US - The M2F gender variant mayor-elect Stu Rasmussen's new clothes... [2008-11-20 LA Times]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-transgender20-2008nov20,0,3165453,full.story

The mayor-elect's new clothes: Silverton, Oregon, elects a transgender leader

Kim Murphy / Los Angeles Times
Stu Rasmussen, newly elected mayor of Silverton, Ore., is believed to be the nation's first openly transgender mayor.

After a major makeover, including breast surgery, the longtime public servant is still just Stu Rasmussen to residents of this small Willamette Valley town.

By Kim Murphy
7:16 PM PST, November 19, 2008

Reporting from Silverton, Ore. -- Stu Rasmussen promised a new administration if he was elected, and he's as good as his word: Silverton residents not only are getting a new mayor; they're also getting a new Stu.

Rasmussen, longtime manager of the local cinema, was also elected mayor in 1998 and 1990, and served four years -- but that was when he was wearing slacks and sport shirts to council meetings. The new Rasmussen -- who got breast implants a few years ago and began calling himself Carla Fong -- wears skirts, lipstick and high heels.

The thing is, Rasmussen's been a fixture in this small former lumber mill town so long, people tend not to pay much attention to what he's wearing.

Earlier this month, Rasmussen became America's first openly transgender mayor. His constituents say they elected him not for his looks, but because he promised to put a halt to the rapid development that has threatened Silverton's small-town charm.

"My first two terms, I was a very straight-looking guy," said Rasmussen, 60, a software engineer who has written on transgender issues. "Now, I writeunder the name Carla Fong, but basically I'm Stu in Silverton. Honestly, it would be too much trouble to retrain the whole town."

Rasmussen walks down Silverton's Norman Rockwell-like main street in a plunging purple top revealing impressive cleavage, with a tight black miniskirt, flowing red locks and dagger-like red nails. He is stopped every few feet by people who want to shake his hand and congratulate him on his victory, in which he took 52% of the vote against 39% for incumbent Mayor Ken Hector in the nonpartisan election.

"To be perfectly candid, the incumbent . . . and I are not bosom buddies -- that was a bad choice in terms," deadpans Rasmussen. "Ken's heart is in the right place, but it's just when his mind's made up, that's it -- facts won't change it.

"What was it Alexis de Tocqueville said -- his mind is not like the fertile field onto which seeds fall. Ken . . . had a council that was easy for him to get along with because, when he didn't get his way -- well truthfully, his last name is Hector, and he just kind of lived up to it."

Rasmussen, who has served the last four years on the City Council, promises an era of "reasoned discourse" in the city "where everybody's going to be participating for a change."

He has pledged to help control the rapid growth that has seen new homes and an industrial park spring up in this town of about 9,600, and vowed to demand safety reviews of the dam upstream -- which he fears could fail during an earthquake and inundate the town.

Hector said that growth had slowed considerably in the last four years, and that the dam in question had been certified as being able to withstand an earthquake of 8.3.

"I grew up in Southern California, and you know as well as I do: If you're in an 8.3, you've got bigger worries than just a dam breaking," he said.

In years past, Silverton has been known mainly as the home of Bobbie the Wonder Dog, who got lost on a road trip to Indiana in 1923 and showed up back home in Oregon six months later, apparently having walked the 2,800 miles in between.

Then there are the annual Davenport Races, in which residents propel customized couches down Main Street in honor of Homer Davenport, a political cartoonist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who was born just south of town.

"I like to say we're 40 miles and 40 years from Portland. Here's a place you dial the wrong number and you get in a conversation anyhow," Rasmussen says.

"It's a bucolic little town," said City Manager Bryan Cosgrove. "We're doing a lot of investments in our downtown, and we have funding challenges like any other city. As for the election, I've kind of stayed out of all the publicity, because it's not really about the city per se; it's about Stu."

Silverton appears to have come to terms long ago with Rasmussen's nebulous gender, which he describes as "25%, maybe 30% between" man and woman, and his "adoption of the twins," as the mayor-elect refers to his breast surgery. But he still manages to catch some people off guard.

"Guys come up to me in the bar and say, 'Hate to tell you this, but I saw this woman on the street the other day, and I'm thinking, great legs, nice tan, and she turns around and I go, 'Oh, my God, it's Stu!' " Rasmussen recounts in the deep voice that seems always softened with a trace of humor.

"If I could have a face transplant, it'd be perfect. A face like this, only a mother could love. But people overlook the face now," he says, glancing discreetly down at his tank top, "because there's all this other real estate."

Not long after Rasmussen debuted his new look, the City Council adopted a dress code mandating "business casual" at council meetings.

"We're doing business for the city, and he's showing up in outfits that frankly were embarrassing. . . . Miniskirts and halter tops to a City Council meeting? Imagine that in Seattle or L.A.," Hector said. "When you're dressing, I'm sorry, like a $3 hooker, it's disrespectful to your community."

"He wanted no cleavage, no short skirts, no high heels," Rasmussen said, with a slight roll of the eyes. "He'd made his point; he'd won the game. So I just proceeded to ignore it."

