Mike Penner, sportswriter at the Los Angeles Times, died on Friday in an apparent suicide. Penner was best known for his sports journalism until April 2007, when he publicly announced that he was transsexual and would begin writing as Christine Daniels (previously). He detransitioned in October 2008, returning to work under his original name, but without offering explanation. [more inside]
posted by Sova on Nov 29, 2009 - 184 comments

"The Kindest Cut" A Colorado surgeon is helping to restore sensation, biological structure and self-esteem to victims of female genital mutilation. She's "Trinidad's Transgender Rock Star"

Bowers performs the surgery free of charge, and the hospital caps its fees at $1,700. "...you cannot charge money to reverse a crime against humanity," she says. "Sexuality is a right."

[more inside]
posted by zarq on Oct 21, 2009 - 51 comments

I was shot in the head two years ago. I was in prison for six years. I live in a Taliban hub. I need to be an amputee. I'm four. I'm six. I'm eight. I have a micropenis. I've had sex both with and without a foreskin. My sister and I are in love. I'm in love with my mother. I married and had a daughter with my first cousin. I love my dog. I have killed someone while driving drunk. I have superpowers from chemotherapy. I was in a cult for seven years. I own a woman. I used to be asexual (I am still asexual). I was in porn (and I'm still in porn). I took a boy's virginity. I am killing myself in a few months. [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Aug 30, 2009 - 125 comments

Editor Marty Halpern looks back at the career of George Alec Effinger (part 1, part 2, part 3), a prolific author best known for his work set in the Budayeen, a walled city in a future Islamic state, teeming with gangsters, hustlers and transsexual prostitutes, many of them habitual users of plug in personality modules. The noirish tone and exotic technology of the Marîd Audran books (When Gravity Fails, A Fire In The Sun, The Exile Kiss) made Effinger one of the leading lights in the cyberpunk movie, and spawned a videogame - a rare attempt at a graphical adventure from Infocom - and an RPG setting. Sadly Effinger faded from prominence after that, and he suffered from a number of health and financial setbacks before passing away in 2002. His work has had somewhat of a resurgence in popularity of late, with the Marîd Audran books coming back into print in 2007, a long with a collection containing The Wolves of Memory, Effinger's personal favourite amongst his novels.
posted by Artw on Jun 9, 2009 - 32 comments

Transsexual In Iran. A documentary in eight parts. [more inside]
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Mar 3, 2009 - 3 comments

Southern Comfort is a 2001 documentary film about the final year in the life of Robert Eads, a female-to-male transsexual. Eads, diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was turned down for treatment by two dozen doctors out of fear that treating such a patient would hurt their reputation. You can watch the film here, part 1 through 10.
posted by nola on Mar 3, 2009 - 45 comments

German-born Kim Petras may be the world's youngest transsexual. Wanting to be a woman since the age of 2, she began taking female hormones at 12 and had gender reassignment surgery at 16. She's also an aspiring pop singer.
posted by MaryDellamorte on Feb 7, 2009 - 129 comments

A fascinating story of the first known, Western transsexual, Tibetan Buddhist novice monk: Laurence Michael Dillon (born Laura Maude Dillon, May 1, 1915 - May 15, 1962) was a British physician and the first female-to-male transsexual to undergo phalloplasty. His brother, Sir Robert Dillon, was the eighth Baronet of Lismullen in Ireland. The editor of Debrett's told Time Magazine that Dillon was unquestionably next in line for the baronetcy: The unwanted press attention led Dillon to flee to India, and then to a Tibetan monastery. Girls Will Be Boys, a review of The First Man-Made Man: The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair, and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution, by Pagan Kennedy. Photograph of Michael Dillon as a monk. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Sep 8, 2008 - 15 comments

