South Korean Court Rules Trans People Can Change Gender Markers Without SRS

Some positive news on the international trans human rights front coming out of South Korea.  

On March 15 the Seoul Western District Court ruled in a case brought by five trans masculine individuals that trans individuals could change their legal gender status without undergoing genital surgery

The Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of accepting the requests from the five trans men to have their family register listing altered to be classified as male. None of the five has undergone operations to surgically alter their genitalia.

The five trans men filed their request in December, arguing that the demand for surgery to conform to the changed gender status constituted the main barrier to approvals and violated the spirit of the legal gender modification system, which is to guarantee the Constitutional rights of transgender people.

Of course the five transmen were thrilled about the landmark ruling.

Despite the South Korean Supreme Court ruling in June 2006 that transpeople in that nation have the right to alter their legal gender status, in the guidelines they subsequently drafted one of the requirements was that individuals have to possess 'external genitalia of the opposite sex from their biological one' in order to do so.

Last January, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health sent an opinion to Seoul Western District Court arguing that genital surgery should not be a requirement because it is not medically necessary and is a difficult procedure with a strong risk of side effects and other negative consequences.

It's another good day for the advancement of trans human rights not only in South Korea, but internationally as well. 

BBC Documentary- Ladyboys

The Land of Smiles best looking girls it is said are the ones that were born as boys.  This BBC documentary follows some of the girls like us who live their lives there and a behind the scenes look at last year's miss International Queen Pageant in Episode 2.. 



Episode 1




Episode 2




Episode 3



Episode 4



Episode 5



Episode 6

PC Air Hits Some Business Turbulence

The ten month old Thai airline PC Air that garnered international attention and publicity when it hired trans flight attendants for its crews, has hit some business turbulence since its maiden December 2011 flight.

The fledgling carrier's lone Airbus 310-222 was stuck at Seoul's Incheon airport because the company has not paid its overdue airport charges and fuel fees and South Korean authorities wouldn't allow it to take off last Tuesday.  . 

That left a total of 400 people stranded- 200 at Incheon and another 200 people waiting for the aircraft arrival in Bangkok to take them to South Korea. 

The stranded charter flight passengers were put on three Thai Airways flights and another flight arranged by PC Air management as their CEO Peter Chan jetted to South Korea to resolve the issues.  

PC Air cited unspecified problems and a dispute with their South Korean agent Skyjet that caused the airline to fall behind on the fuel and airport fee payments and put the airline in jeopardy of losing its operating license which is valid until 2015.   

PC Air continues to operate its scheduled flights between its Bangkok hub to Incheon and Hong Kong and reportedly plans to add two used Boeing 767s capable of carrying more than 200 passengers to its fleet starting in December. 

While the Thai Transport Ministry is unlikely to strip PC Air of its operating license despite loud calls to do so, the charter license under Thai aviation law is on a monthly renewal basis and will expire on October 31.  The Thai Transportation Ministry will not renew th charter license until PC Air proves to their satisfaction that what occurred at Incheon will not happen again.  

The controversial Transportation Ministry decision was based on its desire to see PC Air work out their business problems and compensate the passengers inconvenienced by the grounding of their aircraft.

Lets hope for the sake of our trans sisters working for PC Air that their former flight attendant CEO gets their airline business end straightened out.  I and transpeople around the world would like them to continue flying the friendly skies from the Land of Smiles and have a solvent and prosperous PC Air be around to hire more of their sisters.

Vietnamese Trans Woman Comes Out On National Telecast.

People tell me they thought it was brave for me to come out in the middle of an international airport terminal back in 1993.   But what I was doing wasn't brave.  It was a necessary step in the evolution towards becoming the phenomenal person I am now.  

It's never easy to out yourself to the world as a transwoman, much less do so in front of a national television audience.  So I have much love, respect and admiration for what 25 year old Vietnamese transwoman Huong Giang did recently as a finalist in the Vietnam Idol competition that was broadcast on September 6.

After being praised by the judges When asked if she'd ever auditioned for Vietnam Idol before she hesitated for a moment before she revealed she'd previously attempted to do so under her old name.

