The first story comes from The Advocate's interview with comedian Wanda Sykes. She came out very publicly around the time Prop 8 was passed in California. I love her stand-up, and I'm really glad she's part of the "family"

Here's a clip of her stand-up.



Here's a clip of the event she came out at.



Here's the link to the interview: Black & Gay Like Me. While Wanda has been very outspoken, she's remained very private about her personal life. How difficult do you think it is to come out as a celebrity? Do you think celebrities should have to come out? Perez Hilton has been known to try to "out" celebrities, do you think that's okay? Have you ever been "outed"? How did you feel after you found out you were outed?

The next two stories, just plain makes me angry. The first one is about a lawsuit filed on behalf of a student (K.K. Logan) in Gary, Indiana who was denied entry into her prom because she is transgendered. Here's a quote from the article.



Perhaps Principal Rouse can extend that policy to include anyone who wears wedding rings or any woman who wear pants. Unfortunately, everybody loses because Rouse wanted to play gender police. Her ass will be fired (hopefully), the district will have to pay legal fees since they have stalled/refused to hang over documents, will most likely have to pay a large sum of money to this student, and someone who wanted to experience prom with her friends was denied that, and was humiliated because of discriminatory policy. Here's the article.

Judge rebukes school in trans student suit

Here's the second story.

Transwomen sue Illinois for amended birth certificates

So what's happening in this case is that two transgendered people want to correct the gender on their birth certificate. In order to do this, trans people go through A LOT. In the past, the Department of Vital Records of Illinois allowed those trans people who have had corrective surgery to change it. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, they made up a new rule: You can only change it if you picked a surgeon in the U.S. Now, something to be aware of is that the cost of surgery in the US, particularly in the case of reassignment surgery, is very expensive. My best friend's surgery cost about $17,000. An acquaintance of mine had insurance, and paid about $8,500 for hers. Thailand is an option because it is cheaper, they do have decent surgeons, and most of the time they do provide good aftercare. If you can imagine how much fun it must be to have a very invasive surgery in a country you don't know, and make that walk alone, then you can see why (after all they had to do to get there) it'd be frustrating to have the rules changed on you when you get back. And, just to give people an idea of what trans people have to do in order to even get a chance to have reassignment surgery, this is a copy of the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care. It is the most recommended treatment for Gender Identity Disorder (yes, you have to be diagnosed with a disorder before transitioning).

Harry Benjamin Standards of Care

The reason why this is recommended is because it protects the client (as far as legally, in some cases), it can help with insurance, and therapy is an important aspect. Anyway, fuck the Department of Vital Records.

Here's something more fun to blog about: Ted Haggard. He was on Oprah recently. You can watch the videos at the Huffington Post. Thoughts on Ted Haggard? A documentary was made about him, and aired on HBO. Here's the link The Trial of Ted Haggard Speaking of Christianity & sinners, here's also a link to the film- For the Bible Tells Me So. Here's the synopsis of For the Bible Tells Me So:



That's all I got this week. I'd love to see some comments. For those who have seen For the Bible Tells Me So, how did you feel watching it?

For those who are trans and reading this, what does changing your birth certificate mean to you? For those that are not, why do you think that would be significant? Why might anyone want to change it?

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