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Sports, Gender and Trans–Part 2: the Cold War

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Part 1: to 1945
Part 2: the Cold War
Part 3: recent developments


Accusations of gender impersonations became a weapon to be used, mainly by the US, in the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s.  While the initial suspicions in the 1930s had been about Mark Weston and Zdenek Koubkov, they were long forgotten by the 1950s. The focus was on east European female athletes who were too butch.  The suspicions were taken to be confirmed when Iolanda Balas, Irana Press, Tamara Press, Tatyana Shchelkanova and Maria Itkina all retired after sex testing was brought in.  However if they were intersex women they would have known that they would fail the tests despite being women.

It was a co-incidence that Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh was murdered and thereby outed just before the Moscow Olympics in 1980.  Walsh was described as a man in many newspaper articles, but again was an intersex woman.  By that time 14 years of sex testing had shown that the tests were not actually catching any men in drag.  65 nations refused to compete at Moscow because of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (as we know such boycotts do not happen to all occupiers of Afghanistan).  As sex testing as been brought in as a way to attack the Soviet Union, why was sex testing done at the rump Olympics in Moscow?

Quite a few modern articles refer to  'gender verification' at the Olympics.  Gender is verified by asking for identity papers, which would be passports for all competitors except the home team.  Gender identity is verified by talking to the person.  What is verified by genital examination and DNA analysis is sex.  While only persons of female gender are subject to the testings, the testings are sex tests or sex verifications.

1946Cis athlete Mildred Didrikson wins US Women’s Amateur Golf.
IAAF introduces a rule requiring female competitors to bring a medical certificate.
1946 Oslo European ChampionshipClair Bresolles and Léa Caurla. Silver in relay race. Both later became men.  Caurla also 3rd in 200 m.  Bressolles also 3rd in 100 m. 
1947 Mildred Didrikson wins British Ladies Amateur Golf.
1948 London OlympicsIOC also requires female competitors to bring a medical certificate.
Held while wartime rationing still in effect. Athletes are given increased rations, the same as those received by dockers and miners, which meant 5,467 calories a day, instead of the normal 2,600.  No new venues are built.
3714 male competitors, 390 female.
Neither Germany is represented, nor is Japan.
1949 Foekje Dillema is named “athlete of the match” at a tournament in London.
Laura Dillon  completes surgeries with Harold Gillies to become Michael.   Wins Sporting Blue for rowing at Trinity College, Dublin.
1950 Foekje Dillema runs 200 m in 24.1 seconds breaking the Dutch national record.  She and other women athletes are sent for a gynecological exam, and Foekje is declared not a woman, and expelled for life from competition.
Mildred Didrikson voted "Greatest Female Athlete of the First Half of the Century".
1951Roberta Cowell  has surgery with Harold Gillies.
East Germany resents the West German Olympic Committee’s claim to represent both Germanys.
++Richard Raskind Eastern Indoor Male Tennis Champion
1952 Helsinki OlympicsAvery Brundage becomes IOC president.
West Germany, but not East Germany competes. Japan returns.
Soviet Union and Israel participate for the first time.
Both Taiwan and China claim to be the Chinese team.  Taiwan withdraws.
1954 Roberta Cowell  publishes her autobiography.
Maria Itkina Gold 200 m at Bern European Championships.
1950s Tsutsumi Taeko,  Japanese athletics star, becomes Kiyotaka, a man.
1955 Maria Itkina 400m world record.
++Richard Raskind captain of Yale University Men's Tennis team.
1956 Mildred Didrikson dies of cancer at age 45.
Maria Itkina world record for 220 m.
++Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh married boxer Neil Olson; they separated after eight weeks, but never divorced, and she continued to use his surname.
1956 Melbourne /Stockholm OlympicsThe equestrian events are held in Stockholm  because of Australian quarantine regulations.
2938 male competitors, 376 female.
Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refuse to attend because of the repression of the Hungarian uprising;
Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon refuse because of the Suez war;
The IOC recognises both China and Taiwan.  China withdraws because Taiwan enters.
IOC requires that the two Germanys compete as one team.
Maria Itkina 4th in 4 events.
1957 Heinrich Ratjen, a barman in Hamburg, says that he was Dora Ratjen, who had won medals in 1936 and 1938.
Roberta Cowell wins hill climb.
1958 Maria Itkina Gold 400 m at Stockholm European Championship.
1959 Maria Itkina world record for 440 m.
1960 Rome Olympics4727 male competitors, 611 female.
Soviet gymnasts win 15 of 16 possible medals in women’s gymnastics.
Irina Press Gold in hurdling for USSR
Tamara Press Gold and Silver in shot-put for USSR
Iolanda Balas Gold in long jump for Romania.
Maria Itkina 4th in 3 events.
Two British female athletes are accused in the press of being men.
The two Germanys still required to compete as one team.
Taiwan but not China participates.
Avery Brundage accepted the word of South African officials that non-white athletes were allowed to compete, but they simply were not good enough.
1962 Sin Kim Dan for North Korea breaks women’s records for 400 m and 800 m.
Maria Itkina Gold 200 m at Belgrade European Championships.
1963 In Moscow, other female sprinters refuse to run against Sin Kim Dan because she looks like a man.
IOC suspends South Africa because of its racial policies.
1964 Mike Duff wins Belgian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
++Richard Raskind consults Harry Benjamin.   
1964 Tokyo Olympics4473 male competitors, 678 female.
Irina Press Gold in Pentathlon for USSR
Tamara Press Gold and Silver in shot-put for USSR.
Ewa Kłobukowska Gold and Bronze in sprinting for Poland.
Sin Kim Dan does not compete as North Korea is not in IAAF.
Tatyana Shchelkanova Bronze in long jump for USSR
Iolanda Balas Gold in long jump for Romania.
1965 Peter Drouyn wins the Australian Junior Surfing Championship, despite being assaulted the night before.
Ewa Kłobukowska sets a world record for 100 metres with a time of 11.1 seconds.
1966 Budapest European Athletics ChampionshipsVisual inspection sex testing of all 243 female athletes by 3 female doctors.
Ewa Kłobukowska passes sex test and wins two gold medals.
Iolanda Balas  attends only as a spectator, and then retires.
A separate East German team recognized for the first time.
1966Press sisters announce retirement.
Tatyana Shchelkanova retires
Maria Itkina retires
Erika Schinegger world champion women’s downhill ski champion.
British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica– female athletes were manually examined.
Frank True.  Herald Tribune, 13 September: 17: “If the Commies hadn’t been guilty of substituting men for women in the first place, the new rule by the IAAF wouldn’t have been necessary”.
Fanny Blankers-Koen (who had helped ruin Foekje Dillema’s career in 1950): The Milwaukee Journal, 31 August: 2: “I for one am glad that the girls have to submit to an examination … It was always unfair when a real girl was beaten by one who posed as a female.”
1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. Visual inspection sex testing of all female athletes.
Avery Brundage’s IOC bans performance enhancing drugs, and introduces Barr Body sex test.
Joana Nery Brazilian female diving champion.
Peter Drouyn came second in the Australian Surfing Championship.
Mike Duff second in Canadian Motorcycle Grand Prix.
1967 Kiev European Athletics Championship Ewa Kłobukowska 2x Gold in sprinting for Poland. Fails Barr Body sex test.
1968The Eligibility Code of the IOC Charter is modified to read: “No discrimination is allowed against any country or person on grounds of race, religion or political affiliation.”  No mention of sex or gender.
++Bruce Jenner wins football scholarship to Graceland College. Switches to decathlon because of a knee injury.  
1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics. 947 male competitors, 211 female
1st Olympic sex verification: 50 out 240 female athletes tested.
Erika Schinegger, skier, found to be XY and disqualified.  He accepts this and later transitions to male.
1968 Mexico City OlympicsThe Tlatelolco massacre  of students and protesters just 10 days before the Olympics opens. Avery Brundage decides to continue with the Games.
4750 male competitors, 780 female.
Barr Body sex test applied using a lottery system.
US blacks and Czechoslovak athletes make political gestures about the repressions in their home countries.
Ewa Kłobukowska fails sex test. Medals rescinded. Banned from competing.   Later marries and becomes a mother.
East Germany finally as a separate team. 
Rhodesian team not allowed into Mexico as per UN Security Council request.
1969 Peter Drouyn equal points with winner of the Australian Surfing Championship.
Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Mazda.
Mike Duff wins Eastern Canadian Motorcycle Championship.
1970 Peter Drouyn wins Australian Open Surfing title.
Peter Wherrett  drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Ford.
++Bruce Jenner came 5th in Drake Relays decathlon.
British Association of Sport and Medicine makes Barr Body testing available to sporting associations.  This also happens in most countries and no further athletes are failed by the test until 1985.
1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics801 male competitors, 205 female.
All female competitors subjected to a sex test. 
1972 Munich Olympics6075 male competitors, 1095 female.
960 female competitors subjected to a sex test. Exceptions only if had certificate that were tested at a previous Olympics.
Rhodesia excluded by IOC.
++Bruce Jenner 10th in decathlon.
11 Israeli athletes, 1 police officer and 5 Black Septemberists killed during shootout.
Avery Brundage, at his last Games as IOC President, decided that the Games were to continue after the shootout.
1973 Cis tennis champion Bobby Riggs claims that the female game is inferior and even at 55 he could beat top female player, but is defeated by lesbian Billie Jean King.
++Bruce Jenner graduates from Graceland College with a degree in physical education.
1974 Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo.
Bill Smith, jockey and trainer, is outed as female-bodied on entering hospital.  He dies the next year.
++Bruce Jenner US men's decathlon champion, and on Track and Field News cover August issue. 
1975 Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo.
Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh inducted into the US Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Renée Richards, amateur tennis player, completes transition.
++Bruce Jenner wins Franch national decathlon championship.  Also set new world record at event in Eugene, Oregon.
++Robin Mathy wins a wrestling scholarship to a junior college.
1976 Peter Wherrett drives in the 1969 Bathurst 1000 race for Alfa Romeo.
1st Gay Rodeo championships.  Includes a Miss Dusty Spurs for drag queens.
Renée Richards banned from US Women’s Open as she will not submit to a chromosome test.  She sues.
1976 Innsbrook Winter Olympics241 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
1976 Montreal Olympics4781 male competitors, 1247 female.
All female competitors have their sex verified with the exception of Anne Windsor of the UK equestrian team.   This exception is because her mommy is the Queen of Canada.
++Bruce Jenner dominates games with victories in several events.  He is awarded several US awards.  He then abandons amateur status, and monetizes his fame. (see 2015 in Part III).  
South Africa and Rhodesia banned because of their racist policies.
Taiwan also withdraws because not allowed to call itself Republic of China.
28 African nations boycot the Games because the IOC refuses to bar New Zealand after its rugby tour of South Africa.
It will take 30 years for Montreal to pay off the debt incurred by the Games.
1977 Joana becomes João W. Nery, surgery by Roberto Farina.
Renée Richards wins the right to play without submitting to testing.  She ranks 22nd. She reachs doubles finals in US Open, and wins 35-and-over women’s singles.
1978 16-year-old Chris Dale climbs the Old Man of Stoer without a rope.
1st true female body building contest in Ohio, that is based on musculature rather beauty.
++Frank Maloney working as professional boxing trainer.
1979 Renée Richards wins 25-and-over singles title at US Open.
1980 Stella Walasiewicz/Walsh is shot as a bystander during a robbery in Cleveland.  She is found to be intersex.  The U.S. Olympic Committee announces that there would be no attempt to posthumously retract Walsh's Olympic medals.
++Robin Mathy is a candidate to the 1980 USA Olympic Team in Freestyle Wrestling.
++Bruce Jenner inducted into National Track and Field Hall of Fame. 
1980 Moscow OlympicsCoincided with Ramadan. 
4064 male competitors, 1115 female.
995 female competitors subjected to a sex test.  Another 200 had certificates from a previous Olympics.
Of 9292 drug tests, none were positive.
65 nations refuse to compete because of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  29 of these countries hold an alternate Liberty Bell Classic Games in Philadelphia. 
Rhodesia returns to the Olympic Games as Zimbabwe.
Ludwig Prokep of the IOCMC claims that some ‘third world’ athletes have failed the sex tests.  This is quickly denied by the IOCMC chair.
Jarmila Kratochvílová Silver in 400m for Czechoslovakia.
1981 Chris Dale makes a bold first ascent in Australia’s Blue Mountains.
First woman accepted into IOC.
1980s ++James Hayes wins over 500 regional and national champion-ships in go-kart, midget, and sprint racing, and  then competes in NASCAR Winston Cup.
Judy Cousins active golfer at Stoke Poges and in the higher ranks of UK women's amateur golf.
1982 1st Gay Games– San Francisco

