Bogota appoints first transgender public official.

The department in which she is taking up her position is described as responsible for the development and implementation of social policies which guarantee citizens of Bogota "the ability to exercise their rights, in conditions of equality."

[...]

In the interview Piñero -- who has 13 years experience of managing public resources at district and national levels -- also outlined her priorities as newly-appointed director. They include addressing the needs of children and the elderly in the city, and setting up control points within the department to prevent corruption.

Massive protests in Tunisia have ended in President Ben Ali (in power since 1987) leaving the country. Tunisia: The end of an era.

It all started about a month ago when a public suicide of a frustrated, disillusioned Tunisian grew into widespread anger. Days later the ink-spot has been ever growing in an unprecedented scope and magnitude.

The outcry against unemployment rapidly evolved into a popular movement asking for Ben Ali to leave power, for corruption to be rooted out and for the repressive police apparatus to be held accountable for human rights abuses.

Leslie Feinberg: While a hostile relative re-writes my life: ‘Who is, and is not, my family.’

In autumn 2010, Knopf published a “transgender” themed young adult novel. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, is an estranged relative of mine.

The analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Hyde’s young adult fiction novel will come from those who are living the identities, and oppressions to which she has applied her imagination.

However, as part of the media coverage and publicity tour for the release of the young adult novel, Hyde claims much of her expertise and authority for writing her “transgender”-themed young adult novel as based on my life and identity.

[...] Since I became acutely ill in October 2007, it has been very hard for me to write, or to speak. So it is opportunistic and unconscionable that a hostile relative would take this opportunity to re-tell my life in a way that changes my sex, mis-describes my gender expression, and closets my sexuality. Hyde also attempts to silence me politically as a revolutionary, reasserts the dominant legal control of the biological family, and ignores and disrespects my chosen family.

My verbal and written request for no further contact has been violated by my relatives numerous times over the last forty years. So I do not rely on them to respect my wishes. Instead, I have clarified and strengthened my legal papers, and I am making this statement public: My living biological relatives—Irving David Feinberg, Betty Vance Hyde, and Catherine Ryan Hyde—are not my family. They do not speak for me.

Poet Susana Chavez’s Death Sparks Outrage in Juarez

Chavez is one of over 500 women in Juarez who have been found murdered in the last decade. And her death has caused an uproar because she had been one of few to speak out against the growing femicide, coining the phrase, “Ni una mas,” (“Not one more) and routinely criticizing local authorities for refusing to properly investigate the crimes. Her death has cast new suspicions about local authorities’ ability to handle the cases. That is to say that they’ve largely chosen to ignore them; so far, 92 percent of cases of women who’ve been murdered in the region remain unsolved.

gudbuytjane shared this amazing video about this 7 year old girl who speaks amazingly about being trans.

Forward.

[...] Still, compared to the world in which I was a 7 year old (which was indeed quite brutal), to know I live in a world where this 7 year old can be this in touch with who they are feels like progress, and something to be glad about.

Muchísimas gracias a Mako por pasarme estos links:

Entre Argentina y Uruguay hay un proyecto para tener una Ley de Identidad de Género para personas trans.

"Las personas trans sufrimos la discriminación por nuestra identidad de género casi desde que tenemos uso de razón. Muchas de nosotras fuimos echadas de nuestra casa, rechazadas por nuestra propia familia. La mayoría de nosotras no pudo terminar la escuela, no por falta de voluntad, sino porque el sistema educativo nos expulsa por ser diferentes. Incluso quienes la terminamos nos cansamos de buscar y buscar trabajo, de sentir cómo nos cierran la puerta en la cara. La mayoría de nosotras no tenemos ni siquiera un documento que diga nuestro nombre, y tenemos que soportar que algunos medios se refieran a nosotras como 'los' travestis", decía hace unos meses en una declaración pública la Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgénero Argenitnas (ATTTA), una red nacional con filiales en todo el país que integra la Federación Argentina LGBT.

[...]

"No tener un DNI significa para nosotras la negación del derecho básico a la identidad. Además del daño moral que esto ocasiona, nos impide muchas veces acceder al sistema de salud, nos expulsa del sistema educativo, nos impide conseguir trabajo o tener aportes jubilatorios u obra social, firmar contratos... hasta para votar tenemos que hacerlo en la fila de varones. En muchas provincias la policía nos detiene, nos encarcela y nos mata. Para las personas trans, la democracia todavía no llegó. Vivimos como en la dictadura, bajo la sistemática violación de nuestros derechos humanos", sostuvo Marcela Romero, coordinadora nacional de ATTTA y vicepresidenta de la Federación.

Algo que los movimientos LGBTA (que suelen estar liderados por personas cis) olvidan es que el matrimonio para todas las personas es importante, pero no es tan vital como que las personas tenga una calidad de vida digna, y aunque una ley como está no evitará todo el peligro que corren las personas transexuales, puede impedir un importante número de muertes.

Y este video subtitulado al español sobre lo que es género en realidad, muy educativo y útil para explicar a personas ignorantes del tema, que tristemente es la mayoría debido a que nuestra cultura nos sume en un modelo cis-sexista y heterosexista de sociedad:

Gender Identity Project Subtitulado from Sebs Trivino on Vimeo.

Mako, como siempre, me mandó estos links geniales:

Transexualidad.com

Grandioso video con la actriz y activista Carla Antonelli. Muy bonito sobre datos importantes para la gente trans.

La página de Carla.

Par de videos sobre transexualidad masculina.

Entrevista y testimonios sobre transexualidad en España.

Gracias a Mako por pasarme este buenísimo blog:

ANIMA FRAGILE. Es de una mujer transexual que escribe sobre sus experiencias, y tiene un comic!

Es autora de Guía Didáctica Sobre Transexualidad para Jóvenes y Adolescentes. Muy, muy recomendado.