5/12/13

Ontario Transman Sexually Assaulted. Police Seek Help.

ST. CATHARINES, ON (WKBW) - The Niagara Regional Police Service is investigating a sexual assault that occurred along the Twelve Mile Creek at Glendale Avenue, in the city of St. Catharines early Monday morning.

Police say around 2 a.m. a transgender male was walking along the east side of the creek when he was grabbed from behind by an unknown male.

According to police, the suspect put a knife to the victim’s neck and threatened to kill him if he did not comply. The suspect sexually assaulted the victim and left the scene on foot.

The suspect is described as male, white, 5’8” tall, thin build with short dark hair.

Anyone with any information is requested to contact the Sexual Assault Unit at 905-688-4111 ext 5131.





5/11/13

Please Sign Transman Issak Wolfe's Graduation Card

We could all but drown out Red Lion High School Principal Mr. Shue as he calls Issak by his birth name at graduation. Despite everything that was done to help him understand transgender people Mr. Shue refused to listen. Instead Mr. Shue attempted to keep Isaak from attending prom trying to bully him and his girl into silence.

Mr. Shue will be summoning him in front of all of his classmates to retrieve his diploma with the wrong name and will hand Issak a diploma, one with a females name inscribed upon it. Oh course Issak will still hear Shue call him but hopefully that won't be his lasting impression of the day. He will remember us for our support and caring.


From the card....
Imagine a graduation ceremony where your principal purposely reads the wrong name. Add your voice in support of trans equality activist and high school senior Isaak Wolfe.

Issak Wolfe is a senior at Red Lion Area Senior High School and will be graduating with the rest of the senior class on June 7th. Issak, who is a female to male transgender student, started his transition the summer before his Junior year and has been going by the name Issak for the past two years. Now, as graduation approaches, his school is refusing to read the name Issak Wolfe when he receives his diploma because it is not the name on his birth certificate. School administration reported that they would only read the name Issak if he got it legally changed but the process takes far longer than the one month before graduation day.

This is not the first time that Issak has run into conflicts of discrimination at his school. Earlier this year, Issak intended to run for Prom King of Red Lion High but school administration refused to put him on the list, instead telling him that he could only run for Prom Queen because they did not identify him as a male.

Despite these conflicts, Issak has been a stellar member of the Red Lion High community. He leads the Gay Straight Alliance group at school and loves taking art and ceramic classes. He also had his prom outfit (seen above) custom made for him and wants to pursue a career in business and fashion after graduation!

Please show your support for Issak by signing this card in celebration of his graduation!



Will Cemia Dove's Murder Be The First Time The Mathew Shepard Act Is Used To Prosecute A Hate Crime Against A Transgender Person?


Will the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes law be used to prosecute Andrey Bridges? And if not, why not? No confession is needed that he committed this heinous act of violence because of transphobia. Cemia's body was found wearing a red Betty Boop belly tank top, three black bras on top of one another, and a light black-hooded jacket. She was naked from the waist down. The rope was tied from the back and also attached to a steel pipe and the concrete. It's more than obvious transphobia was the motivating factor that drove Bridges to murder her.

Andrey Bridges, the man accused of murdering Cemia Dove, a 20 year old transgender woman, appeared in court Friday. Bridges's is charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. His bond was set at 5 million dollars and his case is to have it's first hearing by a grand jury on May 16th.

But no mention of this being a hate crime has been made yet. Can Bridges be charged for a hate crime?
 
From the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act' text:

(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B) or paragraph (3), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability of any person--

`(i) shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both; and

`(ii) shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, fined in accordance with this title, or both, if--

`(I) death results from the offense; or

`(II) the offense includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill.

The transgender community should be afraid the Bridges a repeat offender might walk free. Most recently he beat a woman so badly she after he was released from prison on June 25, 2010 that she had to be admitted to the hospital with a collapsed lung, broken ribs and other injuries.

Bridges pleaded guilty in 2012 to aggravated assault in connection with the June 2010 incident and was sentenced to probation by Judge Hollie Gallagher.

Hildebrand, the Attorney that represented Bridges told the Plain Dealer "he believes the prosecuting attorney agreed to probation for Bridges because so much time had passed and because of concerns about whether his right to a speedy trial had been violated."


Requirement D, that a minority feels that justice will not be served is met. If Bridges had been held accountable under the law for the 2010 beating  he wouldn't have been free to murder our transgender sister.

1) IN GENERAL- No prosecution of any offense described in this subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or his designee, that--

`(A) the State does not have jurisdiction;

`(B) the State has requested that the Federal Government assume jurisdiction;

`(C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or

`(D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.

There are a number of other conditions before charging Andrey Bridges with a hate crime but one that is painfully obvious to the transgender community. This act of violence was reported in such a way in the media that it will result in an increased bias against transgender people.

In Fact the last main stream article by Newsnet5 reporting the bond was the first article that was done in such a way as not to further bias against transgender people.

How would that be used by the prosecutor to convince a jury this was a hate crime? One of the reasons the Mathew Shepard Act was passed by the Senate was because...
"Members of targeted groups are prevented from purchasing goods and services, obtaining or sustaining employment, or participating in other commercial activity"
Nothing could be truer in this instance. The atrocious reporting by local media was amplified time and time again nationally and internationally as editors jumped at the chance to sensationalize and dehumanize Dove parroting the original reporting by the Plain Dealer resulting in the demoralization of our minority internationally.