1983
1350 competitors.
As it had done with the Women’s Games in 1926, the IOC vetoes the use of the word “Olympics”.
++Renée Richards 1st autobiography, Second Serve.  
1983 Helsinki inaugural  Athletic World ChampionshipsJarmila Kratochvílová 2 Golds 400 m 800 m..  Accused of either taking male steroids or being male, although passes Barr Body test.
1984 Kia Sladeski declared Rookie Cowgirl of the Year, but is outed as male-born by folks in her home town. The American Rodeo Association announces that if Kia has completed a sex-change operation, there will be no problem. Either way she will be allowed to keep her rodeo earnings.
1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics262 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
China finally participates.
1984 Los Angeles Olympics15 east European nations refuse to attend in retaliation for the 1980 boycott, and hold alternate Friendship Games.
5263 male competitors, 1566 female. 1610 female competitors subjected to a sex test, 4 fail. 11 fail drug tests. 
China finally participates.  Taiwan also as Chinese Taipei.
1985 Kobe World University GamesMaria Jose Martinez Patino, Spanish hurdler, found to be XY AIS.  Struggles for 3 years to persuade IOS to re-instate her.  Given certificate of femininity to exempt her from further testing.
1985 Peter Drouyn introduces surfing in China.
Cis athlete Bev Francis denied a win in female body building contest in Las Vegas because of low score on ‘femininity’.
++Malcolm McGregor, rugby player, cricket commentator, diagnosed as transgender, but drinks and marries instead.   
1986 Madrid European GamesHeidi Kreiger, unknowingly on male steroids, Gold in shot-put for DDR.
1986 Gay Games II – San Francisco
1986
3,482 competitors.  Many are HIV+ and will not compete again.
++TV movie Second Serve based on biography by Renée Richards, with Vanessa Redgrave as Renée Richards.
++Bruce Jenner inducted into Olympic Hall of Fame.  
1987 Mike Duff completes transition as Michelle.
Charlotte Wood, finishes third in US Senior Women’s Golf Amateur contest, and reaches semifinals of US Women's Mid-Amateur. She did not reveal that she is trans until questioned.  In reaction the US and many other Golf Associations add ‘female at birth’ requirement for women’s tournaments.
1988 Erik Schinegger,  women’s downhill champion 1968, appears on Austrian television and gives his gold medal to the woman who came second.
IAAF drops Barr Body testing in favour of a manual/visual check by a doctor.
1988 Calgary Winter Olympics1122 male competitors, 301 female.  296 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
1988 Seoul Olympics













1989 
A Spanish professor presents the medical evidence to the Olympic Medical Commission that AIS women such as Maria Jose Martinez Patino,  cannot use the testosterone in their bodies, and have no unfair advantage.
8391 male competitors, 2194 female.
2200 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
Cis Canadian Sprinter Ben Johnson and 2 cis Bulgarian weightlifters win gold but disqualified after drug tests. 
North Korea, after failed negotiations to be a joint host, boycots, and is supported by Albania, Cuba, Madagascar & Seychelles.
Defending cis diving champion, HIV+ Greg Lougania, hits the board and bleeds into the pool, but does not admit he is HIV+.
For the first time, all dressage events are won by women.
++Frank Maloney becomes manager of boxer Lennox Lewis.

Sports, Gender and trans-Part 3: recent developments

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Part 1: to 1945
Part 2: the Cold War
Part 3: recent developments

Sex testing continued another 10 years beyond the end of the Cold War, but the arguments for it were becoming less persuasive.  Not that problems for intersex women were over, especially in Asia where sport associations were slow to adopt the new approach. On the other hand, transsexual athletes were coming out and competing.   The attitude of the IAAF and the IOC was that regulations were required for transsexuals, and they came up with the Stockholm Consensus, which is a step forward, but contains requirements that are not available in all countries.

The supposed physical advantage of trans women over cis women failed to materialize as trans women athletes failed to make it on to their nation’s Olympic teams despite being being allowed to compete.

1990 Gay Games III - Vancouver





1990
7,300 competitors.
A Christian homophobe takes out full page ads in the Vancouver papers condemning the event as proof of an "impending sodomite invasion" and encourages residents to gather at Empire Stadium to pray against the event. The British Columbia government refuses funding for the event.
++James Hayes competes in NASCAR Winston Cup. 
1991 Cis bodybuilder Bev Francis denied a win in Ms Olympia contest because of low score on ‘femininity’.
April Capwill in news, as others claim that she has an unfair advantage in women’s running events.
++James Hayes in a near fatal racing accident. 
1992 Barcelona Olympics9356 male competitors, 2701 female.
IOC introduces new sex test based on sex determining region of Y chromosome.  2406 female competitors subjected to a sex test.  11 women fail the test, but they were not identified, and we don’t know whether they were allowed to compete.
35 countries still sent all-male delegates.
The first Games without boycotts since 1972.
Maria Jose Martinez Patino failed to qualify by hundredths of a second.
14 out GLBT competitors.  7 won medals.
1st Olympic Gay and Lesbian Visitors Centre.
Return of post-Apartheid South Africa.
Now-united Germany send a single team.
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia send national teams.  Other Soviet republics compete as ‘Unified Team”.
Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia-Herzegovinia sent national teams.  The rump of Yugoslavia is subject to UN sanctions and may not compete.
Baseball an Olympic sport for the first time.  Medals taken by Cuba, Taipei and Japan.
1992 IAAF drops all sex testing on grounds a) doping regulations required athletes to pass urine in front of a witness b) modern sportswear is so revealing that a man could not masquerade as a woman.
1st gay Eurogames – The Hague.
International Gay and Lesbian Football Association founded.
++Gerry Greenberg writes England Rugby star Wade Dooley's autobiography.
1993 Euro games II – The Hague. Opened by the Dutch Minister of Sport.
1994 Gay Games IV – New York City. 10, 864 competitors – more than the Olympics.  25th anniversary of Stonewall.
US lifts ban on HIV+ persons entering the US but only for the duration of the games.
1994 James Hayes transitions as Terri O’Connell, surgery by Dr Biber.
1995 Mianne Bagger completes transition.
Eurogames III – Frankfurt. 
1996 Eurogames IV - Berlin
++Thai volleyball team Iron Ladies win national championship. Some of Kathoey players try for national team but are rejected.
Michelle Dumaresq completes transition.
1996 Atlanta Olympics6797 male competitors, 3523 female.
3387 female competitors subjected to a sex test.
Brazilian judoka Edinanci Fernandes da Silva and 7 others fail the new Y-region sex test, but allowed to compete anyway after further examination.  3 had Complete AIS, and 4 had Partial AIS.
29 GLBT competitors, 15 win medals.
In a poll of female competitors, 82% felt that testing should continue and 94% said that the tests did not make them ‘anxious’.
Iran sent first female competitor.
The ex-Soviet republics send separate teams.  Yugoslavia was allowed to send a team. Czech Republic and Slovakia send separate teams.
US terrorist exploded pipe bomb, killed 1, injured 111.
1997 Heidi Kreiger transitions to Andreas.
Danielle Swope completes surgery to remove ambiguity.
Eurogames V – Paris.
++Gerry Greenberg, sports writer, starts transition.
1998 Nagano Winter Olympics1389 male competitors, 787 female.
679 female competitors who do not have certification from a previous Olympics are subjected to a sex test.   This is the last Olympics to have sex tests.
1998 Gay Games V - Amsterdam 14,715 competitors – more than any other multi-sport event, gay or straight, before or since. 
1998 Iyabo Abade has sex test and is barred from women’s football.
Nong Tum, openly kathoey, wins first of 22 Muay Thai fights.
late 1990s American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, The American College of Physicians, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Endocrine Society, and the American Society of Human Genetics call for elimination of sex verification,stating that the method used is uncertain and ineffective.
1999 IOC drops sex testing.
Ewa Kłobukowska rehabilitated.
Michelle Duff publishes her autobiography.
Michelle Dumaresq wins mountain biking competition.
Nong Tum completes transition.
Eurogames VI Manchester
2000 Bev Francis inducted into Body-building Hall of Fame.
Li Anne Taft and Tammy Wronski barred from Na Wahine O Ke Kai paddling until ACLU intervention.
Renée Richards inducted into USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame.
Eurogames VII – Zurich.
outsports.com  started.
Peter Sonksen analyses testosterone levels for around 650 Olympic athletes. Almost 5 percent of the women were in the male range for testosterone and more than 6 percent of the men were in the female range
2000 Sydney Olympics6582 male competitors, 4069 female.
1st Olympics in 3 decades without blanket sex testing.
Bahrain sends first female competitors.
Afghanistan barred because of the Taliban’s oppression of women, and prohibition of sports.
Yvonne Buschbaum 6th female pole-vaulter. Germany.
Erika Coimbra Bronze volleyball for Brazil.  Questions are raised about her sex, but she is allowed to continue.
42 GLBT competitors, 19 win medals.
Closing ceremony included a parade of 50 drag queens.
2002 Gay Games VI - Sydney 13,000 competitors
2002 Michelle Dumaresq, cyclist, licensed to race as a woman.  Wins the Canada Cup series.
Ando Hiromasa, speed boat racer, transitiones after 17 years in the sport.
Yvonne Buschbaum Bronze in polevaulting. 
2003 Santo Domingo Pan-American GamesEdinanci Fernandes da Silva, Gold in judo for Brazil
2003 Chris Dale ascends Dun Dubh, Britain’s last unclimbed mountain.
++Gerry Greenbery completes transition as  Donna Gee.
Eurogames VIII - Copenhagen
2004 Statement of the Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports which sets out rules for trans people in sports: Those who have undergone sex reassignment and associated hormone therapy prior to puberty can now compete; those who begin their transition after puberty are eligible for participation if surgical anatomical changes, hormone therapy and legal gender change have been completed.
Footballer Iyabo Abade becomes James Johnson with surgery in Los Angeles funded by the Nigerian Government.
++Zainab Rabie, Bahraini shot-putter, has home searched for performance enhancing drugs, as she has masculine build and deep voice.  
Danielle Swope banned from female golfing because of birth certificate.
Mianne Bagger first trans golfer allowed in women’s tournament after Australian association removed ‘female at birth’ requirement.
Michelle Dumaresq finishes 17th at World Mountain Bike Championships.
Christina Kahrl, sports writer, transitions.
++Frank Maloney, boxing manager, UKIP candidate for London mayor, makes negative comments about LGBT people.
Gay Games drop Montreal in favour of Chicago.  Montreal organizers found Outgames.
Eurogames IX – Munich.
2004 Athens OlympicsIOC admits trans athletes in target gender under the Stockholm Consensus.
Renee Richards quoted as saying that trans women should not be allowed to compete with female athletes.
25 GLBT competitors, 11 win medals.
2005 Shanthi Soundarajan wins the 880 metres, 1,500 m and 3,000 m events at Bangalore. At the Asian Championships at Incheon, South Korea she wins the 800 m silver medal.
Eurogames X – Utrecht.
++Hussain Rabie transitions.
++Natalie van Gogh, racing cyclist, transitions
2006 Peter/Pip Wherrett comes out as trans.
Gay Games VII – Chicago.
1st OutGames – Montreal.  Cis Montreal MP Réal Ménard competes in wrestling.
Pinki Pramanik Gold in 4x400 m relay for India at Melbourne Commonwealth Games; 3 Golds for India at Colombo South Asian Games.
2006 Doha Asian Games Shanthi Soundarajan wins the 800 m silver medal at the Asian Games in Doha.  She then fails a subsequent sex test and is stripped of the medal, despite the fact that persons with similar intersex conditions are now accepted by the Olympics.
Pinki Pramanik Gold in 4x400 m relay for India.
2007 Foekje Dillema dies.  Max Dohle published her biography.
Mike Penner, sports writer at Los Angeles Times publicly transitiones as Christine Daniels.
Bobbie Dittmeier, sports writer, transitions.
Sarah Gronert, submits to sex testing and the World Tennis Association allows her to compete.
Joanna Harper, runner accepted as female member of USATF.
++Renée Richards 2nd autobiography, No Way Renée.
2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan-American GamesEdinanci Fernandes da Silva, Gold in judo for Brazil
2008 Peter Drouyn transitions to Westerly Windina on national television.
++Natalie van Gogh, cyclist, 1º in Omloop van Strijen, , (Strijen (F)) , Strijen (Noord-Brabant),  1º in Batavus Zomerrace/ Voorjaarsrace, , (Heerenveen (F)) , Heerenveen (Friesland).
Heinrich/Dora Ratjen dies at age 90.
Christine Daniels returns to being Mike Penner.
Hussain Rabie, diabled shot-putter and discus thrower, recognised as male by Bahraini High Civil Court.
Yvonne Buschbaum transitions as Balian.
++Terri O’Connell publishes autobiography.
South African cis footballer Eudy Simelane, on national women’s team, raped and murdered.
2008 Bejing OlympicsWar between Georgia and Russia starts on the opening day.
The Chinese Olympics Commmitte announce the re-introduction of sex testing for selected women. 
UAE sent two Dubai princesses as first female competitors. 
24 GLBT competitors, 11 win medals.
Kristen Worley, cyclist, is not able to qualify for the Canadian team because of family illness.
2009Patti Swansson, sports writer, transitions.
Pip Wherrett dies.
Mike Penner commits suicide.
Sarah Gronert wins two tournaments.
Lana Lawless, Palm Springs, wins female Long Drive Championship. In reponse the association changed its rules to require ‘female at birth’ matching the LPGA.  Lawless sues both.
Cis athlete Caster Semenya, South African runner, wins gold in 800 metres and 1500 m at the Athletics World Championships.  Although 15 women had run faster, she has her sex questioned and is tricked into taking a sex test. She is enthusiastically supported by South Africans.
++Frank Maloney managed boxer Rendall Munroe as he fought for world Super bantamwight championship.  Then  suffered heart attack, and was admitted to hospital after boxer Darran Sutherland hanged himself.
Sanam XI, an hijra cricket team, beat the local club in Sukkur, Sindh.
Mercedes Newbiggin, light middlewight boxer, starts transition.
++Jennifer McCreath runs in Boston marathon, and wins a gold medal for achievement in the 2009 World OutGames in Copenhagen . She ran the 1500 metre freestyle swim and marathon run in the third gender category.
World Outgames II – Copenhagen.  Three bombs are thrown.  Dean Koga, the only athlete injured, wins gold next day.
Kristen Worley  co-founder of Coalition of Athletes for Inclusion in Sport (CAIS).
++Chris Moser competes in female NYC triathlon.
2010 Vancouver Winter OlympicsWomen’s ski jumping excluded.  This was in conflict with Canadian law but court ruled that IOC was beyond the reach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
2010 Caster Semenya cleared to run. 
Chris Tina Bruce, bodybuilder, transitions.
Leyla Çalışkan, Turkish basketball coach.
Donna Rose, wrestler.
++Chris Moser competes as male, featured in The Advocate.
++Diane Neil, rugby player and landscape gardener, transitioned.
Kye Allums continues to play women’s college basketball as not yet taking testosterone.
++Jennifer McCreath runs in Boston marathon.
++Mikki Nicholson won the British National Scrabble championship.