Until he takes office in January, Rasmussen is focusing on drawing in patrons to his large, 1950s-style, 40-foot-screen cinema with full digital sound, which at the moment is "hemorrhaging cash." He is also trying to market a coin-operated multi-player trivia game he designed for bars and restaurants.

Much of the rest of the time he spends with his girlfriend of 35 years, Victoria Sage, whom he describes as "the light of my universe." (The two split briefly after the breast augmentation and wardrobe change. But Rasmussen, feeling he'd been "shot through the heart," managed to win her back.)

"She tolerates it nicely. She lets me be the pretty one," he said. "It's not her thing, but she's my biggest supporter, and she's a lovely woman."

Rasmussen already has earned Silverton a dubious measure of national notoriety among anti-homosexual activists. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., known for its protests across the country targeting gays, plans to picket Monday in downtown Silverton "to speak some words of truth to this 60-year-old pervert," according to the church's website.

But in a part of the country where "small town" is often used as a synonym for redneck, Silverton appears inclined to let Stu and Victoria work out the details of their relationship as they please.

"He's got a lot of supporters in this town. He's super-available, and he's so sensible. He's not an alarmist; he's not an extremist," said Brenda Marks, who helps run a downtown artists co-op gallery that recently sold a photo of Rasmussen decked out as Marilyn Monroe.

"There are very few malicious, hating, gun-toting survivalists around here. I think that's an awful stereotype about small-town living," Marks said. "I think people are really open to learning about other people's life experiences in the world."

-

Murphy is a Times staff writer.

kim.murphy@latimes.com

--

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
 

Britain - Trades Union Council Calls for End to Discrimination Against Transgender People... [2008-11-20 UK Gay News]

http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/Archive/08/Nov/2002.htm

UNITED KINGDOM

TUC Calls for End to Discrimination Against Transgender People

Brendan Barber speaks out on International Trans Memorial Day

LONDON, November 20, 2008  –  The TUC is today calling on employers to stop discriminating against transgender people in the workplace on International Trans Memorial Day.

Violent attacks on gay men and women because of their sexuality are well documented – much less well known are the murderous assaults committed against transgender people.

In September 2008, at least 25 transgender people were murdered across the world, for no other reason than the fact that they were different. (source: ILGA)

International Trans Memorial Day will remember ‘trans’ people across the world who have been the victims of such crimes, and aims to bring them to public attention.

In Britain the trans community continues to face violent physical attacks, alongside prejudice and discrimination in communities and at work.

The TUC has worked with transgender union members and with representatives of the trans community to campaign for Britain’s equality laws to provide comprehensive protection from discrimination for trans people.

Although there have been improvements to the law, there remain gaps and widespread exemptions that leave trans people without full protection.

“Discrimination, hatred and violence are part of the daily lives of far too many in Britain, and employers need to make sure all their employees are working in safe environments free from discrimination.,” TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said last night.

“Unions need to step up campaigning for equality for trans people in the UK.

“We will shortly have a new Equality Act and the TUC will be pressing for complete protection for those people who identify with the opposite gender to the one that they were born.

“The murderous attacks on trans people worldwide – and the assaults we know take place in Britain – show that this community faces prejudice and bigotry.

“If Britain is to be a truly equal and inclusive society we need to understand the issues facing trans people, and develop practical steps to end discrimination in workplaces, and in society at large.”

END

India - 19-year-old youth "Manju" forced to undergo M2F sex change surgery by eunuchs... [2008-11-20 Times of India]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Forced_sex_change_of_teen_by_eunuchs/articleshow/3735765.cms

Teen undergoes forced sex change surgery by eunuchs

20 Nov 2008

Lawrence Milton
TNN

MYSORE/BANGALORE: This is a story of a teenager who was forced to undergo a sex change surgery and face a traumatic life as a girl.

Manju, (19), a native of Mysore taluk, turned a girl in a few months and wears feminine clothing. Like other children, he had dreams of pursuing higher education and leading a normal life, but his fate took a turn for the worse after an encounter with two eunuchs in Mysore city, about six months ago, when he came for admission into a PU college.

The eunuchs pounced upon him that afternoon and bundled him into a four-wheeler on Sayyaji Rao Road, before being taken to Mumbai via Chennai.

He did not know what had happened to him for nearly three months after his abduction as he was sedated continuously without being allowed to regain consciousness. Later, he realized to his shock that a forced surgery had been performed on his genitals.

“I was served only two chapattis and coffee every day. But, when I gained conscious, I was shocked to see that my genitals had been amputated,” he recalls, adding that the trauma he underwent was unimaginable. “I writhed in pain for many days.”

Manju managed to escape from the clutches of the “hijras ” in Mumbai only five days ago and reached Mysore taluk. But the incident came to light only on Sunday, after the district police visited his house to pursue the case of “missing person” his parents had filed in July, two months after he went missing.

Manju, now Manjula, said: “It was on May 6, when I was kidnapped by a gang of six ‘hijras’ from Sayyaji Rao Road. I was intercepted by two of them when I was visiting a college to enquire about admissions to first PU.

