I'm Not Kidding When I Say This Is An Internationally Read Blog

Was checking my stats and was curious to find out which countries my readers are coming from and what the Top Ten Countries are who surf by and read my TransGriot posts. 

From the tenth to the top one, here goes:

10. Malaysia
 9.  Brazil
 8.  Russia
 7.  Taiwan
 6.  Germany
 5.  Australia
 4.  France
 3.  United Kingdom
 2.  Canada
 1.  United States

So of the Top Ten countries that read TransGriot posts, noting I have a lot of European readers with the UK, France, Germany and Russia representing that continent.  The Asia-Pacific rim is represented in Malaysia and Taiwan, and South America's largest nation in Brazil.  It's no surprise that the United States and Canada would be numbers one and two.

But what it does tell me is I need to do a better job of including content that will pique the interest of my fellow African descended people across the Diaspora in the Caribbean and Africa. 

I'll probably need to do a monthly post to keep track of my international Top Ten countries as well. 

But no matter what nation you reside in whether it's on my Top Ten list or not, I thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to surf by TransGriot and read my posts.

Fernanda Milan Granted Danish Asylum!

Thought I would pass along to you TransGriot readers the wonderful news that Fernanda Milan has been granted asylum in Denmark on November 26.

She did not publicize the news according to ILGA Europe at the time because she is angry that she was forced to go through lengthy and grueling proceedings.  

Asylum was even denied to her in the beginning with the reversal happening only days before she was scheduled to be deported from Denmark.

She got a right to be angry considering the  European Union Parliament adopted asylum standards  in October 2011 stating EU member nations must now include gender identity as a ground of persecution and take it into account when they make decisions to grant or deny asylum status to people seeking it
Stine Larsen, of the T-Refugee Project says:

“We are very relieved that our struggle, together with Fernanda, ended in her being granted asylum. But it has been a soul-destroying asylum process with an initial refusal which was then reversed just three days before her scheduled departure on September 17, 2012. Fernanda has needed time and space to recover from this ordeal. That’s why we are only publicizing the good news now.”

“I am very grateful to all the people who have helped me to fight, because in the end I could not have done it on my own.”  said Fernanda.

“I have been a transgender person all my life. And I have been fighting against prejudice as long as I remember. I had to flee from Guatemala because I was fighting for human rights. Now I have the chance to live my life as a woman and an activist. Now I want to keep on the fight for a better world, where everybody can educate, work, create families and live a dignifying life regardless of their gender identity,”

Amen Fernanda, and congratulations.   Denmark should be proud to have someone like you residing inside its borders.

The Trans 100 Internationally

We Happy Trans' Jen Richards and This Is H.O.W. ED Antonia D'Orsay along with a team of people are putting together a Trans 100 List that will be released on March 31, the International Trans Day of Visibility.

I heard I was nominated for it, we'll see on March 31 if I made the final cut for this year.

The initial publicity for it has started with Jen doing a radio interview, and in the resulting Facebook discussion the question was asked by Malaysia's Yuki Choe if there were going to be international trans people on that list.

Here's Ms D'Orsay explaining her thoughts on why which international trans activists should be on a list is a task left to the trans people in those nations and we North American based activists should just follow their lead.

***

It all comes down to something I have said before: it is not my place to step in and decide for other nations who the best people doing the hardest work are. I am an unabashed citizen of the US, and while I have some cultural competence with other cultures and countries, it is still an outsider’s perspective and flawed and it can’t possibly be as decent as the ideas of those who are living there locally.

I don’t write about the topics nearly enough, but anyone who spends more than an hour around me will tell you that I am deeply concerned and involved in efforts relating to my black, red, and brown brothers, sisters, and siblings. That means Native, African American, and Latino, for those who are unaware.
There is amazing work going on in South Africa, in Europe, in the middle east, in Malaysia and the Philippines, in various countries in southeast Asia — all over the world, in fact. Some of that work is done under the sentence of death, others must risk decades in prison just to provide a support group.

I pay attention to all of it, but I am not competent to address things.  This is important for me to note, especially since I spend a lot of time pointing out how other people who are incompetent in dealing with things shouldn’t be speaking to them. Would be hypocrisy for me to do so when it comes to something that is as important as this kind of list.

***

Read the rest of her thoughts about it in this Dysonnance post

Miss Philippines Universe Entry Deadline Passes With No Trans Applicant

If I had to put money on which national pageant organization would be the first to have an out trans woman on the Miss Universe stage representing their nation, the Philippines would be in my top three. 

The others in case you're wondering are Thailand and Brazil. 