People with a History is "an online guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans history." Ranging from the first stirrings of civilization to the modern day, People with a History gathers together original sources and academic articles dealing with queerness throughout history. To give you a feel for the wealth of material on the site, here are a few pages that caught my interest: The Vikings and Homosexuality, Coptic Spell: Spell for a Man to Obtain a Male Lover, an acount of a gay marriage ceremony described by Michel de Montaigne, But Among Our Own Selves (an 18th Century gay ballad), a chapter from The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon, a 7th Century Byzantine monk and bishop, which mentions adelphopoiesis, or the rite of brothermaking, Wu Tsao, 19th Century Chinese lesbian poet, and finally Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men.
posted by Kattullus on Feb 2, 2008 - 15 comments

Transgendered women in lingerie made from taxidermied rats. NSFW unless John Waters is your boss.Via Ectomo, natch.
posted by chinese_fashion on Dec 3, 2007 - 55 comments

Official transgender blessings -- Kulanu -- the newly-revised manual for LGBT issues and ceremonies put out by the Union for Reform Judaism (1.5 million US Jews are Reform) now includes 2 blessings (written by a Rabbi now male) for those transitioning and who have completed the change, alongside the already existing same sex marriage liturgy and other documents and procedures. A first? (blessings text inside)
posted by amberglow on Aug 9, 2007 - 50 comments

It puts the lotion in the basket. [nsfw] You know how in that movie, The Silence of the Lambs, the serial killer they're trying to catch is skinning women because he wants to make a suit out of real girls? If this product was around, perhaps we could have saved the lives of a lot of fictional victims.
posted by Sully on Jul 25, 2007 - 81 comments

"I am a transsexual sportswriter," reads Mike (soon to be Christine) Penner's touching, brave column in today's L.A. Times. Although Mike's transgender identity is rare, it's natural ... and it seems that he is not alone. Christina Karl started her sportswriting career as Chris, and according to her, "nobody has batted an eye." Nip/Tuck's creators are even developing a series about a transsexual sportswriter's career and family life. One thing's for sure: the USTA's non-discrimination policy just got a lot more blurry ...
posted by chinese_fashion on Apr 26, 2007 - 74 comments

Here's a can of worms: transsexuals who engage in pro sports
posted by magullo on Mar 4, 2004 - 20 comments

M. is a girl living as a boy and his school is helping to keep his secret. Is that just asking for trouble? And should a 13 year old be considered for gender-reassignment therapy or is this just an extreme case of tomboy-ism that s/he'll grow out of? [NYT mefi/mefi]
posted by mdn on May 26, 2002 - 32 comments

Convicted murderer wants taxpayer-financed sex change. "Hill & Barlow, the law firm appointed by the court to represent Kosilek, said in a statement: 'The case raises important constitutional issues about medical treatment for prisoners.'" When fourteen percent of the population doesn't have health insurance at all, is there any legitimate reason to expect the government to pay for this?
posted by mr_crash_davis on Feb 3, 2002 - 24 comments

"If you've got ovaries, you're a female. I'm just old fashioned."
Acknowledging that there may be more to sex than chromosomes, a Kansas appeals court has overturned a lower court's ruling invalidating the marriage of a transsexual to someone of the (now) opposite sex. Some in the Kansas legislature think this is just some gay radical's way of skirting the same-sex marriage ban. There's an opposing Texas precedent that the Supreme Court refused to hear last year, so this one may go all the way. Sadly, it'll probably fall under the much-maligned equal protection clause. Anyone think this poor woman has a chance?
posted by Gilbert on May 11, 2001 - 14 comments

The most beautiful woman in France? She's actually a guy! Well, not exactly, but...
posted by matteo on Apr 27, 2001 - 6 comments

Lynn Conway is one of the major talents in the history of the development of computers, responsible for major advances without which computers we buy now would be much different. She's also a transsexual, born physically male. While working for IBM she had her sex-change operation, and IBM immediately fired her for it.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Dec 10, 2000 - 7 comments

Parlimentary, my dear. New Zealand breaks ground with the world's first Transsexual Member of Parliment (formerly the world's first Transsexual Mayor). Her maiden speech included the circumspect "I was quoted once as saying this is a stallion that became a gelding and now she's a mayor. I do have to say that I've now come full circle and become a member." [stolen found on :::..::: Cortex
posted by CrazyUncleJoe on Feb 10, 2000 - 1 comment