Kristen Worley goes to India to speak out for Shanthi Soundarajan.
US Ladies Professional Golf Association voted to remove its ‘female at birth’ rule as being sued by Lana Lawless** see comment below
At convention in Manchester, Gay Games and Out Games agree to join together.
Owen Anderson, editor of Peak Performance, was quoted: “Using fair velocity comparisons, in heights per second, not meters per second, the fastest woman in the world is almost 2 percent faster than the quickest man.”
2011 Chris Dale dies.
Chicago Outfit Roller Derby League now permits trans women.
Chris Mosier competes in New York City Triathlon as a man.
++Kye Allums, who continued playing on a womens’ basketball team before taking hormones, suffered a series of concussions, and had to stop participating.
Footballer Jonny Saelua part of American Samoan team in its World cup victory over Tonga.
Chris Tina Bruce, US bodybuilder.
Alyn Libman, US,  competes in the men’s figure skating.
US National Collegiate Athletic Association, after taking advice from National Center on Lesbian Rights removed requirement of surgery to be recognized as target gender.
++Brigitte Boréale, sports journalist on Pink TV, Paris.
++Frank Maloney retired from boxing.
++Natalie van Gogh, cyclist,  1º in Wielerronde van Nispen, , (Nispen (F)) , Nispen (Noord-Brabant).
++Terri O’Connell racing again in an all-female team.
++Renée, film biography of Renée Ricahrds. 
2012 London Olympics

Coincides with Ramadan.
Qatar, Brunei & Saudi Arabia send first female competitors. 
First Olympics where women compete in all 26 sports on offer, but in 30 fewer events, except for exclusion of women’s canoe racing events in violation of the Equality Acts.
IOC: Women who test in the male range for testosterone, and whose bodies respond to the hormone, may not be eligible to compete as females.
Caster Semenya leads South African team in Opening Ceremony.
Cis stuntman Gary Connery in drag as Betty Windsor parachuting at Opening Ceremony.
GLBT Pride House abandoned after funding and sponsorship difficulties.
++The third Olympics since the Stockholm Consensus on Sex Reassignment in Sports. However almost no trans athletes qualify.
2012

OutGames & GayGames announce that they cannot agree.
Pinki Pramanik’s ex-wife accused her of rape and of being a man, and she is obliged to take a sex test.
Lindsay Walker, US basketball.
++Natalie van Gogh, cyclist, 1º in Ronde van de Bakkerstraat, , (Bovenkarspel (F)) , Bovenkarspel (Noord-Holland).
Keelin Godsey, women’s hammer throw, not yet on testosterone, fails to make the US Olympics team.
++Malcolm McGregor announces impending transition to Cate in final chapter of An Indian Summer of Cricket
++The first comprehensive history of Sports, Gender and Trans, in 3 parts by Zagria.
++Pablo S. Torre & David Epstein. “The Transgender Athlete”. SI Vault, May 28, 2012. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1198744/index.htm.
++Tranny Olympics, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, Tower Hamlets, London, 4 August, and Berlin.
++Drag Queen Olympics, Amsterdam.  Video.
++Brooke Fantelli, off-road racer, doing a photo shoot in the California desert when a Bureau of Land Management ranger checked papers, takes offence that Fantelli is trans and tasers her in the groin. She files a federal lawsuit.
++Gabrielle Ludwig, 50, 6'8", returns to playing basketball.
++Savannah Burton, as a male, represented Canada at the World Dodgeball Federation World Championships in Kuala Lumpur, finishing in second place.
++Lindsey Walker, 26, 7’0”, basketball player, contacts Guinness Book of Records re being world’s tallest transsexual.
++Sasha Hostyn, 18, dominates in Starcraft 2 championship in Toronto, winning $15,000.
++Thai boxer Usanakorn Kokietgym accused of having too much testosterone.
2013 ++Aeris Houlihan is told by England Football Association that cannot play on women's team until two years after her operation.
++Bobbie Lancaster, golfer, tries out for LPGA tour.
++Cory Oskam gets to skate with hockey star Cory Schneider.
++Drew-Ashlyn Cunningham, of My Transsexual Summer is now UK's 1st trans wrestler.
++Fallon Fox, MMA fighter, comes out in an interview with Outsports, and some challenge her right to fight females.
++Harley Ryder, wrestler.
++Taylor Edelmann, volleyball captain.
++Tony Bias, school basketball player, Los Angeles.
2014


































++Catherine McGregor featured on ABC's Australian Story.   She continues to play and to write about Cricket.
++Renée Richards 3rd autobiography, Spy Night and Other Memories.  
++Bobbi Lancaster, LPGA Golfer thinks that her pre-transition past does give her an unfair advantage, and therefore chooses to play against younger women.
++Chloie Jonsson, personal trainer, Santa Cruz, California, banned from competing in women's section of CrossFit Games. Sues.
++Dutee Chand, 17, cis Indian athlete, dropped from the Commonwealth Games contingent at the last minute after the Athletic Federation of India states that hyperandrogenism made her ineligible to compete as a female athlete.
++Enza Anderson and Savannah Burton, after two months practice, as part of Team TRANS-fusion, comes 4th out of 5 in a 22km rowing race on the Ottawa river.
++Fallon Fox, 38, the controversy of her fighting in female MMA matches continues. The Case Against. Fallon's reply.
++Jaiyah Saelua plays football for American Samoa in a FIFA qualifier, and breaks a long losing streak.  ++Kinnon MacKinnon, 28, Toronto, wins in powerlifting at Gay Games 9 in Cleveland.
++Michelle Diamond, goal umpire, officiating Victorian Amateur Football Association matchs.
++Pinki Pramanik, track athlete, previously charged with rape and assault by her girlfriend, exonerated
++Natasha Payne, 51, takes bronze in the World Pole-Dancing Championships.
++Pat Cordova-Goff, Azusa, California, allowed to play on girls' softball team.
++Frank Maloney, ex-boxing manager announces that is transitioning as Kellie.
++Minnesota State High School League, having problems deciding about trans athletes.
++An all-trans football club in Colombia. ++The British Medical Journal publishes an article on the current policies of the IOC, IAAF and FIFA, reporting that several women have recently been coerced into “partial clitoridectomies” and gonadectomies in order to compete.
++The UK Football Associationissues new guidelines: Any transgender person wishing to play in their affirmed gender can seek to do so by contacting the FA to obtain clearance.
++4 players in Iran's women's national football team are deemed not to be women – they were intersex or trans women who had not yet had correction surgery. Mandatory sex tests are now required.
++Australian Sports issues Anti-Homophobia & Inclusion Framework For Australian Sports. Comment
2014 Sochia Winter OlympicsRussia denied the proposed GLBT Pride House at Sochi Winter Olympics.  There were Olympics-oriented LGBT demonstration in Moscow, St Petersburg and Sochi.  
++ex-MP Vladimir Luxuria was arrested in Sochi during the Olympic Games for demonstrating against Russia's anti-gay laws.
2015 ++Kellie Maloney completes transition.
++Bruce Jenner, after years of rumors, is involved in a vehicular homicide and starts a highly publicized transition as Caitlyn, and monitizes it as a television program.  
++Matt 'Kroc' Kroczaleski, who holds men's world titles in powerlifting, announced as trans, as Janae Kroc, but will wait until sons complete high school.
++Natalie van Gogh, cyclist, 1º in Trofee Maarten Wynants, , (Helchteren (F)) , Houthalen/Helchteren (Limburg); and 1º in Stage 1 Lotto-Decca Tour, Lotto-Belisol Tour, , (Belgium Tour (F)).
++Chris Moser on the Team USA sprint duathlon men's team for the 2016 Olympics.
++Aydian Dowling, bodybuilder, made the finals of the competition to appear on cover Men's Health magazine.
++Revision of Sports, Gender and Trans, in 3 parts by Zagria.



In compiling this timeline, the following were consulted:

The Financial Times list of LGBT executives

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The Financial Times has released its 2015 list of 100 LGBT Executives .   

It is no surprise that there are very few trans women – and no trans men at all – on the list.


4 Martin Rothblatt      CEO at United Therapeutics Corporation

61 Antonia Belcher      Building consultant



And in their Future Leaders  list:

7 Amy Stanning  Shared Services Director at Barclays Bank.



In 2014 The Financial Times List included

47 Margaret Stumpp  at  Quantitative Management Associates, a subsidiary of Prudential Financial,

96 Isabella Segal   Senior partner at accounting firm, Nyman Libson Paul


In 2013 The First Financial Times List included

33 Margaret Stumpp



________________________________________________________________

See also executives, more in the past than current, who have been featured on this site.


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Bebe Scarpinato (1951 - ) activist, teacher, performer

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In the early 1970s, Bebe Scarpi(nato) had graduated from Queens College, New York (which she denied choosing for its name) where she'd founded a Gay Community organization.

She became active in the Gay Activist Alliance, where she met Sylvia Rivera. Sylvia felt that GAA was not radical enough, but never actually left the organization. It was Bebe who ensured that Sylvia's dues were paid up.

