Transgender Activist Joanna Blackhart Recalls The Challenges Of Coming Out In College
Activist and musician Joanna Blackhart recalled the experience of coming out as transgender at a Catholic university in Texas as part of an interview with HuffPost Live this week.

“I remember very much the day [I came out of the closet] was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable days of my life,” Blackhart said. “I was very proud of myself for making that jump but at the same time, it was very difficult for me … I was extremely isolated for the rest of my career at that college because everyone knew that I was trans.”

Coming out, she said, had a negative impact on her social life with fellow classmates.

“Women didn’t want to talk to me, men didn’t want to talk to me, and I spent a lot of time really uncomfortable in my classes,” she said. Sadly, she soon learned that the struggle extended beyond the confines of the college campus.

“There is no place where trans women can be equally accepted without lots and lots of stress, without trouble and without really having to work for it,” she said.

Watch the full segment here.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/12/transgender-coming-out-college_n_5489509.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

With Assembly Approval, N.Y. Closer to Passing Trans Rights Bill

Trans advocates hope the seventh time is the charm as GENDA wades into the battlefield that is the New York State Senate, where it’s repeatedly stalled.

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Parker Marie Molloy

www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/06/12/assembly-approval-ny-closer-passing-trans-rights-bill

Texas Governor Rick Perry compares being gay to being an alcoholic

‘Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that’

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gregh

www.gaystarnews.com/article/texas-governor-rick-perry-compares-being-gay-being-alcoholic120614

PHOTOS: Inside The Impossibly Fabulous Life Of Magic Johnson’s Gay Son EJ

Here are my two favorite parts of a recent profile of EJ Johnson, the flamboyant reality TV star and son of famed Laker Magic Johnson:

1. My baby’s a brand!

“My husband and I are very proud of our son for who he has become,” says Cookie Johnson. “We support EJ 100 percent, and we’re excited to see him establish his own brand.”

2. The many layers of this sentence

“‘You certainly pay attention to him, at first, because of his pedigree,’ says Howard Bragman, CEO of Fifteen Minutes, the PR firm representing Johnson.”

So on one hand there’s a slightly nauseating career born from being cast on Rich Kids of Beverly Hills.

But on the other hand it’s encouraging to see someone so young be so confident in who they are, something you’ve got to give major credit to parents Magic and Cookie for fostering. And we need more of that. Lots more.

Whether or not EJ becomes a “brand,” the more 20-somethings who feel comfortable strutting around town with a handbag the better in my opinion.

And EJ does have an undeniable penchant for drama:

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/naeozGXQMVc/photos-inside-the-impossibly-fabulous-life-of-magic-johnsons-gay-son-ej-20140612

It's Almost Time for Towleroad's Pop-Up Gay Summer Camp in Provincetown: Are You Signed Up Yet?

Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2014/06/provincetown.html

Denmark to allow legal gender changes without sterilization

Danish lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill that will allow transgender people to legally change their gender without sterilization and surgery. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Denmark on Wednesday became the first European country to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without undergoing medical and psychological treatments

Agence France Presse reported the law, which received final approval in the Danish Parliament, will allow Danes who are at least 18 to legally change their gender after stating their desire to “belong to the other sex” and completing what the Danish government describes as a six-month “reflection period.” They had previously been required to undergo sex-reassignment surgery and sterilization before making the request.

The law is slated to take effect on Sept. 1.

“Today we have dropped the requirement of sterilization when transgendered people need a new personal identification number as part of a legal sex change,” said Minister for Economics and the Interior Margrethe Vestager in a statement to Agence France Presse. “It will make life easier and more dignified for the individual.”

Danish LGBT rights advocates applauded the new law.

“We are highly satisfied that the government decided to go with the most progressive solution and that the Parliament provided a majority vote for it,” Søren Laursen, chair of LGBT Danmark, a Danish advocacy group, told the Washington Blade.

“We are very happy that the law regarding legal recognition of gender identity has been updated,” added Sarah Baagøe Petersen, vice chair of Lambda, another Danish LGBT advocacy group, in an e-mail to the Blade. “The fact that transgender people can now freely apply to change their gender — legally — without surgery or a psychological evaluation is a big step in the right direction. The entire LGBT community welcomes this change.”

Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2012 signed what is considered the world’s most progressive trans rights law that allows people in the South American country to legally change their gender on official documents without surgery and an affidavit from a doctor or another medical provider. Neighboring Uruguay has adopted a similar statute.

The Dutch Senate late last year approved a bill slated to take effect on July 1 that will allow trans people to legally change their gender without undergoing sterilization and sex-reassignment surgery. They will still need to obtain a statement from an “expert” to fulfill their request.

German parents have been able to designate the gender on their intersex children’s birth certificates as “indeterminate” since last November.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley last month signed a bill that added gender identity and expression to the state’s non-discrimination law. Efforts to prompt a referendum on the law failed after opponents did not collect enough signatures.

Laursen and other European LGBT rights advocates said they hope other countries enact laws that allow trans people to legally change their gender without surgery or sterilization.

“We are very pleased to see the Argentinian model for legal gender recognition being introduced in Europe by Denmark today,” said ILGA-Europe Co-Chair Paulo Côrte-Real. “The benchmark is set high now and we encourage other European countries to follow suit and to remove unnecessary, humiliating and degrading requirements which hinder people across Europe to fully enjoy their lives in preferred gender.”

“We are the first European country to go with this model – in fact, such a solution exists today only in Argentina and Uruguay,” added Laursen. “I am convinced that other European countries will now follow.”

Michael K. Lavers

Denmark to allow legal gender changes without sterilization

Hillary Clinton Had 'Shouting Matches' With Russian Pols on LGBT Rights

The former Secretary of State says Vladimir Putin will not be happy to read her new memoir, Hard Choices.

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Daniel Reynolds

www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2014/06/12/hillary-clinton-had-shouting-matches-russian-pols-lgbt-rights