I say that because as me and my homegirl like us Naomi Fontanos are well aware of and discuss from time to time, the Philippines and Thailand take their beauty pageants seriously.  

Those two nations are also home to the most prestigious and internationally renowned trans pageants for their local trans women in Miss Tiffany Universe in Thailand and the Amazing Philippine Beauties.

Jenna Talackova brought the glass pageant ceiling down and took out the odious 'natural born women' rule that was used to bar transwomen from competing in Miss Universe system pageants.

Since then the Miss Universe franchise pageants are being given extra scrutiny from inside and outside the trans community to determine if any 18-27 year old trans women exercise their option to enter and attempt to win their national pageant and qualify for Miss Universe 2013.

Jenna made it to the Top 15 in Miss Canada Universe 2012 a few months ago.  Kylan Wenzel was one of 229 contestants who recently attempted to win the always tough Miss California USA pageant.

As of this writing 19 women have already qualified for Miss Universe 2013  with more national pageants yet to be conducted including the Miss USA 2013 one in June.  

There won't be a trans contestant at Miss USA 2013 because all 50 state pageants and the Miss District of Columbia one have been conducted, so the first trans Miss USA contestant is on hold until 2014..   

But moving to the Philippines.   They had Janine Tugonon finish as a first runner up in the 2012 Miss Universe competition and Kevin Balot bring the 2012 Miss Universal Queen title back to this pageant mad nation from Thailand. 

24 year old Miriam Jimenez was a semifinalist in that same 2012 Miss International Queen trans pageant, and there were unconfirmed rumors that she had entered Binibining Pilipinas that were posted on several blogs.

But when the January 22 deadline passed to submit entry forms they turned out to be false.  Ms. Jimenez sad to say won't be competing this year.

I was hoping the rumors were true along with many of my transpinay sisters and girls like us around the world, but looks like it's also wait until 2014 to see if a transpinay steps up and attempts to enter Binibining Pilipinas.

And in the meantime, still more than a few nations like Singapore who opened their pageant doors to trans contestants who haven't conducted their national pageants yet.   

2012 International Trans Year In Review

Just as the African-American trans community  made some great strides in 2012, there was remarkable  progress made for trans human rights internationally and many of the folks making news were transgender people.

Let's get the bad news out of the way first.   We continue to see far too many transwomen die due to anti-trans violence, with the major hotspots being Latin America, the United States and Turkey.  We once again memorialized our fallen sisters during the Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Where we saw major progress was politically.  In Poland Anna Grodzka became only the third transperson to be elected to her national legislative body in October 2011 and took her seat a month later.   In Thailand Yollada 'Nok' Suanyok on May 27 became the highest ranking trans politician in the 'Land of Smiles' when she won an election in her home province.   Adela Hernandez won office in Cuba.

Groundbreaking trans candidates ran for office in various countries in 2012 as well.  Diana Sanchez Barrios became the first ever to do so in Mexico when she filed to run for a seat in Mexico City's July 1 Municipal Assembly elections.

Argentina passed a groundbreaking Gender Identity Law in May by wide margins in both houses of its national legislature that was signed by President Cristina Fernandez and took effect on June 4.  Activists in Chile are trying to pass a similar law in their nation. 

There's also been positive movement on trans rights issues in Australia and the Philippines.  There was a UN vote that condemned extrajudicial killings that for the first time ever included ones based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Trans rights laws advanced on the Canadian provincial level in Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, while C-279, the federal trans rights law continues to make steady progress as it passed its second reading phase on a 150-132 vote despite determined opposition by some Conservative MP's. 

There was Canada's Jenna Talackova giving us an unexpected win when her fight to enter the Miss Canada Universe pageant resulted in the demise of the bogus 'natural born woman' rule and the Miss Universe pageant system despite transphobic resistance from national pageant holdouts like Mexico and Venezuela opening their competition to trans women in 2013.

Speaking of pageants, the Philippines finally got their long awaited triumph in the Miss International Queen trans one when Kevin Balot became the first transpinay to bring that title home after years of frustration. 

Trans models such as Brazil's trio of Lea T, Carol Marra and Felipa Tavares, Valentijn de Hingh of the Netherlands and gender bender Andrej Pejic are rocking runways, but the trans model is not a new phenomenon.  it's just the fashion world has rediscovered it in 2012.

We're still fighting for our trans marriage rights with Malta's Joanne Cassar's case going before the European Court of Human Rights, Ms W losing another round in Hong Kong, and Nikki Araguz still fighting in Texas.

The ruling in Cassar v Malta should be released sometime in 2013.