Scarpi was also in the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, was director of the Queens Liberation Front (QLF), was on the originating board of the National Gay Task Force and was active in planning the fourth Christopher Street Liberation Day (which later became the New York Pride March).

However there were problems with many gay activists:
"You don't have to embrace stereotypes in order to be gay so it was looked at as an anachronistic method of trying to be gay and in the truly liberated society there would be no cross gender identity. You could be a feminine man, but you wouldn't opt to dress and act like a woman." (Cohen p108).
In November 1971, the androgynously-dressed Bebe was called to testify before the New York City Council's General Welfare committee. The Gay Activist reported:
"'Bebe' Scarpi, a transvestite in male attire, gave testimony on the minority group, he pointed out that transvestites used the men's room because they 'd been warned they would be subject to arrest if they entered the ladies room. And even transvestites had to heed the call of nature. Bebe, a student at Queens College, gave what amounted to a short course on the lifestyle and problems of transvestites with such charm, ready wit and intelligence, that even the Councilmen appeared beguiled. … Chairman Sharison seemed unable to comprehend that some transvestites were heterosexual. He wanted to know whether Bebe believed transvestites would be protected by Intro 475. 'Only as a homosexual, not as a transvestite', Bebe explained, and perhaps the councilman would care to enact legislation protecting the transvestite." (Quoted in Cohen p 150)
At a third hearing in December, policemen were posted outside the ladies rooms to prevent 'transvestites' from using them. Bebe, definitely not androgynous that day, asked the policeman what he was doing, and then went in and did her business. On the way out she commented to the policeman that he had not checked her. The New York Mattachine Times complained that transvestites were jeopardizing the bill with their restroom behavior.

In 1973 the committee was still blocked in its attempt to pass a bill to ban discrimination against homosexuals in employment, housing and public accommodation. To get it passed, an amendment was proposed that nothing in the definition of sexual orientation “shall be construed to bear upon the standards of attire or dress code". Bebe, as QLF director, was put in the uncomfortable position of submitting to this wording or seeing the bill fail.
Cohen p 135

For the Christopher Street Liberation Day in June 1973, Bebe went to the 82 Club and got the showgirls, in full regalia to march behind an 82 Club banner.

In 1974 Bebe attended a feminist conference where Jill Johnston, mother of two and author of Lesbian Nation, had proposed that mothers neglect to care for male babies. Bebe, from the question line, accused Johnston of being a neo-fascist and dictating to women as well as to men. At this point Bebe was recognized from earlier encounters.

Scarpie was the Editor of Drag Magazine, and an associate for 20 years of Lee Brewster's.
In addition she started a career as a high school teacher. When she was not teaching she worked as a stripper.
"Stripping is such a liberating experience; I would strongly recommend everyone to try it".
It was commented that she looked like a middle-class lady. Bebe is the first known trans woman to become a school principal.
"I've never identified myself as transgender. I prefer drag queen. I've always been a 'she' and always will be." (quoted by Lee)

In the news …

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Tara Hudson, Bristol, convicted of assault and sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment, was sent to a men’s prison until there was a kerfuffle in the press and in Parliament, and then she was transferred to a women’s prison.   The article in Pink News says:  “Current policy states that a Gender Recognition Certificate is required for trans prisoners to be placed in the correct prison for their gender, which Ms Hudson did not have despite living full-time as female for six years.”

So what happened to the New Prison Guidelines of November 2011?
"An establishment must permit prisoners who consider themselves transsexual and wish to begin gender reassignment to live permanently in their acquired gender …
the prisoner is considered to have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and must not be discriminated against or harassed because of this …
Establishments must put in place measures to manage the risk of transphobic harassment and transphobic hate crime …”
This was reported in Pink News and elsewhere.   Up to that date convicted trans persons were avoiding prison sentences because there was no safe place to put them, and the Daily Mail was having conniptions about this.

Why does Pink News no longer remember the New Prison Guidelines?  Likewise The Guardian, and every other news source.  Did the Conservative Government quietly abolish the New Prison Guidelines, and if so why does no news source tell us so?
_________________________________________________________

Sandra MacDougall is back in the news.  MacDougall, who had been with the army in Northern Ireland, was featured in several newspapers in 2002 when her transition was not going very well, and she was suffering abuse from people in the small town in Ayrshire where she lived.  Lynn Conway included Sandra in an article, still available, on transsexual regrets along with Renée Richards, Danielle Berry and Charles Kane.  I was uncomfortable about this article in that I feel that any more-trans-than-thou game is very sterile.   It is for the more successful transsexuals (such as Lynn) to help and advise the less successful rather than to tell them not to consider transition.

This month Sandra, now 63, is in the news in that her pension has been suspended because she does not have a Gender Recognition Certificate and has not reached the male retirement age.  

Context: The pension age in the UK used to be 60 for women and 65 for men.   This was ruled discriminatory, and the female retirement age is gradually being raised to parity with the male.   This will be achieved in 2018, and then both male and female retirement ages will rise together to 66 by 2020.   There are many women in the UK now in their late 50s or early 60s who had been expecting to retire at 60 and now have to work until 66.

Sandra finds herself in the middle of this transition.   If she were a few years younger she would have had to wait until age 65 or 66 irrespective of gender history.

Sandra did not obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate.   I can sympathise.   The Gender Recognition Panel have shown themselves to be quite perverse in their demands.   In my case they initially demanded that I divorce the husband that I married after transition.  There were however two reasons to persevere with them: to obtain a pension at 60, and to marry in the UK.    The former does not apply for any trans woman born 1955 or later; and the latter no longer applies of course since the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (except in Northern Ireland).

It appears that it would also be useful to have a GRC if you end up in prison (see above).  

For those who did persevere, the GRP not only issued their GRC but also liaised with National Insurance to change one’s name and gender in the pension database, and many of us got our pension at age 60 with no problem.

Another context is that the current government, David Cameron’s Conservative Party, affectionately known as the Nasty Party, has been attacking the working poor and those on benefits so that they can reduce taxes for the better off.   There have been many stories in the press about disabled persons who can hardly walk, who are ruled ‘fit to work’.   Some of these died of their disability shortly afterwards (the shock of losing benefits can hardly have helped), and others were driven to suicide.

In this context it is easy to think that managers have been instructed to look for women aged under 65 drawing a pension whose paperwork is not up to snuff.  I expect others, in addition to Sandra, will be found soon.

Daya Rani (1959 – 2015) electoral candidate

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Daya was born and has always lived in Dasna, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. She lived with other kinnars in a shared bungalow.

Although illiterate, in 2004, 2009 and 2014 Daya Rani contested the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency in the General Election as an independent. In 2007 she ran for the Uttar Pradesh assembly. She stressed her gender identity:
"Why are people with me? Because other politicians fill their homes and cupboards. And I have no children, husband, wife or heirs. Whatever family I have is these people and I live off these people and I will fight for these people with the politicians who have not delivered on their promises."
However in 2014 the District Magistrate cancelled her nomination.

On the morning of 4 July 2015, Daya Rani was found dead in her room. She had been shot through a hole cut in the wire mesh over her window, and the gun fired as a train passed so as not to be heard.

Two days later the police arrested Waris and one other at the Ghaziabad bus stand, and found a country-made pistol and a knife. The accused had the idea that by murdering Rani, they could obtain her wealth, said to be 1,00,00,000 rupees or more. In addition, Waris, was married to Rani's niece, Geeta, against Rani's wishes. Later Rani had provided accommodation for Geeta and her child, but not for Waris.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 12 November 1954

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There were years when the police harassed and even arrested those 'cross-dressed' at New York's National Variety Artists' Carnival and Costume Ball.   At the other times the Ball winners were noted in the straight press.

Aaïcha Bergamin (1932 – 2014) performer, sex worker, drug smuggler

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Leonhard Meisjes was raised in Amsterdam with three sisters.

At age 19 Leonhard was sent to a psychiatric hospital after being found by mother in bed with a Jamaican dancer, but escaped and fled to Paris, where, known as Nanny, she found work as a performer in Le Carrousel, and elsewhere. She became known for her Marlene Dietrich impersonation.

After more wandering in Nice, Berlin and Antwerp, Aaïcha returned to Amsterdam, acquired black-market female hormones and made a living as a prostitute, despite police harassment. They would confiscate the clothes that she was wearing, even underwear, even trousers without a fly, on the grounds that such clothes were forbidden to men, and send her home naked. She had repeatedly to buy replacement clothing and to pay fines.

Nanny had confirmation surgery in 1972.
“Veel later zag ik foto's van een dergelijke operatie. Ze joegen me de stuipen op het lijf.” (Much later I saw pictures of such an operation. They filled me with fear.)
She closed up after the first operation in Amsterdam, and was operated on again in England two years later. She then changed her name to Aaïcha Bergamin.

She went on to marry four times, the last, when she was in her 60s, the husband being a Moroccan 42 years younger.

She worked in De Wallen, Amsterdam's red-light area, but initially the police refused to let her hire a window, despite her anatomy, in that she was registered as a man. After several appearances in court, she was examined by a sexologist, Dr Van Emde Boas who said:
“Wat ze van tevoren had, gaat ons niet aan. Ik raad u aan deze mevrouw als vrouw te beschouwen.” (What she was before, does not concern us. I advise you regard this lady as a woman.)
With this and her passport finally changed, the vice squad finally left her alone to practice her profession. She became the first trans madam in the city.

Later she opened a club, initially called the Bar Oporto, but then Madame Arthur, at de Warmoesstraat 131 at the corner of de  St. Annastraat ( map), where she repeated her Marlene Dietrich act. But after two years the building was demolished.

A Chilean trans woman, who had danced in her club, fixed it for her to smuggle cocaine from Brazil.
“De eerste keer smokkelde ik zes kilo. Dat ging goed, dus ik vroeg of ik wat meer kon meenemen, want ik kreeg per kilo betaald. Twee jaar lang landde ik om de paar maanden op Schiphol met 45 kilo coke. Ik had een peperdure nertsmantel aan, zo een waarin Wilhelmina heeft gelopen. Dan loop je niet direct in de armen van de douane.” (The first time I smuggled six kilos. That went well, so I asked if I could bring some more because I got paid per kilo. For two years I landed every few months at Schiphol with 45 kilos of cocaine. I had an expensive mink coat on, such as [Princess] Wilhelmina would wear. Then I walked directly into the arms of customs.)
Aaïcha spent five years in prison.

Afterwards she lived in her parents' home in Amsterdam Oud-West. In 1991 she published her autobiography, Aaïcha: het bizarre conflict van een als man geboren vrouw.

She died age 82 of lung cancer, and was buried anonymously. However trans activists raised funds to buy her a tombstone.
Facebook

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 "Much later I saw pictures of such an operation. They filled me with fear."  Just as well that Aaïchadid not go to Dr Burou.  April Ashley tells us that he showed such photographs of previous patients as part of deciding whether a prospective patient was serious.

Do not confuse Aaïcha's Madame Arthur with that of  the same name, also in Amsterdam but at Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45 whuch was opened in 1961 by Marcel Oudjman, the owner of the Paris Madame Arthur and Le Carrousel.

Le Carrousel and Madame Arthur: Part I: before 1945.

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Part I: before 1945. 75, rue des Martyres et 40, rue Pierre Fontaine
Bibliography
Part II: 1945 – 1961. 40, rue du Colisée  et Juan-les-Pins
Part III: 1962 and after.  22, rue Vavin, and Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45


75, rue des Martyres (map) et 40, rue Pierre Fontaine (map)

In 1861 the ballroom Sant-Flour Musette at 75, rue des Martyres, Paris was turned into the Brasserie des Martyrs which was patronized by the poet Charles Baudelaire. In 1871 it became the concert-café Divan Japonais. The painters Toulouse-Lautrec and later Pablo Picasso were frequent visitors, and the cabaret singer Yvette Guilbert became famous there, where she was sketched by Toulouse-Lautrec. One of her best known songs was "Madame Arthur" (a name that would later become that of the nightclub). In 1901 it became the Théâtre de la Comédie Mondaine.

In the 1920s and 1930s Parisian travestis were found at LaPetite Chaumière, 2, rue Berthe beneath Sacré-Coeur, (run by Monsieur Tagada and where one could find Zigouigoui) and at Chez Bob et Jean where one could find the transformiste Jean D'Albret, and of course at the balls at "Magic City", 188, rue de l'Université, that were photographed by Brassaï in 1933.