This devalued sense of worth compounded with the knowledge people obsessed with harming us have been given a added boast to their prejudice makes us more fearful for our individual well being. This of course interferes with our ability to be hired, job performance and participation in the free market.

The transgender community has heard time and again that prosecutors refuse to persecute our murders as hate crimes for fear the jury will reject that charge and ruin there case against the accused.

It's time our transgender minority is protected under law as intended by the Mathew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. It's time transgender people are protected under law. It is time.



5/10/13

Blue Cross Anthem Now Covers Sexual Reassignment Surgery


Not sure if I'm the last to know about this but it's news to me. Since my company switched to a new unaffordable insurance plan that does not cover HRT all options are on the table. Why not try and upgrade if we can? Judging by the phrase "one option for extreme cases" it would appear Blue Cross has preempted the generally accepted diagnosis and will put the onus on the patient to prove their gender dysphoria is 'extreme' enough to warrant SRS. (jumping through cisnormative binary hoops)

Reading the Clinical UM Guideline it becomes apparent the devil is in the details so read it carefully and be fully aware of your options. But most importantly, since you are dealing with a commercial enterprise intent on giving you the least for your money, be beware.




5/9/13

Virtual Criminal Flash Mob Stole 45 Million From ATM's Worldwide in a Few Hours

In what may be the crime of the century cells of people called 'cashiers' used prepaid cards with limits removed to empty ATMs around the world in just hours of more than 45 million dollars.

The good news is that the stolen money did not belong to individual accounts so no one who has a prepaid card has to worry. It was stolen from two middle Eastern banks, Rakbank and Muscat Bank, both banks racked in millions in net profit in 2012. The demographic that uses prepaid bank cards, poor people,  includes trans folk who suffer incredible job discrimination.

Here's how it worked according to the associated press:

"Hackers got into bank databases, eliminated withdrawal limits on pre-paid debit cards and created access codes. Others loaded that data onto any plastic card with a magnetic stripe — an old hotel key card or an expired credit card worked fine as long as it carried the account data and correct access codes."

Source USA Today "After penetrating the processor's computer network, the hackers fraudulently manipulated the balances and withdrawal limits on Rakbank prepaid debit card accounts. Then, teams of so-called cashers allegedly launched carefully timed attacks that caused more than $5 million in criminal losses from more than 4,500 ATMs in about 20 countries."

"In just two hours and 25 minutes, the thieves allegedly conducted 750 fraudulent transactions that withdrew nearly $400,000 from approximately 140 New York City ATM locations, according to prosecutors and the indictment."

"The alleged second unlimited operation unfolded between the afternoon of Feb. 19 and the pre-dawn hours of the following day. This time, the gang's hackers allegedly compromised computers of the processor of prepaid debit cards for the Bank of Muscat, located in Oman."

"In approximately 10 hours, casher cells in 24 countries conducted approximately 36,000 ATM transactions worldwide, withdrawing an estimated $40 million, the indictment charged. The haul included $2.4 million withdrawn by the alleged New York crew."


Modern day Robin Hoods? Not. But at least they didn't steal from the poor. They stole from the filthy rich.

变性能见度开始与“兄弟”Chinese Transman Visibility begins with the "Brothers" Documentary

In 2012 a competition was held for fledgling Chinese directors who aspired to make documentaries about LGBT topics. Out of dozens of applicants two projects were chosen. One project about transmen was picked up because the subject has received so little attention. Chinese transgender men share a peculiar blessing universally with all queer comrades worldwide. Many meld seamlessly into society which is why so little is known of their lives, joys and struggles. We see transmen day to day like vague distorted images seen through a moving vehicle's window.

Yaoyao, one of the winners runs a photo studio for lesbians in Shandong province '... works in an organisation with quite a few transgender people and she already has the permission of one of them to film the whole process [from female to male],’ Stijn Deklerck of Queer Comrades told
Gay Star News in 2012 . ‘And that's a story that hasn't really been covered in China. There have been quite a few documentaries and films about male-to-female transgenders, but there's not been very much on female-to-male.

That's about to change. The Netherlands Embassy in Beijing, Queer Comrades, the Aibai Culture & Education Center, the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute and Common Language are holding an event in connection with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on Friday 17 May, 14.00 – 17.00 pm.



The event is hosted by and will take place at the Netherlands Embassy in Beijing. It will consist of the premiere of the documentary “Brothers” produced by the LGBT organization Queer Comrades (you can watch the trailer here), a panel discussion including Yaoyao (director of thedocumentary), Tony (transgender man, documentary main character), Joanne Leung (founder Transgender Resource Center Hong Kong), Zhen Hongli (psychologist Global Care Women & Children’s Hospital Beijing), and Guo Yanan (Aibai Transgender Program Assistant). This will be followed by an informal networking event where you are encouraged to get to know the Beijing LGBT organizations and their work on transgender issues. The documentary will be provided with Chinese -English subtitles, the panel discussion will take place in the Chinese language without translation.

As seating is limited, please confirm your attendance by writing an email to IDAHO2013@163.COM. We will give priority seating to members of the media, educational professionals and psychological counselors, so please specify your affiliation in this regard.

Address: Netherlands Embassy in Beijing, Liangmahe South Road #4, Chaoyang, Beijing

Tel. : (+86 10) 8532 0200

event information