Speaking of trans court rulings, our Muslim Malaysian transsisters suffered an adverse ruling when four of them challenged Section 66 of the country's Islamic criminal law code.that bars Muslim men from dressing or posing as women.   It is being used to harass trans women  by Islamic fundamentalists and they unfortunately lost the suit.   

There was major concern expressed from the international trans community when Guatemalan trans activist Fernanda Milan was facing deportation from Denmark in September.   Her case is now being reviewed by Danish authorities after a wave of international protests. 

PC Air, the Thai startup airline famous for having trans flight attendants, hit some business turbulence in October.  It'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 due to a dispute with its South Korean agent.

The dispute stranded 400 people total at Incheon and in Bangkok, and PC Air was forced to suspend charter service until they can satisfy the Thai Transport Ministry that the incident won't be repeated.

There were some interesting developments in 2012 from continental Africa trans wise as well. 

There was the not so nice one of the Ugandan parliament's misguided attempts to pass an Anti-Homosexuality Act pimped by American based right wing fundie Christian zealots and fronted by David Bahati.   The bill does have a clause that would deleteriously affect transpeople living in Uganda.

It was nice to hear about the story of Titica, one of Angola's rising popular music stars who happens to be a girl like us.

She s a rising star in the Angolan music genre called kuduro, which is a fusion of rap and techno music.  She was named the best kuduro artist of 2011, is a regular on radio and television there and has performed at a Divas concert in front of Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos

Nigerian Mia Nikasimo continues to speak out along with other African activists like Kenya's Audrey Mbugua and Uganda's Victor Mukasa about the plight of transpeople in the 66 nations on the second largest continent on our planet.

And unfortunately, another Olympiad came and went in London without an open trans athlete as American Keelin Godsey fell just short of making the US Olympic team despite his lifetime best hammer throw.

Hopefully when the nations of the world gather in Sochi in 2014 and Rio in 2016, there will be a trans athlete proudly marching into the stadium during the opening ceremony.

Internationally, trans human rights are on the march and our visibility is increasing along with the positive public publicity.  There is still a lot of work to do in various areas of the world to eradicate anti-trans prejudice and anti-trans violence in 2013, but the international trans community is making it happen.

I hope I have more positive news to report when we get to the end of 2013.
 

Jenna's Video On The WHO ICD-11 Change.org Petition

Jenna Talackova is on a mission along with transpeople around the world to get Gender Identity Disorder removed from the next edition World Health Organization's ICD manual. 

The International Classification of Diseases manual fight is important because insurance companies use ICD diagnostic codes when it comes time to bill for medical services performed.  The upcoming renaming of Gender Identity Disorder to the proposed 'Gender Dysphoria'  in the imminent publication of the DSM-V manual has also led to international trans activist efforts to get this done before the projected ICD-11 publishing date in 2015.

Here's Jenna's video and a link to her petition calling on the WHO to remove GID from the ICD-11 .. 

Jenna Takes On The WHO's ICD Manual

After taking on Donald Trump and the Miss Universe organization and winning the right to compete in the Miss Universe organization pageants for herself and other trans women starting in 2013,  Jenna Talackova is combating a bigger target.: The World Health Organization.

Specifically Talackova is targeting the WHO's listing of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in the UN body’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD) manual..  

The ICD is in its tenth edition and is used by doctors around the world.  Talackova has launched an online Change.org petition with the goal of getting the UN-based organization to remove GID from the ICD list of mental disorders.

The ICD-10 was endorsed by the Forty-third World Health Assembly in May 1990 and has been used in WHO Member states since 1994.

Homosexuality was removed from the ICD list in 1990 and the calls for the WHO to do the same for transsexuality have been getting louder in light of the fact that the ICD's 11th revision of the classifications has already started and will continue until 2015.

The May 2013 publishing date of the DSM-V manual in which 'Gender Dysphoria' has been proposed as the term to rename Gender Identity Disorder and it's being moved into its own category out of the Sexual Disorders one has also been an impetus for pushing the ICD change.  This is also important because insurance companies use ICD diagnostic codes when it comes time to bill for medical services performed. 

In addition to Jenna's Change.org petition that has over 31,000 signatures at the time I compiled this post, there is a similar petition from Maxwell Zachs that also has over 31,000 signatures calling for the same thing.   There is also an International Day of Action for Trans Depathologization being planned for October 20 to continue to push the WHO and other medical organizations to cease considering trans people as mentally ill.

It's a direction that France took in 2010 when it became the first country to remove transsexuality from its list of mental disorders.    The European Parliament in a September 28, 2011 resolution called for the WHO to withdraw gender identity disorders from the list of mental and behavoral disorders, and to ensure a non-pathologising reclassification in the negotiations on the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)

Organizations such as the APA and the World Professional Organization for Transgender Health have also called for depathologization

The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologisation of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative. The psychopathologlization of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalization and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.