“They took me to a house in Mysore and later shifted me to Chennai the same night. Before that, a group of hijras served me rice, probably mixed with some sedatives. But when I regained conscious I was handed over to them in Chennai, who later shifted me to Mumbai few days later.”

A tearful Manju recounted how he was put to sleep for three months inside a closed room. “At that time, I was not aware about the surgery. They also administered hormonal injections on my chest to develop breasts. Later, after a few weeks, I was let out along with a group of hijras to beg on the streets of Mumbai.

In the meantime, I befriended a Marwari from Karnataka during my visit to the shops there. On 12 November, I escaped from them on pretext of washing hands after having a lunch at a hotel. The Marwari helped me to reach Bangalore and later funded to go his village,” said Manju.

According to the police, they came to know of it only after a visit to his house to check whether “the missing boy” had reached home or not.

The police said they would crack down on eunuchs in the city, so that it may lead them to solve some more cases of missing children.

--

© 2008 Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.

US - National Transgender Day of Remembrance Video... [2008-11-20 HRC]

http://www.hrc.org/issues/transgender.asp

2008-11-20

The Human Rights Campaign

WORKING FOR GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER EQUAL RIGHTS

Introduction

The Human Rights Campaign is committed to educating the public on issues that affect transgender Americans. HRC will continue to work at the local, state and federal level in coalition with transgender organizations and transgender leaders to secure equal protection under the law for all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Watch this video and commemorate the passing of transgender people who have died because of hate.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/vbflAsIdos4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/vbflAsIdos4</a>

Remember transgender people who have died because of hate.

--

© 2008 The Human Rights Campaign.

US - Two From One - Pitt Research Maps Out Evolution of Genders From Hermaphroditic Ancestors... [2008-11-20 University of Pittsburgh]

http://mac10.umc.pitt.edu/m/FMPro?-db=ma&-lay=a&-format=d.html&id=3530&-Find

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 20, 2008

Contact: Morgan Kelly
412-624-4356 (office); 412-897-1400 (cell)
mekelly@pitt.edu

Two From One-Pitt Research Maps Out Evolution of Genders From Hermaphroditic Ancestors

Results published in “Heredity” provide evidence for theory regarding early stages of sex chromosome evolution and illustrate how plants can serve as models for understanding early evolution

PITTSBURGH-Research from the University of Pittsburgh published in the Nov. 20 edition of “Heredity” could finally provide evidence of the first stages of the evolution of separate sexes, a theory that holds that males and females developed from hermaphroditic ancestors. These early stages are not completely understood because the majority of animal species developed into the arguably less titillating separate-sex state too long ago for scientists to observe the transition.

However, Tia-Lynn Ashman, a plant evolutionary ecologist in the Department of Biological Sciences in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences, documented early separate-sex evolution in a wild strawberry species still transitioning from hermaphroditism. These findings also apply to animals (via the unified theory) and provide the first evidence in support of the theory that the establishment of separate sexes stemmed from a genetic mutation in hermaphroditic genes that led to male and female sex chromosomes. With the ability to breed but spared the inbred defects of hermaphrodites, the separate sexes flourished.

“This is an important test of the theory of the early stages of sex chromosome evolution and part of the process of understanding the way we are today,” Ashman said. She added that the study also shows that plants can lend insight into animal and human evolution. “We have the opportunity to observe the evolution of sex chromosomes in plants because that development is more recent. We wouldn't see this in animals because the sex chromosomes developed so long ago. Instead, we can study a species that is in that early stage now and apply it to animals based on the unified theory that animal and plant biology often overlaps.”

Ashman reported in “Science” in 2004 that animals and flowering plants employ similar reproductive strategies to increase reproductive success and genetic diversity. These methods include large numbers of sperm cells in males, mate competition and attraction through fighting or natural ornamentation, aversion to inbreeding, and the male inclination to sire as many offspring as possible.

For the current study, Ashman and Pitt postdoctoral research associate Rachel Spigler worked with a wild strawberry species in which the evolution of separate sexes is not complete, so hermaphrodites exist among male and female plants. Sex chromosomes in these plants have two loci-or positions of genes on a chromosome-one that controls sterility and fertility in males and the other in females. Offspring that inherit both fertility versions are hemaphrodites capable of self-breeding. Plants that possess one fertility and one sterility version become either male or female. Those with both sterility versions are completely sterile, cannot reproduce, and, thus, die out.

The single-sex plants breed not only with one another but also with hermaphroditic plants and pass on the mutation, which can result in single-sex offspring. (Sterile plants also can result, but plants with genes that favor the production of fertile offspring will be more successful.) When inbreeding depression in hermaphrodites is also considered, Ashman said, a gradual decline in the number of hermaphroditic plants is to be expected. Consequently, fewer chromosomes with both fertility versions of the loci will be passed on and the frequency of single-sex individuals will increase.

Access this paper on the “Heredity” Web site at
http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/hdy2008100a.html

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11/20/08/tmw

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Related links:

Heredity article
http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v101/n6/abs/hdy2008100a.html

END