In the News (with pictures & videos)

[Betty]

After the Supreme Court handed Hobby Lobby a sweeping victory in its fight to not provide employee health insurance that covers certain kinds of birth control, many customers came into the store in Aurora, Illinois, where Meggan Sommerville works, and offered their congratulations.

Hobby Lobby is a chain of craft stores whose founder says he tries to run the company in accordance with his Christian principles. Sommerville has worked there for 16 years. She loves her job and the store, which she said pays a good wage and carries supplies that she’s used for many of her own crafting projects.

Still, the congratulations from customers were hard to swallow. "I'd smile and nod and say, 'Yes, it's a victory for the company,' and then I'd push my real feelings down and not think about it anymore."

Sommerville is a transgender woman, and back in 2011, she filed a complaint against Hobby Lobby with the Illinois Department of Human Rights after the company refused to allow her to use the women's bathroom either as a customer or an employee.

She was never given an explanation. But Sommerville said she sees a connection with Hobby Lobby's argument that Christian principles should excuse it from covering some contraceptives.

"I don't believe that any company has the right to deny access to appropriate medical care, same as the reason why I don't believe that they have the right to deny me access to the washroom," she said in a recent phone call with The Huffington Post. "No company has the right to dictate what is decided between me and my doctor."

Sommerville transitioned to living as a woman in 2010. For the most part, colleagues and management were supportive, trying their best to use her new name and the right pronoun. That summer, she formally changed her name in court and received a new Social Security card and driver's license. A month later, Hobby Lobby provided her with a new name tag that finally matched how she saw herself.

But management refused to budge on one issue: They insisted that Sommerville continue to use the men's restroom. According to Sommerville, she was told she would only be allowed to use the women's restroom if she provided proof that she had undergone genital reconstructive surgery. Neither the state of Illinois nor the federal government require this surgery for a person to legally change his or her gender.

"I was devastated," Sommerville said. "I just want to be treated like all the other women. To do anything else diminishes who I am in the eyes of customers and employees."

Going to the bathroom became an embarrassing ordeal, where she was constantly worried about outing herself to customers or colleagues who didn't know her history. "There have been a few times when a customer has come in and I have essentially been trapped in the stall while I wait for the person to leave," she said. "The stories of trans women that have come under attack are always on my mind when I am forced to use the men's room. At the very least, I don't want to make a scene."

[Betty]

A transgender first: A transgender Baptist who pastored a church in Central Texas as a man has returned to the pulpit as Allyson Robinson, the temporary pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington. She may be the first transgender pastor in American Baptist life. The church is not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, which last month passed a resolution opposing “all efforts by any governing official or body to validate transgender identity as morally praiseworthy.”

[Betty]

With its long lines and seemingly endless paperwork, a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles can rarely be classified as fun. But it could be worse.

Two West Virginia transgender women claim their recent DMV visits were especially harrowing as they attempted to update their names and change their driver's license photos.

In separate incidents, both recount officials telling them their appearance looked too feminine for a driver's license issued to a male and that they would have to dress down for their photos.

Now they've enlisted The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund to get their stories heard.

"(A manager) told me it was a DMV policy that people listed as male could not wear makeup," said Kristen Skinner. "The manager referred to me as 'it' and told me to take off my makeup, wig and fake eyelashes."

Skinner, whose hair and eyelashes were her own and not fake, eventually took the license photo after removing all facial makeup.

The 45-year-old IT professional called the experience at the Charles Town office in Jefferson County on January 7 "humiliating."

"The way I was treated was unprofessional," Skinner said. "Isn't the point of a photo identification to identify how you look every day?"

Trudy Kitzmiller said she had a similar experience many months later in neighboring Berkeley County. According to her, after showing all the legal paperwork to change her name on her driver's license, DMV workers in Martinsburg demanded she remove all makeup, jewelry and long hair.

The 52-year-old says she was also called "it."

"It doesn't matter whether my license says M or F. I'm still a transgendered woman, and they shouldn't tell me how to dress or appear," Kitzmiller said.

[jeangurl]

Wow Betty you are a real Newshound I dont think I have seen as much related material in our papers in years.
Thank you for placing these items together they make very interesting reading,if a little sad in the ones still being mistreated.