My position is similar to WPATH.  Eliminate the stigma, but also ensure that GID removal is replaced with medical protocols and practices that allow for non-stigmatized health care access for trans people.

Only time will tell if the international trans community is success at getting GID removed from the 11th edition of the ICD, but thanks to Jenna and many other trans people and their allies around the world the momentum to make that change happen is starting.

 

Happy National Coming Out Day 2012!

Today  is National Coming Out  Day, in which the rainbow community in the US and in several nations around the world celebrate being trans, bi, gay, lesbian or wherever you fit in the community rainbow. 

It was founded in 1988 by Robert Eichberg, a psychologist from New Mexico, and Jean O’Leary, an openly gay political leader from Los Angeles, on behalf of the personal growth workshop, “The Experience and National Gay Rights Advocates.”

There are events held across the country and the world that seek to raise awareness of the community, our human rights struggles, and assist those people who are trying to come to come to grips with the epiphanies they have had.

It happened for me decades ago, but I still remember how overwhelming and scary a time it was.  It's almost 20 years later and the only regret I have about coming out and transitioning is I didn't do it sooner.

For those of you who choose today to do so, I congratulate you.  You're taking the first small step for you but a giant leap in living a happy, more honest life for yourselves.

Femanda Milan Scheduled To Be Deported From Denmark Today

In October 2011 the European Union Parliament adopted asylum standards that stated that EU member nations must now include gender identity as a ground of persecution and take it into account when they make decisions to grant or deny asylum status to people seeking it.

There were three EU nations that opted out of the process, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. 

Unfortunately that opting out of the trans asylum rules has had a negative effect on Fernanda Milan, a Guatemalan trans activist who was forced to flee her homeland and ended up in Denmark due to horrific anti-trans violence in her central American nation and she being considered a major trans human rights leader in Guatemala.

After arriving in Denmark, her treatment didn't get much better in the nation that once was the place in the early 1950's where Christine Jorgenson transitioned before returning to the United States in 1953.   She was housed in the male wing of the Sandholm Asylum detention camp run by the Danish Red Cross, and several men broke into her room and subsequently raped her.  She was denied the hormones she's been on since age 14. After escaping the detention camp she ended up in a brothel in Jutland for two years until it was raided by the police. 




She was scheduled to be deported today from Denmark back to Guatemala
“What I’m most afraid of when I go back isn’t being killed. What really petrifies me is being attacked and tortured,” Fernanda says, adding that she knows “no transgender people in Guatemala over 35.”

The anti-trans violence in Guatemala is a consequence of the anti-trans attitudes injected into Catholic Church doctrines at the senior levels of the Vatican by Dr. Paul McHugh, who was named a few years ago as their advisor on trans issues.   The Catholic Church has major influence in that nation, and the anti-trans attitudes implanted in Rome in 2003 are now infecting the flock.

Despite the efforts of people in Denmark and around the world, Fernanda's application for asylum was denied and she is being deported.

So if something unfortunate does happens to Fernanda Milan, there will be a lot of people who will have to answer for that.  But the folks with the most soul searching to do will be the people in Denmark who had the chance to act humanely toward her and for whatever reason failed to do so. 

Those people not only failed Fernanda on multiple occasions, but made the decision to deport her back to Guatemala and possible death in the first place.   

TransGriot Update:  Fernanda Milan's case was reopened, so she's still in Denmark for now.  But keep the pressure on the Danish government to either let her stay there or allow her to go to a nation that will accept her.

Still Fighting For Our Trans Marriage Rights

Since June is considered the traditional start of wedding season, and #GirlsLikeUs make some beautiful brides, thought this would be a perfect time to remind 'errbody' that we still have several trans marriage cases percolating around the world.

Unfortunately, due to the same gender marriage push, our ongoing trans marriage fights have increasingly been entangled, conflated and negatively impacted by the politics surrounding the conservafool backlash against marriage equality.

Just a few updates on the three ongoing trans marriage cases that have gotten international attention.

Nikki Araguz's case is still percolating at the Texas appeals court level and we're waiting a ruling on this round of it after GOP judge Randy Clapp invalidated her marriage.   The judges at the Thirteenth Court of Appeals level are Democrats based in Kingsville, TX, a suburb of Corpus Christi, so stay tuned, this could get interesting.

