Joanna Nicholls

Transgender woman to serve time in male jail

Tweet A transgender prisoner has been ordered to serve her sentence in a men’s prison, not on home detention as requested. Glen Cooper was sentenced to two years and one month in jail after she earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding with intent to injure on January 17 this year. In the Whangarei District Court today Judge Duncan Harvey gave Cooper a 15 per cent sentencing reduction in...

Joanna Nicholls

Transgender individuals still face discrimination despite growing acceptance

Tweet Jenna Talackova, a 32-year-old Canadian model and television personality, was one of Miss Universe Canada 2012’s finalists, but she was disqualified from the competition when it was discovered that the beautiful blonde was born a boy. The contest organizers said that contestants must be ‘naturally born females’ and since Talackova had undergone surgery to become a woman, she could not...

Joanna Nicholls

First transsexual to play college basketball as both a man and a woman

Tweet (Without a Net) The women’s basketball team at Mission College in Santa Clara expected the bleachers to be full and the hecklers ready when its newest player made her home court debut. In the days leading up to the game, people had plenty to say about 6-foot-6-inch, 220-pound Gabrielle Ludwig, who joined the Lady Saints as a mid-season walk-on and became, according to advocates, the first...

Joanna Nicholls

My Son’s Christmas Dress

Tweet (Raising my Rainbow) It was the most sincere display of appreciation that my 5-year-old son has  ever shown. He looked me straight in the eyes and said a very mature    “thank you.”  The words were full of honesty, relief, happiness and a  little bit of anguish. “You’re welcome, baby,” I said looking at him with a smile and masking the  pain I was feeling.  “You look so...

Joanna Nicholls

Teacher’s bravery hailed as he undergoes sex change

Tweet (Independent) A teacher has been praised for his bravery after it emerged he will undergo a sex change operation before returning to take classes as a woman. Pupils were called into a special assembly at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford on Monday and told the male teacher would be returning as a woman after the summer holidays. A letter was also sent home to parents explaining the...

Joanna Nicholls

Miss Universe to allow transgender contestants

Tweet (The Guardian) The Miss Universe pageant is changing its rules to allow transgender women to take part in all of its competitions starting in 2013, the organisation and gay rightsgroup Glaad has announced.The decision follows a media outcry over the disqualification of Canadian contestant Jenna Talackova from the Miss Universe Canada contest because she was not a “naturally born...

Joanna Nicholls

Miss Universe Canada disqualifies transsexual contestant Jenna Talackova for being born a boy

Tweet (Telegraph) A BEAUTY pageant has booted a 23-year-old contestant out the competition after discovering the buxom blonde was born a boy. Miss Universe Canada – which is owned by Donald Trump – threw out Jenna Talackova when they found out she had undergone surgery to become a woman. The transgendered contestant had already successfully reached the finals in the Miss Vancouver pageant...

Joanna Nicholls

The turning of the tide : New Statesman

Tweet There’s an excellent post by Juliet Jacques on today’s New Statesman website: Whatever the long-term results of the Leveson inquiry, one appearance may prove a turning point for an increasingly visible and (hopefully) decreasingly vulnerable population. When Helen Belcher presented Trans Media Watch‘s submission last week, explaining the largely negative practices and consequences...

Joanna Nicholls

Mother of transgender teen hopes to start campaign to beat prejudice

Tweet (This is Derbyshire) A MOTHER whose daughter claimed she was bullied for being transgender has vowed to overcome prejudice by educating teenagers about the issue. Hannah Whetton, 18, was born a boy called Arron but always felt she was a female trapped in the wrong body, so started a new life as a woman. But she said she has since suffered bullying and has decided to quit her course in animal care at...

Joanna Nicholls

Poland’s first gay and trans MPs to be sworn in

Tweet (Pink News) Poland will swear in its first gay and transgender MPs today, following last month’s general election. Anna Grodzka said she aimed to seek equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. The 57-year-old, who was elected an MP for Krakow, said she would make the Catholic country more accepting. Ms Grodzka, a member of the Palikot Party, is thought to be the world’s only...

Joanna Nicholls

Male bodybuilder to female fitness guru

Tweet (Dallas Voice) Chris Bruce has always been the kind of person who takes chances. When he was still in his teens, he knew he could sell ice to an Eskimo and began his foray into entrepreneurship. After college, he established himself as a salesman, then took a big risk by investing a sizeable chunk of money into a start-up; a few years later, he was co-owner of a multi-million-dollar wholesale...

Joanna Nicholls

Testimony of a Transgendered Child

Tweet “This video/voice recording is Cammie, expressing her thoughts and feelings about what it’s like to be tansgendered. She is 11 years old. Her hope is that one day the world will understand this condition for what it is. She dreams of a day when she – and many others – will be loved, embraced and accepted for “WHO” they are “on the inside”… for...

Joanna Nicholls

I had sex swap op on my 16th birthday

Tweet (The Sun) LIKE most teenagers Jackie Green couldn’t wait for her special 16th birthday  present. But the gift from her mum Susie wasn’t clothes or jewellery — it was a £13,500  sex change operation. Jackie, who was born Jack, knew she wanted to switch genders from the age of  four. And following years of horrific bullying and FIVE suicide attempts  Jackie, from Leeds, became one of...

Joanna Nicholls

I never felt like a boy — but now I’ve been set free

Tweet Dressed in a red jumper and a vibrant blue scarf, Vanessa Lacey (47) stands at the gates of the school in Waterford waiting for her little boy to emerge. Scanning the crowd, she is like any other parent watching for a familiar face to appear. Yet, for Vanessa things are a bit different. This is because four years ago, people would have just seen an ordinary father standing outside the gates. Vanessa...

Joanna Nicholls

Transgender Australians win landmark court case

Tweet (Guardian) Australia’s highest court rules transgender pair can be legally recognised as men despite not completing sex-change surgeries Two transgender people have won an appeal in Australia‘s highest court giving them legal recognition as men despite not completing sex-change surgeries. Transgender and intersex organisations praised the ruling as a precedent that would spare others from...