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After some discussion, she did move on in the Vietnam Idol competition.   Best of luck to her and hope she wins it..

Korea's Next Top Model Features Trans Woman

It took America's Next Top Model 11 seasons before Isis King broke ground as the first open trans woman to appear on the show.   Its Korean counterpart took only three seasons to do so.

I've talked about Choi Han-bit, the now 26 year old transwoman who came in second on the 2009 edition of the Open Hall show that is a televised model search competition.   She was one of 1,200 contestants who started but the aspiring model kept progressing through the competition all the way to the finals.

She transitioned back in 2006 and has been diligently working to crack the modeling ranks in South Korea but keeps getting turned down for modeling jobs.  

She's now appearing on the third season of Korea's Next Top Model and once again has the eyes of a nation and the international trans community on her.  

Her appearance on KNTM3 has been met with mixed reviews from viewers and contestants, but show officials pointed out she is considered legally female in South Korea and it would be a human rights violation if she is not allowed to do so.

So far she is five shows into the KNTM3 cycle and has been doing well so far.   She finished third in one episode and in episode five won the reward challenge.    Staying alive and avoiding elimination is the name of that the game on that show, and so far Choi Han-bit has managed to do so. 

Here's hoping she not only makes the final of KNTM3, but wins it. 

Yollada Getting Drama Already

TransGriot Note: Thanks to my friend Robert Ganshorn in Thailand for sending me the link to the Bangkok Post story.

I posted the story about 30 year old Yollada Suanyot getting elected to the regional provincial organization in her home province of Nan back in May and beating several better funded male candidates to do so.

That May 27 election victory made her the highest ranking trans politician in Thailand and would you be surprised or shocked to discover that drama has already started about her tenure on the council?

Believe it or not, the controversy is over the fact she wore a female uniform to her first meeting

Really?  Um, hello people.  According to the story Yollada had SRS at 16, has presented and lived as a female for half her life and wears feminine clothing on a regular basis despite the male name on her ID that the Thai government won't change to reflect who she is now.       

And this snippet of the caption underneath the picture accompanying the Bangkok Post article was a trip as well.

Critics say it is against the rules for anyone who is not a natural-born woman to wear a female official uniform.

What rules?   And there's that 'natural-born woman' bull feces again.  Where is it written that Yollada, much less any trans woman can't wear a female uniform if they are and present themselves in their everyday lives as female?

I'd be willing to bet a few bahts some of those 'internet critics' are the sore loser male politicians she beat to get on the NAO in the first place..

Naw China, We Haven't Forgotten What Today Is

June 4, 1989

Student demonstrators calling for government reform and an end to corruption in their government occupied Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing for five weeks in the spring of 1989.

Those simple demands and the demonstrations backing them up captured the world's attention, but unfortunately between the late evening of June 3 and the early morning hours of June 4, the plug was pulled on the international foreign networks such as CNN broadcasting the event and PLA soldiers backed by tanks subsequently opened fire on civilians in and around the square with casualties estimated between 200-1000 dead.


It's also a reminder to us that democracy requires eternal vigilance. Because once you lose freedoms, it's hard as Hades to get them back. 

Frankly, the Republicans and the conservafool moment are staging an all out assault on our basic freedoms while wrapping themselves in the flag, hiding behind the Bible and pimping vanillacentric racial resentment, hatred of GLBT people and fear.  People in the USA need to wake the frack up about it and push back against these domestic enemies to our Constitution.

Keep that in mind people when November 6 rolls around.

Political rant ended, back to the post.

Those PLA tanks and troops may have crushed the demonstration, and you continue to try to erase what happened and deny it, but you can't crush the root of freedom from which democracy will inevitably flower  once it has taken root.
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Naw China, we haven't forgotten what today is and neither have the people who experienced it and live to tell the story.  The world hasn't forgotten those Chinese citizens who died simply because they wanted to make their country a better place to live and their government more accountable to them.

Rani Found Not Guilty In 2010 Pakistan Marriage Case

Remember Rani, the Pakistani transwoman who was arrested during a raid of her northwest Pakistan birthday party and falsely accused of attempting to enter into a same gender marriage with Malik Iqbal two years ago?

