activists believe this is the year they will gain equal protection under the state's anti-discrimination laws. "We feel good," said Jerimarie Liesegang, who leads the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition. "We've done the groundwork, we've done the education and we know we have the votes." A proposal, to be introduced in the legislative session that begins Wednesday, would prevent people who in any way blur gender lines from being discriminated against in the workplace or while seeking housing or obtaining credit. More than a dozen states, including California, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island, have enacted similar laws.

There is an enormous and growing body of research, encompassing the fields of biochemistry, neurobiology, physiology and psychology, which all point to a clear conclusion: that there are profound differences between men and women. These go well beyond the obvious physical appearances and reproductive differences; men and women differ at many levels, and also approach relationships differently. As such, this document rests upon, and makes the case for, these four foundational principles: 1. Gender differences exist; they are a fundamental reality of our biology and impact our psychology. Our maleness and femaleness is a key aspect to our personhood. 2....

Barack Obama wasn't the only candidate who made history Tuesday. On the same day the United States elected its first black president, the tiny town of Silverton, Ore., elected the country's first openly transgender mayor. Stu Rasmussen served two terms as Silverton's mayor in the 1990s, but he was still living in the closet -- and dressing in men's clothing. He came out a few years ago, proudly donning a skirt and high heels. On Tuesday, Rasmussen won a third term, by 13 percentage points. He attributes his victory to his deep knowledge of the issues.

A former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job as a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit on Friday.U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress discriminated against Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., by not giving her the job after the former David Schroer disclosed he would start becoming Diane before beginning the new job. "The evidence establishes that the Library was enthusiastic about hiring David Schroer -- until she disclosed her transsexuality," Robinson wrote in his decision. "The Library...

A former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job as a terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit on Friday. More News * Radical rescue: Hundreds of billions for bailout 09.19.08 * Q&A on cleaning up the financial crisis mess 09.19.08 * Light rail train hits bus in LA; 14 injured 09.19.08 * CHP warns of 'star 72' phone scam 09.19.08 U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress discriminated against Diane Schroer of Alexandria, Va., by not giving her the...

A Yeshiva University professor left two years ago as a man - and returned last week as a woman. Literature Professor Joy Ladin, formerly known as Jay Ladin, 47, showed up for her first day of school sporting pink lipstick, a tight purple shirt and a flirty black skirt. She cheerfully strutted through the doors of the Midtown campus' main building, where she oversees the writing center. Many at the Jewish university are horrified by the presence of the transgender professor. Some fear the news could cut alumni donations. Ladin and the school won't comment on the situation, but some...