The nightclub Chez Josephine, at 40, rue Pierre Fontaine, near the Moulin Rouge, was founded in 1926 by Giuseppe Pepito Abatino, a Sicilian former stone mason who passed himself off as a count, for his wife, the US dancer, Josephine Baker, and some years later the nightclub was renamed Carrousel de Paris. Through the 1930s it was a fashionable restaurant-nightclub and the likes of Baker, her sometime lover Violette Morris, Jean Cocteau, Colette, and later Edith Piaf were frequently seen there.

For masculine women there was the Monocleon Edgar-Quinet Boulevard in Montparnasse, and from 1938 Chez Frede (which managed to stay open during the German occupation).

Also in 1938 there was the club Le Binocle (named in homage to the Monocle), down a bleak alley close to the Moulin Rouge. Marcel Oudjman (sometimes Ouissmann or Wutsman), a Jewish pied noir from Algeria, was the owner; Floridor was the host; Zambelli was the featured performer. Le Binocle was known for its black musicians and female dancers, but the men preferred to dance together. Every month there was a big transvestite night when contestants dressed according to an announced theme: la Belle Epoque, 1880, and so on.  A jury, chaired by the popular singer, Mistinguett, elected the most beautiful transvestite, to acclaim from the audience. However the police closed the club after a year and a half, in the austerity period that preceded the coming war.

Oudjman survived the war working as a bartender.  He managed to avoid the mass roundups and deportation of Jews from Paris, especially that of 16-17 July 1942.

__________________________________________________________________________

Part of this information is from Jacques-Louis Delpal's Les travestis, 1970,which is quoted in Foerster's Histoire des transsexuels en France. Apparently Delpal's book was quickly banned (see the FR.Wikipedia page). The book was translated into Spanish, but no other language, and has become a rarity. Foerster describes his book as "well informed but curious".

There are inconsistencies. Foerster quotes Delpal on Le Binocle but Delpal does not mention Oudjman by name. Foerster simply says that Oudjman arrived in Paris before the war and worked as a barman. Which raises questions about how he ended up as the owner of Madame Arthur as we will see in Part II. However Bambi (2012) specifies that he was the owner of Le Binocle.


Other Madame Arthurs:
  • There was Madame Arthur(Modesto Mangas), the major Spanish female impersonator during Franco's dictatorship.
  • Eduardo Gion made a documentary about Modesto Mangas in 2011 called Madame Arthur.
  • There was a 1967 Spanish film called Madame Arthur, directed by Carlos Serrano..
  • The Italian musical-comedy film, Totò di notte n. 1, 1962 lists a Madame Arthur as an actor (this is probably Modesto Mangas)
  • There was a male-run lesbian bar in Montréal called Chez Madame Arthur at 2170 rue Bishop, in the 1970s. There was a call for a boycott in 1974.  It is probably the bar featured in Marie-Claire Blais' 1978 novel Les nuits de l'Underground
  • There is a band called Madame Arthur
  • There is a play by Isabelle Sojfer, Le voyage de Madame Arthur, which features Yvette Guilbert. Trailer
  • Aaïcha Bergamin ran a short-lived club in Amsterdam in the 1980s.

The song by Yvette Guilbert (1865 - 1944) IMDB.
Madame Arthur est une femme
Qui fit parler, parler, parler, parler d'elle longtemps,
Sans journaux, sans rien, sans réclame
Elle eut une foule d'amants,
Chacun voulait être aimé d'elle,
Chacun la courtisait, pourquoi ?
C'est que sans être vraiment belle,
Elle avait un je ne sais quoi !
(Madame Arthur is a woman
That one talks  talks, talks, talks, talks about for a long time,
Without newspapers, without anything, without advertising
She had many lovers,
Everyone wanted tobe her friend,
Everyone courting her, why?
It's thatwithout beingreally beautiful,
She had a special something!)


Full text    YouTube

Le Carrousel and Madame Arthur: Bibliography

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Part I: before 1945. 75, rue des Martyres et 40, rue Pierre Fontaine
Bibliography
Part II: 1945 – 1961. 40, rue du Colisée  et Juan-les-Pins
Part III: 1962 and after.  22, rue Vavin, and Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45


For photographs of the performers, the best site is Queer Music Heritage.
  • E Carlton Winford. Femme Mimics. Winford Company, 1954. Online.
  • "Les Boys of Paris". She: The Man's Picture Magazine, 1, 11, December 1957: 22-5. Online
  • Alessandro Blasetti (dir) Europa di notte. With Coccinelle. Italy/France 201 mins 1959,
  • "'French fooler' Bambi". Femme Mimics, 1, 6, 1963.
  • "Dutch Treat". Boys will be Girls, 1,2, 1963. Online.
  • "Merry Madhouse ... le Carrousel". Female Mimics, 8, 1967. Online
  • Roger Baker. Drag: A History of Female Impersonation on the Stage. Triton Books, 1968: 190-1.
  • Jacques-Louis Delpal. Les travestis. Éditions Jacques Chénot, 1970: 135-7.
  • Barbara Buick. L’Eiquette. La Jeune Parque, 1971.
  • "Amsterdam's Mme Arthur's". Drag, 4, 13, 1973.
  • Tennessee Williams edited by Donald Windham. Tennessee Williams' Letters to Donald Windham, 1940-1965. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977: entry for 9 March 1948, p212.
  • Duncan Fallowell & April Ashley. April Ashley's Odyssey. Jonathan Cape, 1982: 49-72, 79-80, 91-6.
  • Renée Richards & John Ames. Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story. Stein and Day, 1983: 148.
  • Kris Kirk with photographs by Ed Heath. Men In Frocks. London: Gay Men's Press 1984: 29-31. Review
  • Coccinelle. Coccinelle. Filipachi, 1991.
  • Lawrence Senelick. The Changing Room, Sex, Drag and Theatre. Routledge, 2000: 389-90, 392.
  • Wu Jiwen translated by Fran Martin, “Rose is the Past Tense of Rise,” in Angelwings: Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan. University of Hawaii Press, 2003: 221-245
  • Mark McLelland. Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age. Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, 2005: 111-6. 109
  • Martin Pénet. "L'expression homosexuelle dans les chansons françaises de l'entre-deux-guerres: entre dérision et ambiguïté". Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine 4, 53-4, 2006: 106-127. Online.
  • Maxime Foerster. "Paris et l'âge d'or de la culture cabaret transgenre". Chp 4 in Histoire des transsexuels en France. H&O éditions, 2006:69-84.
  • Maxime Foerster. "On the History of Transsexuals in France". In Cantal Zabus & David Coad (eds) Transgender Experience: Place, Ethnicity, and Visibility. Routledge, 2013.
  • Bambi. "Cabaret". In Karine Espineira, Arnaud Alessandrin & Maud-Yeuse Thomas (eds). La Transyclopédie : tout savoir sur les transidentités. Paris: Des Ailes sur un tracteur, 2012.
  • Marie-Pierre Pruvot. J'inventais ma vie Tome 2 : Madame Arthur. Ex aequo, 2013.
  • Marie-Pierre Pruvot. J'inventais ma vie Tome 3 : La Carrousel Ex aequo, 2013.
www.bambi-officiel.com      CarrouseldeParis       FR.Wikipedia(Le Carrousel)     QMH(Le Carrousel)     QMH(Madame Arthur)    QMH(Madame Arthur – Amsterdam)    EN.Wikipedia(Le Divan du Monde)     GayHexagon(Madame Arthur)

QMH=Queer Music Heritage

Le Carrousel and Madame Arthur: Part II: 1945 – 1961

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Part I: before 1945. 75, rue des Martyres et 40, rue Pierre Fontaine
Bibliography
Part II: 1945 – 1961 40, rue du Colisée  et Juan-les-Pins
Part III: 1962 and after, 22, rue Vavin, and Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45

Part II: 1945 – 1961 40, rue du Colisée (map)et Juan-les-Pins (map)


After 1945 Floridor and Marcel Oudjman converted the former Divan Japonais into a nightclub. They named it Madame Arthur after the song that Yvette Guilbert (who had recently died) had sung there. They were co-owners: the arrangement was a tontine, and when Floridor, who acted as host there, as he had at Binocle, died after a few months, Oudjman became the sole owner.


The clientele at the bar seemed to be gay, but it was otherwise in the salon. The show was so popular that it was put on five times from 23.00 till dawn. At this time the performers were 1930s style travestis who parodied women but did not openly identify as such, and arrived and left dressed as men.

The new host, Loulou, was a former priest who had abandoned his orders. He had an oratory in his apartment, and lived for 55 years with his lover, Hulla, who performed at the club. Loulou was also an award winning poet.
Maslova

The first star was Maslova, a former ballet dancer, who at first performed under the name "Madame Arthur". He dominated the show for nearly 30 years. Other performers were Wanda Paris and Fifi Pervenche.
 
Oudjman was known at the club as Monsieur Marcel. He found a remarkable woman in Germaine Cartan, cohabited with her, put her in charge at Madame Arthur, but they never formally married. Coccinelle later wrote:
"There was also the manager, Madame Germaine who, at that time, impressed me greatly. Tall, red-haired, still very bécébégé with strict tailoring and hair pulled back, I must admit it really did not look comfortable! In fact, it was only a facade, as I would discover later, when she invited me on several occasions to the sumptuous villa she and her husband owned in Sainte-Maxime. However, at Madame Arthur, she could be harsh, but in private, she proved simple, charming, generous." (Coccinelle par Coccinelle:51)
Encouraged by the success of Madame Arthur, Marcel took over Le Carrousel, in October 1947, and moved it to 40, rue du Colisée, near the Champs-Elysée, initially in the basement. The proximity to the Palais de L'Elysée was considered scandalous at the time. The decor was luxurious but intimate, and circular in the style of ancient theatres. Zambelli, Maxi and Mado were the initial stars.

An early visitor, in March 1948, was the US playwright Tennessee Williams who enthused about the 'most beautiful male whores' but ignored the travestis.

An association of neighbouring businesses initiated legal action and actually forced Le Carrousel to close, but M. Marcel was able to get around this, and when he re-opened in 1951, it was on the street floor.

It should be mentioned that the nightclub was not strictly legal. In 1907, Paris Prefect of Police Louis Lépine had signed an order prohibiting transvestism outside of the Sunday, Monday, Mardi Gras and Thursday of Mid-Lent except with special permanent permission, and banned drag shows at dances and places where alcohol is sold. However these rules were only intermittently enforced.

1947 – 1961 were the years of "Le Grande Carrousel", when the nightclub was one of the most expensive clubs in Paris. April Ashley described the club:
“Through the foyer, through the Long Bar, to the tables and chairs for about a hundred. The Interior was Parisian red plush and gilt, with a small stage and band at one end.” (Odyssey: 50)
There were 14 different shows, one each year, changed in January. They consisted of tableaux, and ended with a grand finale with singing and feathers. Micky Mercer was the token male impersonator. There were also intermissions when heterosexual dancing was encouraged.

In 1949, the Prefect of Police Roger Léonard signed an order that men were not allowed to dance with each other in public places. All contact between artists and the public was prohibited by the police: only special customers like Maria Callas, Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich had permission to go backstage to congratulate the artists.

In 1951 Coccinelle, aged 20, presented herself to Madame Germaine at Madame Arthur, and a year later she was a star at Le Carrousel. Press agentry spread the canard that Coccinelle was really a cis woman, which resulted in the rejoinder that "A woman as beautiful as Coccinelle can only be a man". Her looks were compared to those of Brigitte Bardot who was breaking into a film career at the same time.

Coccinelle was part of one of the earliest Carrousel tours – to the Casino de la Corniche, 9 km outside Algiers in 1952, where the future Bambi was in the audience. Just over a year later, Christmas 1953, Bambi debuted at Madame Arthur.

The programmes at Le Carrousel usually included a head shot of the performer's male persona in the corner of the glamour photograph – even for Coccinelle and Bambi.

Coccinelle and Bambi were the first of a new type of performer, in that for them performance was a way to achieve womanhood, a womanhood that was continued offstage.

Similar performers began to arrive from other countries such as Pussy Katt (the first surgical transsexual in the US);  Aaicha Bergamin from Amsterdam who was known as Nanny; and the Tunisian Dominot who used her earnings to pay for studies at the Comedie Francaise.