I cited this as a example of the annoying pattern of 'gayjacking' trans lives by GL advocacy organizations, the gay media and the Gayosphere to advance the narrow policy agenda of the vanillacentric GL community.  

Yeah, yeah, I and 'errbody' else in the Transosphere and our enlightened allies know that a transwoman and cismale getting married is NOT a same gender marriage.  So do elements of the GL community who shadily try to co-opt and 'gayjack' these types of news stories for their benefit.  

But work with me people on this one and continue reading. 


Some good news has come out of Pakistan in the wake of that initial burst of international publicity and attention surrounding the case    Turns out the charges had to be dropped because prosecutors could find no evidence of Rani attempting to get married.   In addition, Iqbal already had two wives and wasn't looking to add a third.  He was simply at the party to help celebrate Rani's birthday. .

Iqbal told reporters he will file a defamation case against the former chief of the Faqirabad police station who had leveled the charges against him. 

But happiest of all for our Pakistani transsister Rani whose name has been cleared in this jacked up case as well that should have never happened in the first place.

Yollada Wins In Thailand!

The ranks of trans politicians around the world just increased by one.   Congrats to Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot who made history in her homeland.  

The Thai provincial elections were held May 27 and Yollada was running as an independent candidate in her home province of Nan that is located along the Thai-Laos border.  She beat out two male candidates of which one of them was from the better funded national ruling party to boot to win that election.

So yep, it's another victory #GirlsLikeUs around the world can celebrate. Told y'all we transwoman can do anything we set our minds to if given the chance and the opportunity to do so.

Yollada is now the highest ranking trans politician in Thailand, and here's hoping she continues her rise in Thailand's political ranks to where she ends up in their national legislature.

Only time will tell if that happens, but in this enterprising woman's case I wouldn't bet against her pulling it off.

Thai Transwoman Running For Political Office

Some wonderful news coming out of the Land of Smiles is that an accomplished transwoman and local activist is running for political office.

That history making transwoman is 30 year old Yollada 'Nok' Suanyot and she is not only familiar to Thai citizens thanks to newspaper stories about her, she has been one busy and accomplished lady since since she underwent her surgery at age 16. 

She runs a satellite television station, gained her PhD, was once a member of an all-trans Thai pop group called Venus Flytrap, owns a jewelry business, is the current President of the TransFemale Association of Thailand and has been a strong advocate for TBLG rights in the Land of Smiles.

She is competing for a provincial office in Nan Province in the upcoming May 27 elections against two cis male candidates and is trying to become the highest ranking trans elected official to date in her homeland.   As of this moment no Thai transwoman has been elected to anything higher in Thai politics than small district-level positions.

So why is she running for office? "I'm confident that my experience and ability will be useful in the development of Nan," she said.  "I want to represent the trans women and all groups of homosexuals across the country in parliament and press the government to pay more interest to women and trans women,"

She has a political platform addressing the flooding issues in her province, wants to set up a 24 hour citizens complaint hotline to deal with issues that need governmental attention and wants to have an increased focus on youth services and issues. 

Good luck to her, hope Yollada makes some history and breaks another glass ceiling for transwomen in the Land of Smiles.  We hope it also becomes just the first step of her journey towards being elected to Thailand's parliament.

Happy 10th Anniversary STRAP!

The Society of Transsexual Women of The Philippines and I have in common wishing to see trans people in our nations and around the world gain human rights coverage and respect.  

I wanted to make sure I gave STRAP a well deserved shoutout on the occasion of its tenth anniversary year and didn't want to wait until December to write this post

STRAP is one of the premier trans rights organizations in the world and it has grown exponentially since its December 2002 founding by four transpinays, Sass Rogando Sasot, Dee Mendoza, J.A. and Veronica Deposoy in Manila.

It is now ably run by its current chairwoman Naomi Fontanos and her leadership team and has expanded its reach from being a Manila-centric organization to one which is gradually spreading across the Philippines educating and empowering people along the way on a variety of issues, making allies and working in partnership with other organizations in the Philippines and beyond.  

