TS/TV/CD Love Blog – Because Of Your Uniqueness

KUDO’s for Nepal’s transgenders. They became the first sexual minority in South Asia to wrest the right to same-sex marriage and have a say in the new constitution. Now Nepal’s transgender community is aiming to conquer the world outside by taking part in the international pageant for transgenders to be held in Thailand next month.

Sandhya Lama, the 21-year-old Miss Gay Nepal, will represent the republic at the Miss International Queen 2009, the fifth edition of the pageant for transgenders started by Tiffany’s Show Pattaya Company Ltd, the world’s biggest transgender transsexual cabaret show that is also supported by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Sandhya made it to the shortlist of 25 qualified contestants chosen from among 89 applications received from different parts of the world.”I am excited,” said Sandhya, who last year beat 54 contestants in Nepal to win the title Miss Beauty and Brain 2008 organized by the Blue Diamond Society, Nepal’s pioneering gay rights organization, and supported by the World Bank as part of its Development Marketplace project that seeks non-conventional but effective remedies to basic problems.

Unlike Miss Nepal, who is a celebrity, being Miss Gay Nepal means little recognition and yet many responsibilities. It is a 10-5 job with a salary of NRS.10,000 (over $130) during which she has to interact with donors, ministers and bureaucrats and members of her community, including people living with HIV and AIDS and commercial sex workers.

But it has given her a sense of pride and achievement. And now the chance to take part in an international pageant, like the regular beauty contest winners, has given her a new goal and a sense of equality

Technorati Tags: Nepal, transgenders, transgender community, Thailand, Miss Gay Nepal, Miss International Queen 2009, Tiffany’s Show Pattaya, transgender, transsexual, gay rights

Transgender Day of Remembrance is an occasion in the GLBT community set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice.

This day is observed in late November in recognition of the 1998 murder of Rita Hester. Rita was a highly visible member of the transgender community in her native Boston, where she worked locally on education around transgender issues. It was founded by advocate and writer, Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor Rita, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco, California candlelight vigil in 1999 that commemorates not only Rita, but all transgender people lost to violence and hatred. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in hundreds of cities around the world. The number of dead honored on the site has since grown to more than 350 people.

This year the transgender Day of Remembrance is being held on November 20, 2009

Technorati Tags: Transgender Day of Remembrance, GLBT, anti-transgender, Rita Hester, Gwendolyn Ann Smith, Remembering Our Dead, San Francisco, California, transgender

This is one transgender lady who is all about making changes and stirring it up as she fights discrimination against transgendered people in Canada. Unfortunately she lost her recent battle with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal

The Canadian Federal human rights tribunal has ruled that the Canadian Forces did not discriminate against Micheline Montreuil, one of Canada’s best-known transgendered people, when they refused to enroll her.

Montreuil joined the Canadian Forces in 1997, but handed in her resignation the same year for work-related issues and to start a sex-change process. She underwent hormone therapy to grow breasts and changed her name to Micheline after a lengthy court battle.

Two years later, Montreuil reapplied for enrolment in the Forces, but her application was denied because doctors ruled she suffered from chronic gender-identity issues. She complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 2002, arguing she was rejected because of her transgender condition.

After 97 days of hearings, between 2006 and 2007, the tribunal ruled Montreuil did not offer substantial evidence of discrimination.

Montreuil did not say Tuesday whether she will appeal the decision.

“It’s a big disappointment and I’m looking at my options,” said Montreuil, who lives in the Quebec City area and works as a lawyer.

In 2007, the same tribunal, after separate hearings, ruled the Canadian Forces had discriminated against her when she was passed over for a job as a grievance officer in 2003. The Forces found she was a qualified candidate, but turned her down, claiming they could not justify hiring someone who spoke only French. The tribunal found that Montreuil’s sexuality was the real reason she didn’t get the position and awarded her $40,000 for loss of income.

“It’s unreal. In one case, I’m considered sane and the tribunal rules in my favour; and in the other case, I’m found to be crazy,” Montreuil said.

She also won a similar case in 2004 when the human-rights tribunal ruled against the National Bank for failing to hire Montreuil as a customer-service representative.

Micheline Anne Montreuil is a Quebec lawyer, teacher, writer, radio host, trade unionist and politician. As a transgendered person, she became known for her legal struggles to defend her rights. On March 31, 2007, a nomination meeting without opposition chose her as the official candidate of the New Democratic Party (NPD) in the riding of Québec. This made her the first transgendered person in history to be nominated as an electoral candidate by a major political party in Canada. If  you’re interested you can visit her website http://www.micheline.ca/

Technorati Tags: transgender, Canada, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, Canadian, human rights, Canadian Forces, Micheline Montreuil, Canada, transgendered, hormone therapy, gender-identity, Canadian Human Rights Commission, transgender, Quebec City, New Democratic Party, NPD

Hat’s off to the Indian Community Welfare Organisation who are about to sponsor India’s first Miss Indian Transgender contest in Chennai. The event, scheduled for December marks India as joing a select group of nations such as Thailand and the Phillipines in holding a national level beauty contest for transgenders.

Around 150 transgenders from across the country are expected to contest for the Miss India Transgender title. Contests would also be held for Miss Beautiful Eyes, Miss Beautiful Hair and Miss Beautiful Skin.

The Indian Community Welfare Organisation is a non-profitable, non-governmental social work organization working for various developmental projects for the past 15 years in special focus with the marginalized community.

Technorati Tags: Indian, India, Thailand, Phillipines, beauty contest, transgenders

A transexual 27 year old, who was convicted for manslaughter and attempted rape has won his day in court.

A judge ruled that to keep the killer in a male prison was a “breach of his human rights and was unlawful and unreasonable”.

The British High Court decision is expected to influence future cases and is only the latest in a line of controversial rulings in which prisoners’ human rights were deemed to be breached under European law. The 27-year-old prisoner, whose identity is protected, was granted legal aid to challenge a decision by Justice Secretary Jack Straw to detain him in a male jail.

He has been serving an automatic “two-strikes” life sentence for the manslaughter of his male partner and attempted rape of a female stranger five days after his release from the original fiveyear manslaughter sentence.

To complete his change to a woman, he requires surgery, but has been told he could not have it until he spent time living in a women’s prison.

In his ruling, Deputy High Court Judge David Elvin said the decision to keep the prisoner in a male jail “effectively bars her ability to qualify for surgery, which interferes with her personal autonomy in a manner which goes beyond that which imprisonment is intended to do”.

The Department of Justice and the prison authorities – who are considering an appeal – had argued that the prisoner would be no more likely to be accepted by inmates at a female prison and that, if moved, he would have to spend long periods in segregation at an extra cost of £80,000 a year.

Technorati Tags: transexual, manslaughter, rape, British, High Court, human rights