It became the practice that performers either purchased or made their own costumes in that the club-supplied ones were not so good. Some boosted their income by having a sugar daddy or by earning a percentage when they took customers to other bars after hours.

Old-style performers, transformistes, still arrived – that is those who changed to male clothing off-stage and were not working towards a sex change. Even these performers were different from those of the 1930s, many of whom had done what the English called 'cod drag', that is exaggeration and playing for laughs. The new performers aimed for glamour.

One of the transformistes was Les Lee, who arrived from Quebec in 1954. He was later able to translate when artists arrived who did not speak French.

Coccinelle with US comedian Bob Hope
1954 was also the year that, under Police duress, Le Carrousel was closed for three months, and even Madame Arthur was banned from permitting 'men' wearing female clothes. This was following the French defeat by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu, right-wing and anti-Semitic abuse aimed at and an attempted assassination of the new Jewish Prime Minister, Pierre Mendès France, and turmoil over the North African colonies.

Madame Germaine sent Bambi to star in a Le Carrousel tour of Algeria during the closure, and this time it was Nana in the audience. Nana, like Bambi, moved to Paris, and worked in cabaret, but never at Madame Arthur nor at Le Carrousel.

Poppy Cooper, who did not transition to womanhood until the 1970s, was one of the British performers who had been in soldiers-in-skirts revues after World War II which had run their course. Cooper found employment at Le Carrousel by the mid 1950s and was taken to be an old-style performer. She commented:
"There was more freedom there and you could go out onto the streets in drag if you wanted to, or go out with men to a restaurant after the show. …. French, Belgiums, Germans – they loved the travesti. The English seem different." (Kirk: 31)
Another such British performer was Dolly/Tommy Osborne who commented:
"I liked Paris, but I wasn't too happy in the show. I was a singer and I used to go out there and belt out the numbers big and loud and forget about being in drag, but most of the audience was there purely for the sensation of seeing boys with tits. The boys were all incredibly beautiful. But they just couldn't do anything, bless them." (Kirk: 31)
Toni April (April Ashley) arrived in 1956, and Peki d'Oslo (Amanda Lear) in 1958. Toni described the back stage:
“The dressing-room was divided in half by a row of back-to-back dressing-tables. On one side were the stars like Coccinelle and Bambi and on the other the polloi: two rows of narcissists transported in mirrors. Fortunately for my savoir-faire as well as my amour-popre I was seated with the stars, who were to instruct me in the techniques of make-up and presentation.” (Odyssey: 53)
Only Coccinelle and Bambi addressed the patron as 'Marcel' rather than 'Monsieur Marcel' until Toni started doing so also.

In 1956 Coccinelle had found out about female hormones after meeting trans activist Marie André Schwidenhammer by chance on a train, and then in 1958 she was approached by Jenny, Dr Georges Burou's first transgender patient. Later that year Coccinelle also became a patient of Dr Burou.


Toni & Bambi at Juan-les-Pins

Oudjman opened another Le Carrousel in Juan-les-Pins on the Côte d'Azur between Nice and Cannes. Toni and Bambi were to be seen in the best places on the Côte d'Azur so that people would say “It can't be true – surely they're girls" and then attend the show.

Over the next few years several of Monsieur Marcel's performers followed Coccinelle to Dr Burou's clinic in Casablanca, although Coccinelle was selective in whom she gave the details to.  Bambi, April Ashley, Amanda Lear and Capucine are the best known of those who went.

By the late 1950s there was already a gay bar in Osaka, Japan named Carrousel in homage to the Parisian nightclub. The performer Karūseru Maki named herself from the Osaka bar. (Karūseru = Carrousel)

In 1959 Salvador Dalí came and wanted to paint Toni in her half-way state, which she declined. He did become a long-term friend of Peki/Amanda.

However problems were building at 40, rue du Colisée. Initially it was the basement and then the street floor of a block of offices. However these had now been turned into flats, and the new residents objected to the noise and tone of the club. Oudjman also went to court to object to the police regulations that made his business illegal, and he won the case. However the lease was not renewed, and he was forced to close LeCarrousel 31 December 1961.
___________________________________________________________

Both EN.Wikipedia and FR.Wikipedia have an article on Le Divan du Monde which is the name of the nightclub that is now at 75, rue des Martyrs. While they discuss Saint-Flour Musette, Brasserie des Martyrs and Divan Japonais, they are completely silent about Madame Arthur, both the song and the club. "In 1901, the Divan became the Théâtre de la Comédie Mondaine. It was later replaced by an erotic theatre. In 1994, it was reopened as Le Divan du Monde."

The FR.Wikipedia article on Le Carrousel has no mention of Marcel Oudjman (under any spelling), nor of Madame Arthur as a nightclub, and of course no link to its own article on Le Divan du Monde.

The list of notable pieds-noir on the EN.Wikipedia page and on the FR.Wikipedia page does not include Marcel Oudjman, Bambi or Nana.

Neither the EN.Wikipedia nor the FR.Wikipedia pages on Juan-les-Pins mention that Le Carrousel had a branch there.

The Casino de la Corniche is infamous in retrospect for the bombing on 9 June 1957 which killed the band leader, Lucien Seror, known as Lucky Starway, the heart-throb of the Bab el Oued. Eight or ten others were killed and eighty-five wounded, many with loss of limbs. This and the resulting pied noir ratonnade were major events in the second phase of the Battle of Algiers 1956-7.

1961 was not an easy year in Paris.  The Algerian Independence War was drawing to a close, and Algeria became independent in 1962.   A particularly savage event was the October Paris Massacre directed by police chief Maurice Papon.   A peaceful, but unauthorized, demonstration by Algerians was attacked by the police.  Some Algerians were beaten unconscious and then thrown into the river Seine to drown; others were killed within the courtyard of the Paris police headquarters.   The death toll is estimated as over 200.   Papon had earlier been active in deporting French Jews to German concentration camp during the occupation.   Also in 1961, Papon was personally awarded the Légion d'honneur by President Charles de Gaulle. 

Bob Hope visited Le Carrousel de Paris.   In Juan-des-Pins he took Toni April out to breakfast.   However apparently he did not recognise her on the set of Road to Hong Kong, 1962.

IOS Rainbow List 2015

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The 2015 Independent on Sunday Rainbow List of 101 UK LGBT persons who made a difference is just published.

Previous IOS lists:  2014  2013 

The count of Trans/Intersex/non-binary/etc persons is up to 30 from last years 18.  Persons include:

1.  Riley Carter Millington, actor playing Kyle in Eastenders on BBC1. 

2.  Sarah Graham, intersex advocate

5.  Dawn Rachel Vago & Holly Greenberry, co-directors of Intersex UK.

8. Jack Monroe, chef, author and non-binary campaigner, announced this year that is trans.

11.  Rebecca Root, actor in Boy Meets Girl on BBC2.

17.   Annie Wallace, actor playing trans teacher in Hollyoaks on Channels 4.   Previously a consultant for Hayley Cropper character on Coronation Street.

20 Jay Stewart, co-founder of Gendered Intelligence.

23.  Juno Roche, co-founder of Trans Workers UK and Trans Teachers Network.

26.  Payton Quinn, non-binary activist and comedian.   One of those behind petition complaining about Germaine Greer at Cardiff University.

29.  Jay Hayes-Light, director of UK Intersex Organisation.  

34.  Munrie Bergdorf, DJ and trans advocate.

38.  Sabah Choudrey, trans activist of Pakistani descent, youth worker with Gendered Intelligence, co-founder of Trans Pride Brighton.

40.  Charlie Craggs, founder Nail Transphobia.

44.   Jacqui Gavin, senior civil servant and vice chair of a:gender.

48. Lewis Hancox, appeared in Channel 4’s My Transsexual Summer 3 years ago, and is involved in My Trans Story, also on Channel 4.

50. Fox Fisher, co-creator of Trans Pride Brighton and My Genderation documentaries, and an acting course for trans students at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

53.  Bethany Black, actor and comedian, appeared in Russell T Davies’ Cucumber, Banana and Tofu, and will be in Doctor Who.

60.  Emily Brothers, Labour Parliamentary candidate, also disability rights campaigner.

63.  Joe Holliday, raised as a girl because of birth defect, now male, author of She’s a Boy

68.  Ayla Holdom, RAF officer, search and rescue pilot.

70. Laurie Penny, genderqueer journalist and author.

71.  James Dawson, best selling young-adult author, whose This Book is Gay shortly to be placed in every primary and secondary school, has started to transition.

73.  Juliet Jacques, writer released her memoir, TransWIKIPEDIA

74.  James Morton, Scottish Transgender Alliance. 

79. Stephanie Hirst, DJ, returned to radio on BBC Radia Manchester.

81.  Helen Belcher, founder of Trans Media Watch.

87.  Jake Graf, film-maker, 1st trans man on cover of QX magazine.

89.  Jane Fae, journalist.  GVWW

90.  Jess Coal, UK Trans Info. 

96. CN Lester, musician, co-founder Queer Youth Network.


Long Time Champions:

April Ashley  GVWWWIKIPEDIA

Caroline Cossey/Tula  GVWW    Wikipedia  

Boy George     GVWW    Wikipedia 

Roz Kaveney  GVWW Wikipedia 

Paul O’Grady/Lily Savage   GVWWWIKIPEDIA

Alice Purnell   GVWW

Mark Rees     GVWW  

Stephen Whittle   WIKIPEDIA

Ones to Watch: 

Ellen Murray of Northern Ireland’s Gender Jam

intersex campaigner Elizabeth Jo Roberts

Jess Bradley of Action for Trans Health

Alec Scott Rook, the founder of Trans Men Support & Advice UK

Le Carrousel and Madame Arthur: Part III: 1962 and after

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 Massacres in Paris:  52BCE, 845, 1572, 1792, 1871, 1942, 1961, 2015.   Again Paris will survive.

Paris' motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur  (tossed but not sunk)

=============================================================

Part I: before 1945. 75, rue des Martyres et 40, rue Pierre Fontaine
Bibliography
Part II: 1945 – 1961 40, rue du Colisée  et Juan-les-Pins
Part III: 1962 and after, 22, rue Vavin, and Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45

Part III: 1962 and after, 22, rue Vavin (map) and Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45 (map)

Le Carrousel reopened less than a year later at 22, rue Vavin, which is a prestigious address between Montparnasse and the Jardin de Luxembourg, but it was a smaller place and with an orchestra of only four musicians.

Police regulations were less enforced, and artists were allowed to mingle with the customers. There was no longer space for organized acts such as had been done before. There were now several numbers interrupted by dancing, but no finale. The costumes were less impressive, and striptease acts were introduced, and eventually became the majority of the program. This approach was successful, but 15 years later it was becoming tired.

Madame Arthur, Amsterdam by Jon Lister
In 1961 Monsieur Marcel had opened a Madame Arthur atKorte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45 inAmsterdam.  Rita del Ora and Capucine were among the performers who went from Paris to Amsterdam, but local talent such as Colette Berends were also recruited.

Oudjman also opened a lesbian/FTM cabaret, Elle et Lui, next door on rue Vavin, where even the waiters dressed as men, and women stripped for a female audience. They had a common backstage with Le CarrouselLe Carrousel artists appeared at Elle et Lui , but rarely the opposite, except that star male impersonator Micky Mercer played both clubs

The general practice was that a performer started at Madame Arthur where Madame Germaine made the selection, and only the best performers moved on to the Le Carrousel. An exception was Manon (Jacquie Sarduy) who worked at Madame Arthur from 1959, but had a bad reputation at Le Carrousel, and did not work there until meeting Monsieur Marcel personally in 1969.  Exceptions were also made for foreign performers who arrived with a reputation.

The exchange of artists between Madame Arthur and Le Carrousel, and the proximity of Elle et Lui, enabled a community that shared advice and support, and exchanged addresses of doctors and electrolysists. Hormones were available in pharmacies without a prescription at that time. Although of course there were also jealousies and rivalries among the performers.