Love Jeangurl

[Betty]

Joan Rivers said last week, “You know Michelle is a tranny… She’s a transgender, we all know.”

Bucking calls to apologise, Rivers later said: “I think it’s a compliment. She’s so attractive, tall, with a beautiful body, great face, does great makeup… the most gorgeous women are transgender.”

However, conspiracy theorists from website Info Wars have taken Rivers’ comments seriously, and now seem convinced that Michelle Obama is a trans woman.

Alex Jones of Info Wars said: “Joan Rivers talked about it the other day, and now it’s an international news story.

“The question is, ‘Who is Michelle Obama? Is she really a woman? Is she a man? Now, I’m not drawing any conclusions here. but I know this — it’s fair to question anything and everything this administration says.

“These people are the authors of such tyranny that they shouldn’t whine and complain when the public doesn’t believe anything they’re saying — especially when every time I look at Michelle or Michael Obama – the First Lady, or the First Tranny – something doesn’t look right.

“She doesn’t look like any black woman I’ve ever known. She’s got shoulders that are wider than a man’s, which physiologically doesn’t happen.

“You can put three heads on a man’s shoulders, and two heads on a woman’s shoulders — that’s a known anatomy. You look at her arms when she’s standing straight on, she looks like no woman I’ve ever seen.”

Former Infowars contributor David Ortiz previously claimed that sexual freedom will lead to allowing men to jerk off at bus stops, “as long as he’s not groaning, as long as he cleans up after himself”.

[jeangurl]

I dont know if I am losing the plot in my old age but I cannot remember if I have donated in the last month so I have just posted my usual on paypal.

Love Jeangurl

[Betty]

LOL. We have computer, tablets, & smart phones to help us remember stuff these days. Before that we used to write stuff down on a pad or our calendar so we wouldn't forget stuff. Ever since I was a kid I hardly go anywhere without a pad or paper & a pen in case I have to write something down... just call me an absent minded professor. I'd forget important stuff a lot if I didn't write it down or put it in a computer.

Even right now surrounded  by 3 screens & 2 computers, my trusty pen & pad is just 18 inches from me.

I just looked up my account. I see your email address made a previous donation on June 17th, & noticed one from the same address today. Thanks.

[Betty]

Colombia made its first World Cup appearance in 16 years, uniting the country behind its beloved pastime.—including a group of transgender futbol fans who decided to start a league of their own.

“With the World Cup, we are honoring and are proud of Colombia,” organizer Mariana told Vocativ. “We are trans, but we are still Colombians and we want to be involved in Colombian society.”

The trans community in Colombia is often marginalized, not only by straight society, but gays, as well—forcing many into lives plagued by discrimination, violence and prostitution. Members of this new league see soccer as a language everyone understands and a way to bridge the gap.

They may not be the best players the country has to offer, but their spirit and enthusiasm is what the game is all about.

video missing

[Betty]

Some areas aren't very good to live in if you're a crossdresser.

This is an actual police report from just outside the Denver area:

Crossdresser reported near park.

A man called Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies on June 22 after he saw a man dressed in women's clothing near Marker Park in the 7300 block of South Newland Street, Columbine (Littleton). The caller pointed out which house he thought belonged the crossdresser. No one was home when the deputy knocked on the door.

[Betty]

DUBAI - A fashion designer and tailor have been arrested by police at a metro station for wearing women’s clothes.

The two Filipino men, AP, 34, and WP, 44, were referred to Dubai Court of Misdemeanours on a charge of impersonating women after they were spotted wearing bras and high heels.

At court on Tuesday, both men confessed to the charges. AP said that he had been wearing women’s clothes since he was 10 years old, while WP said he had been doing it since he was 8.

On the night of March 16, in Al Rigga, the two stood out to police as they both had long hair, were wearing transparent shirts with bras underneath and were in high heels.

They also were carrying purses containing womanly cosmetics.

“I had been living here since 1999, and never committed any offence,” said AP, who also told police that he had got his breasts enlarged by taking hormone injections. “But I’m not a homosexual.”

WP said he also used the same injections. He told the court that they were heading to a bank to pick up their salaries when they were caught.

“We were wearing women’s clothes but we haven’t done any indecent gestures,” said WP.

The court sentenced each to one month in jail to be followed by deportation.