In addition to being well respected in international human rights circles and the Asia-Pacific Rim, it is also forging links with local transpinoy organizations to better coordinate their drive for trans human rights legislation that benefits all transpeople in their homeland.

Happy 10th birthday STRAP and may you have many more.
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Indian Trans Ceremony Turns Deadly

Indian transpeople who were gathering in New Delhi for an event ended up experiencing a horrific tragedy instead.  

The early on the scene reporting hasn't confirmed whether it was a TDOR, but is reporting it as a three day festival 

The community hall where the event was being held experienced a fire at 7 PM local time that started in the kitchen area and quickly spread through the crowded venue.  There were estimates ranging between 1000-2000 people in attendance at the time the fire started.

Sadly, 14 people were killed with another 40 hospitalized and medical officials expect the death toll will rise because many of the hospitalized people have been admitted with severe burns.   Speculation is faulty wiring caused it, but the fire is being investigated by local officials

Pray for our people there who lost friends, family and loved ones in this tragedy and for the swift recovery of those who suffered injuries during that event.

Miss Amazing Philippine Beauties 2011

The finals of the 9th annual Miss Amazing Philippine Beauties trans pageant are happening November 19 (today on our side of the International Date line)  as they determine which of the 25 beauties enyered in this year's contest will walk away with the crown, title and prizes.

The pre-pageant competition was held on November 12 and the finals will be taking place at the Manila Film Center

While the Amazing Philippine Beauties pageant since its inception has only been open to transpinays, the mounting frustrations harbored by transpinays over the Thai-run Miss International Queen pageant and the questionable fairness of it boiled over this year.

Rumors are flying that an international trans pageant based in Manila is about to be inaugurated and that transpinay contestants will boycott the MIQ one in 2012..  

I'll keep you pageant fans posted on those developments and as soon as I discover who won Miss Amazing Philippine Beauties, I'll post the info.

Good luck to all the ladies entered in the 2011 edition of the Miss Amamzing Philippine Beauties competition, and may the best one win.

Is The Desire For White Skin In Thailand Negatively Impacting African Diaspora Transwomen's Chances To Win The MIQ Title?

I wrote about the controversial conclusion of the 2011 edition of the Thailand based Miss International Queen Pageant and wondered aloud about the interesting factoid that no transwoman from the African Diaspora has ever won this event in its history.

Could it be because white skin is considered desirable and beautiful in the Land Of Smiles and other countries in the Asia-Pacific rim and those prejudices for white skin are impacting the chances of darker skin beauties to win an international trans pageant with all Thai judges?  

Skin bleaching and lightening creams are not just an issue in the Caribbean, African nations and the rest of the African Diaspora, they are also an issue in the Asia-Pacific rim as well.    A survey done by marketing company Synovate discovered that 4 out of 10 women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan use a skin lightening cream.  

There is also region wide stigma, racism and negativity attached to having dark skin as well.   In Thailand as in other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the stigma of darker skin is rooted in language.   It's not surprising as a child of the Diaspora to learn that a common Thai insult aimed at someone of lower social standing is "tua dam," or black body.  Along the same lines are "e dam" (black girl) or "dam tap pet" (black like a duck's liver). 

When you have reports of Thai women who in pursuit of that desirable white skin are disfigured because of black market skin lightening products that promise to deliver but ruin skin but lives in the process, it leads you to ponder the possibility that the distaste for darker skin is infecting the all Thai judging panels and negatively impacting the African descended and other dark skin beauties who enter the MIQ pageant.

I'd submit that the troubling pattern of no African Diaspora contestant ever winning the Miss International Queen pageant over its existence is evidence to suggest that it is probably happening.

It's also why I'm not letting this issue go in continuing to call for an international panel of judges for the 2012 and future Miss International Queen pageants.   As the Miss Universe and Miss World ciswomen pageant organizers already know, what you Thais consider beautiful for a woman doesn't have the same currency in the Middle East, the Caribbean, South America, Europe or North America. 

It's past time for the Miss International Queen judging panels, if they are going to continue to claim they are a premier international transgender pageant, to expand their beauty mindset to reflect that just as those cis pageant systems do.