They also shared information with some customers: Renée Richards visited Le Carrousel in the mid 1960s and requested to speak with Bambi:
"She was touched, but she played her role without apology and with a clear sense of style. When I explained that I wanted to have the operation, she didn't bat an eyelash in spite of my unpromising appearance. On the contrary, she was supportive. After looking me up and down she commented that my body seemed plastic enough to accept the change and provide me with an acceptable vehicle in which to live out my life as a woman. This was encouraging since she had been through the experience and her word stood for something. At least I felt that I was talking to someone who knew some­thing. She provided me with the names of people who could provide the hormones for the long process of chemical prepara­tion necessary before surgery could be possible. She stressed the necessity of electrolysis ... . Finally, she confirmed that the necessary surgery was being done regularly at a facility in Casa­blanca. Our conversation lasted for about twenty minutes and was packed with information. I was left with the feeling that it was all within reach, that it could be done if I wanted it badly enough." (Second Serve: 148)
Le Carrousel also toured five continents, bringing an inconceivable example to countries where transgender surgery was not at all available.

Coccinelle, Bambi and Capucine were in various French and Italian movies in the 1960s, most noticably Alessandro Blasetti's Europa di notte, 1959, which includes a segment of Coccinelle performing at Le Carrousel.

Europa di notte led to Le Carrousel being invited to do a Japanese tour in 1963, and again in 1964 and 1965. The discussions in the Japanese media where the performers were referred to as "buru boi" (blue boys) led to a break with traditional Japanese female impersonation, kabuki and gei boi, and Japanese Buru boi started taking hormones and considering surgery. The atmosphere is captured in Taiwanese author Wu Jiwen's "Rose is the past tense of rise" where Seikei, working as a gei boi in an Osaka bar, sees the Carrousel show and then visits a member of the troupe in her hotel room where she is given Dr Burou's card, and commits to gender transformation.

Unfortunately in 1966 Sonne Teal and four other members of the Le Carrousel Japanese tour died in a freak accident flying over Mount Fujiyama.

In the 1970s international stars such as Rogéria (who had met Coccinelle when she was on tour in Rio de Janeiro) and Yeda Brown were contracted to appear at Le Carrousel.

Le Carrousel closed in 1985 when Marcel Oudjman retired.

Madame Arthur closed as such in 1994, but re-opened under different management. It shared the address with Le Divan du Monde, which features world music. A recent listing for Madame Arthur from ParisInfo was “Spectacle de transformistes (Mylène Farmer, Betty Boop...) dîner-spectacle à 20h30 = 85€, 125€ et 195€ (boissons comprises) spectacle seul : 36€ (avec une consommation)”. It has recently closed, and the entrance is covered with fly-posting and grafitti.

The original Carrousel de Paris at 40, rue Pierre Fontaine is still in business, although may be closing soon.

40, rue du Colisée is now a jeweller's.

22, rue Vavin is now a real estate agency.

Korte Leidsedwarsstraat nr. 45, Amsterdam is now the Heineken Music Hall.

Bambi writes: On ne peut nommer tout le monde. Je n’y parviens même pas dans mon livre «Carrousel, ou J’inventais ma Vie 3». A partial list of the performers is:

Coccinelle (Jacqueline Dufresnoy), April Ashley, Bambi (Marie-Pierre Pruvot), Peki d'Oslo (Amanda Lear), Guilda,Sonne Teal, Holly White, Rogéria, Les Lee, Zaza, Bettina, Rita del Oro, Capucine, Fetiche, Dolly, Caprice, Karina, Miriame, Wanda Paris, Hulla, Fifi Pervenche, Violetta, Rubis, Kiki Moustic, Zarah, Pussy Katt, Dominot, Yeda Brown, Colette Berends, Poppy Cooper, Tommy Osborne, Tobi Marsh, Manon (Jacquie Sarduy), Chery Parker, Gina Ginn, Ricky Renée, Barbara Buick, Chantal Chambord, Wanda, Claude Carol, Lucrèce, Lola Chanel, Zambella, Tanya, Rita del Ora, Micky Mercer, Nanny (Aaïcha Bergamin), Wanda Paris, Fifi Pervenche.
___________________________________________________________

Major films featuring Le Carrousel/Madame Arthur performers:
  • Vittorio Sala (dir). Costa Azzurra. With Alberto Sordi as Alberto, and Bambi in one of the four tales. Italy/France 84 mins 1959.
  • Federico Fellini (dir) La Dolce Vita. With Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg and Dominot.  Italy/France 174 mins 1960.
  • Alessandro Blasetti (dir) Europa di notte, 1959, which includes a segment of Coccinelle performing at Le Carrousel.  Italy/France 102 mins 1962. 
  • Vittorio Sala (dir).  I don giovanni della Costa Azzurra.  With Curd Jurgens, Coccinelle and  Capucine.  Italy 98 mins 1962.  
  • Norman Panama (dir).  The Road to Hong Kong.   With Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Joan Collins and an uncredited cameo by April Ashley.    UK 91 mins 1962
  • Mino Loy (dir). 90 notti in giro per il mondo. Scr: Guido Castaldo & Nico Rienzi, narrated by Nico Rienzi, documenting Bambi’s show, amongst others. Italy 88 mins 1963. 
  • Antonio Margheriti (dir) Il pelo nel mondo.   With Coccinelle.  Italy 1964.   
  • Enrique carreras (dir)  Los viciosos. With Coccinelle. Argentina  1964. 
  • Day of a stripper.   With Bambi.  US 1964.
  • Jacques Baratier (dir).  La Poupée. With Sonne Teal as Marion Moren / La Poupée.  Italy/France 95 mins 1962.   
  • Pedro Olea (dir)    Días de viejo color.  With Coccinelle.  Spain 1968.
  • Adolfo Arrieta (dir).  Les intrigues de Sylvia Couski.  With Hélène Hazéra, Jacquie Sarduy.  France 90 mins 1975.
  • Adolfo Arrieta (dir).  Tam Tam. with Jacquie Sarduy.  France 85 mins 1976.
  • José Jara (dir).  El Transexual. With Eva Robin's, Yeda Brown.  Inspired by the story of Lorena Capelli who died of peritonitis after an illegal sex change (the only kind in Spain at that time). Spain 1977. 
  • Michiel van Erp (dir).  I Am a Woman Now.  With April Ashley, Marie-Pierre Pruvot, Colette Berends, Jean Lessenich, Corinne van Tongerloo. Netherlands 80 mins 2011. 
  • Clara Vuillermoz (dir).  Le sexe de mon identité.   With Bambi, Maxime Foerster.  France  52 mins 2012.
  • Sébastien Lifshitz (dir).  Bambi.  With Bambi.  France 58 mins 2013. 
     

The incidents recounted by Kirk (England) and McLelland (Japan) are not found in either Foerster or Bambi.

Accounts of the 1966 air crash usually mention Sonne Teale, but I could not find the names of the others.

The teenage me got to Paris in 1964 on a school trip. However at that time, I had never heard of Le Carrousel or Madame Arthur, and for some reason the teachers did not suggest it. Perhaps just as well in that I don't think that I could have afforded a visit.

Peter Stirling (1936–) shoe retailer

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Jean Webb was raised in Melbourne. She was in the Women's Royal Australian Air Force, and afterwards worked in shoe retailing, and in both had a number of crushes on and from women – one of whom later said to her:
"like it or not, you are more male than female" (p62).
However Jean desired to be normal, she married a man, became Mrs Dent and had a daughter, although she was uncomfortable with the female sexual role.

She explained all this to a psychiatrist who accused her of being a fantasist. A later doctor referred her to Dr Nuffield who was much more sympathetic. However he said to her:
"Why don't you just dress yourself in men's clothes?"
Jean did not relate to this suggestion.
“Don't you feel like a man?'
“How do I know? How does a man feel? I certainly do know that a change of clothes will not change what I feel.”
“You have never thought that perhaps you should have been born a boy?”
“Oh yes, I've thought that all right”. (p85-6).
So Dr Nuffield advised that she travel to the UK, as appropriate specialists were not then found in Australia - although he did not provide a referral. He did provide the address of Guys Hospital, London, and as an alternative, that of Professor Hamburger in Copenhagen.

Jean left in December 1962 leaving her daughter with her mother. In London, she found a flat and a job in shoe retailing. She was able to talk herself into becoming a patient at the Endocrine Clinic, Guy’s Hospital, London, where her primary contact was social worker Margaret Branch.

A psychiatrist, Dr Marks evaluated her and concluded, as Jean phrased it:
"He also explained that as far as he could ascertain from the facts he had I must have grown up with a rather masculine outlook, particularly when my independence and aggressiveness were taken into account, for my history showed a distinct inclination to lead rather than to follow" (p109).
A physical examination led to a rather different conclusion. She was told her that her chromosomes were 47 XXY, and she was becoming more male and that if she had waited another couple of years, she would not have been able to have a child. They explained that this extra chromosome altered her hormones and caused non-lesbian women to fall for her. They proposed surgery and hormones to turn her into a man, but they would not start doing this until she was divorced from her husband.

An ironic event in September 1965 was that she was arrested on Westminster Bridge by two police constables who assumed that she was a man in drag, an assumption quickly dropped when they arrived at the well-lit Canon Row Police Station.

After a long wait, during which she worked as a bus conductor and a store detective, in December 1967 and early 1968, her divorce became final, she had her hysterectomy, started taking male hormones, started wearing male clothes. He took the name 'Peter' which his mother had said would have been his name if born male.

The hospital arranged for a national insurance card, medical card and tax form in his new name, and also arranged for the Australian High Commission to issue a new passport, but the High Commission informed them that birth certificates were never altered. Mrs Branch commented:
“[This] I think is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! It's a pity you weren't British, there would be no hassle here.” (p203).
Peter married co-worker Jennifer in an Anglican Church.

In January 1970 Guy's Hospital hosted an international convention, and Peter agreed to be interviewed by a panel of doctors.
“'Don't you get a thrill wearing men's clothes?' 
“Not at all', I replied. ….
'What dugs did you take during that time?'
'Drugs?' 
'Yes, narcotics, hash, that type of thing.'
'I've never taken drugs, except for my fags.'
'Never!' came the surprised remark.” (p224)
Peter worked mainly in shoe retailing after transition, rising to branch manager.

In 1974 Peter returned to Australia with his wife and started to reconnect to his original family, especially his mother and daughter. Again he mainly worked in shoe retailing.

One problem was that when he renewed his passport, “they stamped 'F' for female on my new passport right beside a picture of my bearded face”. (p249) This took months to sort out, and again Peter had to call on the assistance of staff at Guy's Hospital.

* not the biochemist, nor the lawyer, nor the golfer
  • Peter Stirling. So Different: an Extraordinary Autobiography. Sydney: Simon & Schuster 256pp 1989.
  • Joe Berger. "This man gave birth to a 7-lb. baby girl!"Weekly World News, 26 Sep 1989: 3. GoogleBooks
__________________________________________________________________________

Apart from Peter's autobiography, I could find no discussion of him except for the article in Weekly World News which is obviously based on his book. As he is apparently the first Australian surgical FTM, in fact the first Australian to have transgender surgery (Carlotta and a few others did so in 1972), and the first Australian to get a revised passport, I am surprised that there is no mention of Peter at FTMAustralia, Gender Centre or at OII Australia.

The Australian doctor in 1961 advised that there were no suitable specialists in Australia. An Endocrine Society of Australia had been founded in 1958. Perhaps Dr Nuffield was not aware of it, or perhaps he was aware that they had no members dealing with gender variance. Here is a history of the ESA.

A journey to Dr Hamburger in Copenhagen would have been futile in that the Danish Parliament had reacted to the Jorgensen affair by restricting sex-change operations to Danish nationals, as Charlotte McLeod had found in 1953.

“He also explained that as far as he could ascertain from the facts he had I must have grown up with a rather masculine outlook, particularly when my independence and aggressiveness were taken into account, for my history showed a distinct inclination to lead rather than to follow". Not disagreeing with the path that Jean/Peter took, but the reasons in this quote are not at all reasons to pursue a change of gender. Throughout the time that Jean was in London and attending the Clinic at Guy's, second wave feminism was building. Independence, aggressiveness and an inclination to lead were becoming valued traits in the women's movement.

Jean arrived in England in December 1962, and achieved a divorce in December 1967. It is not explained on what grounds. Five years was the period of separation to obtain a contested divorce following the 1969 Divorce Reform Act. It was not grounds under the 1937 Matrimonial Causes Act, which was until then in effect. Mrs Dent surely could not apply for divorce on grounds of desertion as she was the deserter. History of divorce in England.

