The popular singer Lady Gaga is a hermaphrodite

The popular singer Lady Gaga, who recently said that she is a hermaphrodite, is the topic of the American music magazine.

Lady Gaga - Transmission Gaga-vision: Episode 40

London Pride

By Sophia Siedlberg

© May 2009

I have sort of kept quiet about this because pride festivals bore the hell out of me quite frankly. They have a huge one not far from where I live and to be honest it tends to consist mainly of people waving rainbow flags and corporate logos around. It sort of reminds me of that Advert for Honda that was out in 2006, with all the little rainbows and bunny rabbits with the word "HATE" written everywhere. I say that because the "Diversity" and "Unity" are often restrained affairs that pander to stereotypes. 

However, this is precisely why London Pride sparked my interest last year when the oh so liberal organisers insisted that transsexual women use the men's toilets and pretty much turned a blind eye when the inevitable happened and one of them was sexually assaulted. The fact is there is a deep prejudice that runs in the LGBTQQXYZ community and this is the reason I as an intersexed individual have avoided pride festivals like the plague. 

If they cannot deal with transsexual folks (This is obvious given that this year there are profound differences of opinion between London Pride and Trans@London more on that later). What chance have they of understanding the needs of intersex people? 

They would probably call me as a "Subset of transgender". Well fine but it does not describe me or my experience. I think transsexual folks are also coming to similar conclusions about the LGBTQQXYZ movement as it currently stands. 

If I am honest, I was quite shocked to read that in 2008 there was an incident where a number of transsexual women were told to use the male toilets. I was even more shocked to read that one of them had been sexually assaulted and the organisers of the Pride festival didn't seem to care much about it. In one sense this illustrates the point of many transsexual folks I have come across. They claim that the term "Transgender" is used to define them as "Men in dresses" and not the men or women they have become after surgery. In fairness to the organisers of London Pride I don't know fully what happened but this row about some policy on toilets is nothing new. 

To read the complete article: Click here  

This is a service of the Organisation Intersex International

Frauds, Liars, Nutjobs and Burqa Wearing Sock Puppets

05/26/2009 — Suzan
About 12-13 years ago Out Magazine (IIRC) ran a cover story on Intersex. It had Cheryl Chase and Kiira Tirea and several other folks.

Wow yeah… Instant sympathy Suzanne Kessler wrote a book Lessons from the Intersex and I though that infant sex assigning via surgery sucked as bad as FGM (female genital mutilation) as performed in North African nations.

First of all I believe in consent and agency and all those sorts of empowering things. Sort of how people with transsexualism are treated as adults by enlightened physicians.

Then I encounter Kiira aka Denise Tree on various lists. Having a knowledge of the lesbian feminist history of California some of the things she confided in me regarding did not ring true. She claimed to have been part of the Berkeley Women's Music Collective, a band that was active during the transwars.

This was when Sandy Stone was getting trashed. The devil is in the details. I know that John Money is sort of discredited yet he wrote a very detailed acount of many various intersex conditions.

But something else didn't ring quite true and this is because I've heard so many impossible claims to intersex from people unwilling to admit to the intersex condition they do have which is transsexualism

Actual intersex people would have more to gain by pointing to the way transsexualism is dealt with in matters of agency than in perpetuating IGM.

Interestingly much of the surgery is pretty much the same other than agency.

Details, details. If one were actually transsexual and trying to pass oneself of as IS, what better way than pointing fingers at actual people with transsexualism and belittling the idea that it too is an intersex condition.

As time has gone on Kiira has been shown to be a fraud and a liar as has Cheryl Chase aka Bo Laurent. See Andrea James website.

Now we have the latest darling, Hontas Farmer. Am I supposed to be impressed because this one is a culture vulture hiding behind a burqa? I don't think so. Lay that one on some one who believes in invisible sky daddies. You are about as real as some of the fake Indians like
Carlos Castaneda.

But I must admit it is sort of amusing to watch Taliban Christers have social intercourse with people who fantasize about being actual Taliban.

Go read Ayaan Hirsi Ali and grow up. You are a human sock puppet and a laughing stock as well as an insult to actual women who are so oppressed they are forced to wear that crap for fear of having acid thrown in their faces. 

Source: Click here

Miracle baby stuns the world again

Excerpt: "Despite the good news, various doctors have advised the family to consider gender reassignment. While plastic surgeons can create a penis that looks natural, they warn that the reconstructed organ will have 90 percent less sensation than normal."

Northwest Asian Weekly - Seattle,WA,USA

Miracle baby stuns the world again

May 21st, 2009 by admin.

By Kids Without Borders

For Northwest Asian Weekly

Dubbed the miracle baby, Vietnamese toddler Thien Nhan Phung, who was abandoned at birth and brutally mauled by wild animals, has once again lived up to his name. It was believed that Phung's testicles had been severed in the attack.

However, recent tests performed by Thai specialists at Bangkok's Preecha Aesthetic Institute revealed that the toddler, who is almost 3, has retained two undescended testicles.

This condition exists in only about 3–4 percent of male babies at birth. Had Phung's testicles descended normally, they would likely have been lost during the mauling.

Found 72 hours after his teenage mom had left him in a fallow field, his ravaged body was covered with blood and ants.

The infant was carried for two hours by a motorbike over rough mountain roads to the closest hospital in Quang Nam, Vietnam. He survived but was later released to the care of relatives who were unable to care for him.

When Vietnamese journalist Mai Anh Tran, 35, first met the boy, then 16 months old, he was severely malnourished and suffering from chronic urinary tract, gut, and skin infections.

"After all that he had been through, I could not bear to see him suffering like that," said Tran. "I could not sleep at night thinking of him living in those conditions."