On the other side of the Pacific in Hong Kong, Ms W is gearing up for another legal round in her ongoing fight to marry her boyfriend.  She has lost two legal rounds in this case, most recently in October 2011.  She is now at the highest level of Kong Kong jurisprudence, the Court of Final Appeal.

In Europe, Joanne Cassar has taken her case to the European Court of Human Rights after exhausting all her legal options in Malta where she's won and lost rulings.

Yes, trans rights are human rights, and we deserve to pursue our opportunities to achieve happiness without interference from you haters.  That includes the ability to marry the person we love as well.

2012 International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

Today is IDAHOT Day, and the acronym stands for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

It happens every May 17 and is marked with events around the world that call attention to homophobia and transphobia, salute those who work tirelessly to fight for TBLG rights in our various nations  from our planet and give our allies an opportunity to express their support for the trans, bi, lesbian and gay brothers and sisters.. 

It's a lofty goal but is one that sadly the human race is a long way from achieving as evidenced in the United States.

In just the first five months of this year alone we've witnessed the passage of the unjust Amendment One in North Carolina, a Republican congressman openly stating it should be legal to discriminate against TBLG people, transwomen of color being murdered at alarming rates and no one really caring about it and a major newspaper in the New York Times ignoring the AP Stylebook guidelines on respectfully reporting about trans people and refusing to retract a transphobic story penned about Lorena Escalera's tragic death in a suspicious fire.

While my nation hasn't been living up to the words of the Constitution as it applies to trans and GL Americans, I and others will continue to insist that they do and will not rest until the words 'We the People' also include trans, bi, gay and lesbian people too. 

Well, what better time than today to get started than on IDAHOT doing the work necessary towards  achieving that goal?  Because it's glaringly evident in the United States and elsewhere around this planet we have a lot of work to do to eliminate the scourges of homophobia and transphobia from our planet.

Happy IDAHOT 2012 people.

International Women's Day 2012-A Trans Woman's Perspective

Happy International Womens Day 2012!

To mark the 100th anniversary observance of International Women's Day last year I wrote a post about it from a trans perspective.  Now that 366 days have passed since the last observance, what is the state of international trans women since then?

I'm writing this post as an unprecedented assault on the human rights of American women is taking place.  Republican legislators are trying to roll back the entire 20th century in terms of the gains that women have made in reproductive choice and attacking anyone who calls them out on their bull feces.

Hope y'all remember that on November 6.   But back to where I was going with this post, talking about this day from a transwoman's perspective.

I do need to remind y'all that some of the women that we celebrate on International Womens Day are trans.

Since IWD 2011, we have had Poland's Anna Grodzka  elected to her national parliament with a Canadian transwoman contemplating a run as a candidate.   We have had people willing to speak up about how we live our lives and do the education to hearts and minds receptive to doing so.

We transwomen aren't taking any crap anymore from cis people who seem to think we exist to be a punchline for a joke or to bully to make themselves feel more secure in their own gender identities and sexual orientation.

Transwomen in Hong Kong, Malta and the USA are fighting pitched legal battles for their marriage rights.  Others are taking steps in various nations around the globe to have their human rights respected and protected in the laws of their nations.

Some have been successful iwhile other have had legal setbacks, but battle on they have. 

We transwomen also aren't just fighting to secure our own human rights, but are also battling for the human rights of others as well.

Transwomen around the world send the message to friend, frenemy and foe alike that the days of transpeople sitting in silent resignation as our human rights are repeatedly violated and our dignity disrespected are over.   To paraphrase Helen Reddy, we are transwomen, hear us roar.

While there are some positive things happening globally for transwomen, we are still fighting the same struggles to overcome transphobia, anti-trans bigotry, discrimination and violence aimed at our community.

While we are fighting to overcome the transphobic hatred and disinformation aimed at us, we also seek to continue discussions with our cis sisters as to where transwomen fit in the grand scheme of womanhood.  We're more than willing to do our part to help uplift all women cis and trans around the globe if we're respectfully given an opportunity to do so. 
 

So as we celebrate International Womens Day 2012 with our cis sisters, we deeply appreciate the increased willingness of our cis sisters to stand up for our human rights and in some cases work to make it happen.   We realize that we still have a long way to go on many issues before transwomen attain first class citizenship in our various nations and are regarded as nothing less as the women we are and strive to be. 

But we won't stop until it happens.
         

Hello Vittoria!

Remember when the story came out back in November about the Italian actor who announced at a press conference she was about to transition? 

Well, it's a few months later, and here's Vittoria.   Vittoria Schisano is in the house and looking good.

Welcome to the trans family Vittoria.   You gained a lot of brothers and sisters worldwide who will be very interested in seeing how your acting career transpires from this point forward