Free Republic

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider reinstating a Wisconsin law that banned hormone treatments or sex-change surgeries for transgender prison inmates. The justices Monday rejected the state's appeal of a ruling that the 2006 Wisconsin law, by withholding treatments that prison doctors deem medically necessary, violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. Three Wisconsin inmates who are male-to-female transsexuals filed suit after prison doctors, who had diagnosed them as having gender identity disorder, stopped providing hormone treatments because of the law. "Refusing to provide effective treatment for a serious medical condition serves no...

This spring, Les and Scott GrantSmith will mark their 25th wedding anniversary. The couple raised two daughters along the way. But 15 years ago, they hit a crisis that nearly shattered their family. Les was keeping a secret, and that became a problem. But they solved it as a family, in a way that kept them together and happy. In the weeks leading up to that day back in 1997, Les was certain of two things: She was a mother who loved her daughters — and she was also transgender, the term for someone born in a body of the...

JAKARTA, INDONESIA, March 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – As a young child in Indonesia, Barack Obama’s nanny was a transgender “woman” who walked around his home in female clothing and let the future president see him trying on lipstick. In 1969, “Evie” – who was born a man with the name Turdi – worked as a cook when he met Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham. (Turdi/Evie, like many Indonesians, goes only by one name.) Dunham had moved to the nation’s capital of Jakarta to live with her second husband, Lolo Soetoro. For two years, Turdi watched “Barry”, as Obama was called,...

Danann Tyler, who was born male but now dresses as a little girl and has long hair, says she was bullied at school and felt hurt by other children telling her she was a boy. The eight-year-old MTF (male to female) from Orange County, California, is the subject of a new feature length documentary about transgender people. In a special edition of the Anderson talk show, 'Children &Teens Caught In The Wrong Bodies' which is scheduled to air on Wednesday, she told journalist Anderson Cooper: 'My school, people were telling me that I was a boy and it made me...

With homosexuals now able to serve openly in the military, the gay rights movement’s next battleground is to persuade the Obama administration to end the armed forces’ ban on “transgenders,” a group that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

The father of a 7-year-old born a girl said the second-grader, prohibited from using the boys bathroom at school in McIntosh County, has never fit traditional gender roles. At 18 months, the child told Tommy Theollyn, 28, "I'm a boy." The child's father, who gave birth a year before beginning his own gender transition, said he wants school officials in this rural southeast Georgia county to view his son the way the child has always viewed himself. "I'm fighting to get a second grader back in school," said Theollyn, who pulled his son out of Todd Grant Elementary after his...

TMZ has learned ... Chaz Bono will be hitting the hardwood on the new season of "Dancing with the Stars."

The transgender victim of a brutal beat-down at a Maryland McDonald's broke her silence to call the attack a "hate crime," and says it's not the first time she's been assaulted. Chrissy Lee Polis told the Baltimore Sun on Saturday the incident, which was captured on video and posted online, has left her "afraid to go outside." "I want to cry, but I need to hold my head up," she said, adding that she's been beaten and sexually assaulted in the past because of her sexual identity.

The transgender community is organizing a rally outside a Baltimore County McDonald's Monday night to condemn the severe beating of a transgender woman at the fast-food restaurant. The rally is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the McDonald's, located at 6315 Kenwood Ave. in Rosedale. SNIP Sandy Rawls, founding director of Trans-United, a Baltimore-based organization that works to decrease discrimination against transgender people, said nearly 100 people have indicated on a Facebook page that they will attend the rally. She said the event is intended to raise awareness of hate crimes against transgender people.

Late Wednesday afternoon, without advance notice and without fanfare, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed an Executive Order mandating the acceptance of "gender identity and expression" -- including transsexuality, cross-dressing, and related behaviors - throughout state government. The order also requires affirmative action in the hiring of transsexuals and diversity training for all state employees.

Worse 'job' in the world...

President Obama recently named Amanda Simpson to be a Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.The kicker? Simpson is a shemale. Just look at the name, "A Man Da." Shiver. I don't by the whole transgendered thing. I'm sorry you don't feel comfortable in the skin God gave you, but chopping off your dangley bits isn't the answer, medication and counseling is. God doesn't make mistakes, men do. In a statement, Simpson, a member of the National Center for Transgender Equality's board of directors, said that "as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope...

WILLIAMSBURG History was made without fanfare on Saturday. Jessee Vasold, William and Mary's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison wearing a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring to applause and not much other notice. Vasold, a junior, and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd, posed for pictures, and walked off the field. "I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all...

Josie Romero loves the colour pink, braiding her hair and having her fingernails painted. But life has not always been easy for this sweet and charming eight-year-old, who was born in the body of a boy. The transgender youngster, then called Joseph, knew at the age of four that she was the wrong sex and even told her parents: 'I am really a girl.' At five, she was refusing to have her hair cut and only wore colours like orange which were nearest to girly pink. By the time she reached six, Josie had been diagnosed as transgender and was...

A 12-year-old boy reported to have changed sex faces "a critical moment" in his life, a transgender campaign group has said. Bernard Reed, a trustee of the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES), said teachers and pupils at the child's secondary school in southern England were key to his future. The child's parents gave him a girl's name by deed poll and allowed him to wear a dress to school, according to The Sun. The paper said teachers at the school, which has not been identified, called an emergency assembly to explain to pupils the boy would now be...

Boy, 12, Is Having Sex Change, School Announces A school called an emergency assembly to tell children that a 12-year-old male pupil was having a sex change. By Murray Wardrop 18 Sep 2009 The youngster arrived for his first term at secondary school wearing a dress and with long hair in ribboned pigtails after his parents changed his name to a female one by deed poll over the summer holidays. However, the boy, who is preparing to undergo hormone treatment and sex change surgery, was immediately taunted by classmates who recognised him from primary school. As a result, the 1,000-pupil...

A transgender driver's return behind the wheel of a taxi has lasted just a month. Andre Edwards, 51, walked out of her job at Leyland-based Eco Cabs following a series of rows with her new bosses – and they don't want her back. The move comes less than a month after the Evening Post revealed how the company, based on Mellor Road, had given her a chance to work two months after she was sacked from Leyland Taxis

The Silverton, Oregon, city council has censured its transgender mayor. Mayor Stu Rasmussen admitted to wearing an open-back bathing suit, mini skirt, and high heels when he spoke before a group of children at a non-profit organization. A person attending the speech was displeased and filed a complaint. Andrea Lafferty is with the Traditional Values Coalition. "This is a man who's dressing like a woman. He was born a man. He has male DNA. That cannot change," she believes. Lafferty says the idea of making the appearance in front of children is an affront to parents who do not want...

Jeremy was refused entry to his high school prom when he arrived in a gown and makeup instead of a tuxedo. KUAM, Guam’s news network, reports that officials at George Washington High School in Guam refunded the money Jeremy spent for a prom ticket, but are unsympathetic about the $400 he spent on clothing and other items, and will not issue him the apology that he wants for being unable to attend the prom. Jeremy claims that he was discriminated against when he was denied entry. “I said, ‘Where does it state in this rule in this paper that there’s...

“How do you tell your kids that mommy is now a daddy? Or that a daddy is now a mommy?” Leave it to ABC to raise these questions on “Good Morning America.” A July 21 segment previewed “Primetime Family Secrets” airing later that night about a transgender woman and the effects of the decision on his family. Correspondent Juju Chang documented the Prince family for one year. In 2008 Ted Prince became “Chloe” through a sex change and his wife, Rene, stayed with him. The couple has two sons: Logan is 7 1/2 and Barry is 6. Since the...