Tran and her journalist husband, Quang Nghinh Phung (no biological relation to Thien Nhan Phung), adopted the boy when he was 20 months old. The child now lives in Hanoi along with the family's two biological sons, ages 4 and 8.

"At first, Nhan was like a wild animal," recalled Tran. "All he ate was cold rice and bananas. But he soon began to gain weight and his terrible rashes cleared up. He is now very bright, active, and talkative."

In August 2008, the Seattle-based charity Kids Without Borders and American philanthropist Greig Craft arranged a urethral surgery for the child at Dartmouth University Hospital in the United States. Thanks to this operation, for the first time in his young life, Phung could urinate free of pain.

"Thien Nhan has overcome a great deal but many more challenges remain," said Craft. "Along with prosthetic care, he will need multiple surgeries over the next 10 to 15 years to rebuild his genitals."

Despite the good news, various doctors have advised the family to consider gender reassignment. While plastic surgeons can create a penis that looks natural, they warn that the reconstructed organ will have 90 percent less sensation than normal.

"We do not agree to turn him into a girl," said Tran. "Thien Nhan's character, way of thinking, and behaving are very obviously male. If we changed him into a female and then found that in 20 years he couldn't accept it, we would all feel terrible."

Approximately one-third of the boy's penis remains intact and the family hopes that by the time he reaches adolescence, technology will have advanced enough to allow the reconstruction of a functioning, sensate penis. They are currently investigating advances in transplants and stem cell research.

Next month, Phung will return to Bangkok for more tests in preparation for surgery to create a scrotum in order to bring down his testicles.

"We hope that if we can raise enough money and gain the support of pioneering doctors, Thien Nhan will one day become a fully functioning man," said his mom.

A special fund to cover medical treatment for Phung has been created.

Ongoing fundraising efforts are led by Kids Without Borders and the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation, which is founded and managed by Craft.

For more information, visit www.KidsWithNoBorders.org or www.asiainjury.org.

Posted in: World News.

Tagged: 2009 · Vol 28 No 22 | May 23 - 29

http://www.nwasianweekly.com/wp/?p=252

OZ LEADS ON INTERSEX RIGHTS

In a world first, the Inner City Legal Centre will launch a legal advice service specifically geared towards the intersex community.

It is an important step for the intersex community and will provide invaluable assistance for people wanting advice on medical and discrimination matters, a board member for the Organisation Intersex International (OII), Gina Wilson, said.

“Worldwide, intersex people have no specific human rights or legal protections,” she said.

“For us to argue anything as far as our health goes, our human rights go or discrimination, they’re always very difficult and complex arguments. Because of that, I suppose we, more than most groups, need legal assistance.

“The intersex rights movement is giving voice to people to come forward, be proud of their differences and stand up against some of the things that have happened to us.

“These kind of services make that kind of freedom and that kind of a voice more possible.”

As a founding member of OII, Wilson said she was proud to see the initiative beginning in Australia and hoped to see it adopted in other parts of the country and overseas.

“We’ve started talking with other groups and have some prospects of similar help in a few states in America,” she said.

“A member of ours over there has been relatively successful in advocating for intersex rights in, surprisingly, Texas.

“There has been some movement in a few midwestern states as well, but nowhere near as definite and specifically directed as this, but we’re under way.”

info: The Inner City Legal Centre is at 50-52 Darlinghurst Rd, Kings Cross. The intersex advice service runs on Wednesdays from 6pm. Call 9332 1966 to make an appointment. For more on OII, visit intersexualite.org.

OII-Australia: Click here

Original article: Click here

Condemn Horowitz's Speech and Israeli Apartheid

AN OPEN LETTER

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

We, transgenders, bisexuals, intersexuals and queers, citizens of Israel, wish to express our outmost rage and disgust with Israeli Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz’s appearance in the World Congress on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity that took place on May 15, 2009 in Paris, France. Not only did MK Horowitz exclude transgender, bisexual and queer issues and misrepresented lesbian and gay issues in Israel, he also represented and advocated the Israeli apartheid in Palestine/Israel in his patronizing speech.

While the conference Horowitz attended dealt intensively with issues of gender identity, transgenderism, bisexual, intersexual and queer politics, in his spokesman's message to the press Horowitz talked exclusively about lesbian and gay issues, excluding this way our predicament from his illusioninst description. In contrast to this description, discrimination in medical care and access to jobs and incrimination with "impersonating" are some of the distinct issues transgeners and intersexuals in Israel face. Violence and social unrecognition are ongoing difficulties for LGBTQI people in Israel. Horowitz's claim that the main issue for lesbians and gays in Israel is legalizing marriage or couples agreement has no evident basis.

Moreover, Horowitz's regard to Palestinian gay rights is outrageous. By creating a false racist picture of Israel as the western liberal and the Palestinians as the oriental conservatives Horowitz sent a message that advances the "white-washing" agenda of the Israeli foreign ministry he has chosen to represent. Horowitz's appeal to the Israeli goverment to grant sanctuary for persecuted gay Palestininas is no more than a service to the Israeli apartheid and the "permit" system that puts restrictions on Palestinian movement in the first place.

In accordance with the Palestinian call to sanction Israel until it ends the occupation, sieges and apartheid, dismantles the separation wall and allows the return and compensation of dispossessed Palestinians, we further uphold that Israel should have been banned from participating in this conference from the outset. Horowitz's appearance only testifies to the moral disgrace of this failure.

Sincerely,

Yotam Ben-David

Yossi Bartel

Shiri Eisner

liad kantorowicz

Yossef Mekyton 

ayala shani

Sharon Schlesinger

Roy Wagner

Curtis E. Hinkle

Read a report on Horowitz's speech here:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3716470,00.html