It's not a surprise because of an internationally diverse judging panel, this year's Miss Universe is a statuesque woman from Angola.

It will be interesting to observe what transpires over the next year for the Miss International Queen pageant. Will they continue business as usual in the face of strong rumors that a Manila based international trans pageant may be about to kick off next year and risk getting eclipsed or will they evolve already and institute those international judging pageant that will give African Diaspora and dark skin beauties from other nations a fair chance to win?      

Miss International Queen 2011 Ends In Controversy

Miss International Queen has become the defacto must win international title in the trans pageant world over its seven year history because it was held in Thailand and gained the cachet through years of major international media coverage.

Even I write a post about who wins it every year and this year is no exception. 

But there is discontent brewing this year over the 2011 edition of the Thailand based international trans pageant.

In the Asia-Pacific Rim, there are no two more pageant-loving nations than Thailand and the Philippines.  Both have international reputations for the beauty of their transwomen and also are homes to the world's best known trans revue shows in Tiffany's in Pattaya and the Amazing Philippine Show in Manila.

Both revue shows also sponsor major internationally renowned trans pageants in their respective countries such as the Miss Tiffany's one in Thailand and the upcoming Amazing Philippine Beauties one on November 19.  

Transpinays have been fuming for some time now and charging that the Miss International Queen pageant is rigged in favor of the homestanding Thai girls.  The Thai transwomen who compete in it further charge that it is rigged in favor of the Miss Tiffany's Universe winners or ones who work for the Tiffany's show. 

That sentiment is now beginning to be echoed by transwomen from other parts of the world as well.  I've also noticed over the pageant's history that I've been observing and documenting since 2006 that an African Diaspora trans woman has NEVER won it and there were three entered this year.. 

So when Thai homegirl Sirapassorn 'Sammy' Atthayakorn (who was the 2011 winner of the all-Thai transwomen Miss Tiffany's Universe title) won the 2011 Miss International Queen title over SaHHara, who represented Nigeria (thus continuing the sorry history of the Miss International Queen pageant in never selecting a winner from the African Diaspora) and Margaret, a transpinay who was representing Lebanon, the commentary in the wake of the results exploded in disapproval on the Miss International Queen FB page with even some Thai viewers of the pageant, which was televised live in that nation questioning the judges decision.

And Alisa Phanthusak, as Assistant Managing Director of Tiffany's and by extension the Miss International Queen pageant they sponsor, you have an emerging PR headache and credibility problem in that regard. 

Nobody likes rigged pageants or ones suspected of being rigged, especially when it costs money for people to enter them (the entry fee for MIQ was $400 US).

It also costs money to buy gowns, makeup, outfits for the preliminary events, pay for international air travel, passport if you don't have one, food, transportation and lodging in the host city, put in the time and effort to assemble a talent routine and get hair, nails and whatever other work done to make yourself look flawless in the process. 

If you're going to commit that time, money, sweat equity and energy into becoming a winning pageant contestant, you want to believe after you invested the effort into it that whether you won, placed or lost, you had a fair shot at winning a title.  Right now that's not what contestants are feeling when it comes to the Miss International Queen pageant.

Transpinays are so pissed right now they are not only considering a boycott of next year's event, they are seriously contemplating starting a rival Manila based international trans pageant with the international judging panel I've suggested.   

It didn't help there were charges that some comments critical of the decision got mysteriously chopped off the MIQ Facebook page.  For a moment I went off on that page because I presumed my comment calling for an international panel of judges was one of those deleted as well but I found it when I scrolled down on the page.

I said this on the MIQ FB page and I will repeat it   If the Miss International Queen Pageant is going to claim it's an international trans pageant and wants to have ANY international credibility in the trans pageant world as a fair pageant, from this point forward it is imperative that an international panel of judges be assembled to determine the winner and make sure that any Thai judges that are part of the panel have no ties to Tiffany's show or are severely limited.

If they don't handle that credibility problem they have in an expeditious manner, they may find themselves in the Land of Smiles being speedily eclipsed by international trans pageants who do value fairness and a clean competition without questionable ties to the sponsor of the event or home nation bias.