Margaret Branch's comment re the Australians refusing to reissue a birth certificate is in retrospect quite ironic as she made it in 1968, only a short while before the start of the Corbett v Corbett trial which would close the reissue of UK birth certificates for transsexuals and some intersex persons until 2004.

Social Worker Margaret Branch apparently helped a lot of transsexuals in the 1960s and 1970s and has an amazing life story of her own. One of her relatives is working on a biography, but very little has been published.

There is no mention in Stirling's book of any of the prominent transsexuals in either the UK or in Australia. The lack of mention of Corbett v Corbett is particularly germane as he was in London as it happened.

A medical postscript confirms that Jean/Peter was born with a female-phenotype “Kleinfelters type syndrome”. It is often assumed that all Kleinfelters persons are male, and that therefore persons like Peter Stirling do not exist. There are alternate opinions – obviously as such persons do exist. The odd thing is that Peter is never mentioned in the discussion. Here is a recent article in OII Australia on female XXY persons, which yet again does not mention Peter.

Alexis Del Lago (1938 - ) costumier, actress, performer

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Domingo Blassini Calabaza was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

As Alexis Blassini she studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York where she first appeared as female at a ball and won first prize. She further honed her skills as a fabric designer under Pauline Trigère. Alexis became known for her imitations of Marlene Dietrich.

In 1968 she met Jackie Curtis which led to Andy Warhol's Factory, where she was invited to be in one of his films but she declined. In 1972 she was in Jackie's play Amerika Cleopatra.

The next year she was on the cover of Gilles Larrain's book of photographs of interesting New Yorkers.
"We were not drag queens. What kind of limited mentality would think because you put on make-up and glitter that you must be a drag queen? Drag queen is a tiresome, demeaning, low class, vulgar term. We were performing artists. We were into self-expression and individuality. We came from all kinds of backgrounds and every side of life - rich, middle-class, black, white. This was a pansexual group that blossomed in New York City in the late 1960's and early 1970's. It was not about being gay or straight. What mattered was the expression of our selves, our souls, and OUR CLOTHES!"
Alexis was for a while an in-demand designer in Los Angeles, and has five costume and one make-up credits on movies 1978-81.

In 1983 she starred in a camp version of Tennessee Williams called Sweet Blonds of Youth.  The original, Sweet Bird of Youth, features an aging movie star Alexandra Del Lago, and from this point on, Alexis became Alexis Del Lago.   Later that year she was in the stage show Les Girls in New York with Jayne County, Holly Woodlawn and International Chrysis.

From 1986-2002 Alexis had an antique shop, The Gilded Lily.

Recently she has played in the television series, Transparent.
  • Gilles Larrain. Idols. New York: Links, 1973.
  • Jayne County & Rupert Smith. Man Enough to Be a Woman. London: Serpent's Tail, 1995: 150.
  • "Queen of Feathers" in Stephen Glass. "California Dreaming: Stephen Class's LA to Z". Los Angeles Magazine, 43,12, Dec 1998: 118.
  • Holly Brubach,. Girlfriend: Men, Women, and Drag. Random House, 1999: 128-132.
  • Craig B. Highberger. Superstar in a Housedress: The Life and Legend of Jackie Curtis. Chamberlain Bros. 2005: 9, 53, 87-90, 229.
  • James St James. "Meet the Legendary and Reclusive Alexis Del Lago". The Wow Report, September 1, 2011. http://worldofwonder.net/meet-the-legendary-and-reclusive-alexis-del-lago.
  • Craig Calman (dir) Caprice, with Alexis Del Lago. US 12 mins 2010.
IMDB

Lili Elvenes, known as Lili Elbe, and the film not of her life

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If you are considering a visit to the cinema to see The Danish Girl, please bear the following in mind:

The film is based on a 2000 novel by David Ebershoff.

It is not based on Maurice Rostand's 1933 novel La femme qui était en lui. It is not based on the 1933 Man into Woman: an Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. The true story of the miraculous transformation of the Danish painter, Einar Wegener edited by Neils Hoyer.

Gerda Wegener née Gottlieb was the daughter of a Danish pastor. Ebershoff turned this Danish 'girl' into a California 'girl' !!!!

"Girl" is a very patronising term for women in their late forties.

Lili's post-transition name was Lili Elvenes.

The name "Lili Elbe" was a media construct developed by the pioneering Copenhagen journalist, Louise (Loulou) Lassen.

It is not true that "Lili Elbe" was the first "man into woman". Carla van Crist, Toni Ebel and Dörchen Ritcher had already had transgender surgery before Elevenes arrived in Berlin, and unlike Elvenes had been living fulltime as women before surgery. Also, perhaps because they were patients of Magnus Hirschfeld rather than Kurt Warnekros, they survived. Elbe and van Crist even survived the Second World War. What about a film based on these true pioneers?

There is a new detailed book on Lili Elvenes by Sabine Meyer: Wie Lili zu einem richtigen Mädchen wurde, which I have had no chance to look at yet.

I wrote a 3-part essay on Lili last January (incorporating information from a earlier publication by Meyer):
Part I: Einar Wegener, artist
Part II: Lili Ilse Elvenes, surgery and womanhood
Bibliography
Part III: Lili Elbe, media construct

Lili Elvenes in Copenhagen late 1930

Some Events of the year 2015: Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.

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Some events of 2014. Some events of 2013. Some events of 2012. Some events of 2011. Some events of 2010. Some events of 2009. Some Events of 2008.

This is just some of what happened in 2015.

Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.
Part 2: Persons, Changebacks
Part 3: Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans & Intersex Kids,
Part 4: Politics & Government, Celebrities, Sports
Part 5: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Military, Cops & Firefighters, Conviction & Imprisonment, Homeless Shelters, US TSA, Nemeses,
Part 6: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Legal, Deaths
Part 7: Drag & Butch, Dress Reform, Homeogender Surgeries, Fashion, Beauty Pageants & Carnivals, Music & Performance,
Part 8: Internet, Art, Radio, Television, Adverts, Pornography, Theatre, Cinema
Part 9: Jargon, News Media, Journal Articles & Studies,
Part 10: Archives & History, Books.




    Organizations & Activists
      International:
      WPATH: 2015 Statement on Identity Recognition. PDF“Therefore, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health urges governments to eliminate unnecessary barriers, and to institute simple and accessible administrative procedures for transgender people to obtain legal recognition of gender, consonant with each individual’s identity, when gender markers on identity documents are considered necessary.”

      Human Rights Watch criticized an Islamic Court for fining nine women and jailing two for a month each for “cross-dressing”.

      ILGA passed a new Gender Identity and Gender Expression Strategy at the recent board meeting in Bangkok.
      Africa:
      SHE - Social, Health and Empowerment feminist collective of transgender and intersex women of Africa, which is based in the Eastern Cape Province. In South Africa, transwomen were limited to three possible professions: performing drag, hairdressing or sex work. “We are more than this,” she said, also highlighting that 30% of the respondents with tertiary qualifications were not employed in the area of work they were qualified for. (see also under Art & Photography in Part 8)

      Transgender Intersex Africa

      Activists:

      Audrey Mbugua, 31, Nairobi, activist. Moremore

      Beyoncé Karungi, 35, Uganda, almost beaten to death.

      Yara, Cairo, runs a FaceBook page for trans persons.
      Americas:
      Brazil: Transcidadania program served 100 trans persons, enabled them to get out of sex work, and complete education and gain professional qualifications.

      Buenos Aires Legislature created the day of promotion of Trans Rights on 18 March, the day when
      Claudia Pia Baudracco, founder of ATA (later ATTA) died.

      Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo: protests after sign at the Register Offices of the Central Electoral Board that prohibited identity card photographs where appear to be 'other sex'.

      Los Angeles: Network of Gay-Straight Alliance and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice marched around the building of the City and to the offices of the Police Department to protest the deaths of eight transgender women in California and other states so far in 2015 by February.

      17thLos Angeles Trans Pride March

      Manhattan, Tlust, which provided support and social events for trans personsm has been sued for eviction.

      Newfoundland and Labrador will allow gender changes to birth certificates after Kyra Rees in St John's won such a court ruling in her case.

      New York: a report by Pride Agenda found: “the transgender portion of the queer community is 50 percent more likely to be in poor or only fair health, 150 percent more likely to have a history of homelessness, twice as likely to live in poverty, and three times more likely to have less than a high school education — all by comparison to lesbian, gay, and bisexual respondents”.

      Santa Ana, California: trans and queer protesters against incarceration of LGBT immigrants

      São Paulo - CAIS - Associação Centro de Apoio e Inclusão Social de Travestis e Transexuais founded.

      São Paulo Municipal Hall: trans persons demonstrated after 'gender identity', 'sexual orientation' and 'sexuality' were removed from list list of protected classes.

      Sher Vancouver, a support group for LGBTQ South Asians, established a youth leadership award named for January Marie Lapuz, who was killed by a trick in September 2012.

      Southern Comfort Conference moved to Fort Lauderdale for its 25th year.

      1stSt John's Trans March.

      Trans Equality Now (TEN) which grew out of Vancouver Pride, will lobby the B.C. and federal governments to pass pro-equality legislation, while educating the general public on issues affecting trans people.

      Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) organized a die-in at San Francisco City Hall noting that trans people face high rates of abuse by police and correctional officers, and are often turned away by gendered social service operators such as battered women's shelters and drug rehab centers.

      Transgender Law Center and Equality California Institute working together to educate the public in California on trans issues.

      Trans Law Symposium, Chicago, Aug 7, sponsered by The Transgender Law Center, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

      Vancouver Pride banned groups from participating unless they support transgender equality legislation. This became controversial when the ruling BC Liberal Party was banned.

      Venezuela's Sex-Gender Diverse Alliance (ASGDRe), with state and federal funding held its 1st National Congress.

      Venezuela's LGBTI Network, which had been assumed to be inactive since the 1990s, appeared at an OAS Human Rights Commission in Washington DC and claimed “alarming” levels of homophobia since 2009. This in the context of a stream of US disinformation against Venezuela.

      Activists:

      Alejandra Spinetti, President of Trans Union of Uruguay.

      Isa Noyola, Director of Transgender Law Center, spoke at US Congress' Forum on Violence Against the Transgender Community.

      Kendra Stefani Jordany, 25, Honduras, activist with Centro de Educación y Prevención en Salud, Sexualidad y Sida.

      Leodán Suarez, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, complained of police harassment.

      Lourdes Ashley Hunter, National Director of the Trans Women of Color Collective.

      Marissa Richmond, 1st president of Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, activist for 19 years.

      Morgane Oger, Vancouver, mom of two young children, is also chair of the Trans Alliance Society and spoke at panel at Leading Moms (which pays tribute to Vancouver mothers who are artists, professionals, activists, entrepreneurs and leaders making a difference in their communities).

      Rachel Crandell of Transgender Michigan given a Good Neighbour Award in Ferndale, Michigan.

      Thais Izuisa Tuanama, Peru, president of trans organization, Las Amazonas, married her man.
      Asia: 
      Bharathi Kanamma Trust launched a website for trans persons across India to find work. 
      Istanbul LGBTT – with Dutch support, will now provide psychological, legal, and social support at 2 trans guest houses.  
      Japanese Society of Gender Identity Disorder said that it plans to launch a certification system for doctors who are GID specialists and will aim to get gender reassignment surgery covered by national health insurance.
      Istanbul Trans Pride March, which included many Syrian refugees, and acclaimed those in prison, condemned President Erdogan for his hate speech,
      Activists:
      Akkai Padmashali, Bangalore, worked with Sangama, founder of Ondede, now among 60 Indians chosen for 2015 Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
      Laxmi Narayan Tripathi in talks with the Gujarat government for including the transgender community in OBC category and integrating them in school curriculum.
      Nisha Ayub, Malaysian activist awarded by Human Rights Watch.
      Öykü Ay, Turkey, organised a shelter for trans persons.
      Mama Kuo, Taiwan, mother of trans man, counsels similar parents, took her classes to Guangzhou.
      Rana, president of Gender Interactive Alliance organised a seminar in Karachi called 'Importance of Transgender Rights'.
      Europe:
      EPATH Conference, 12 March 2015, Gent.

      Free Pride, Glasgow, first banned drag queens for being ‘offensive’ but then admitted their mistake and will now welcome any performers of any gender.

      Gendered Intelligence provide lessons to primary schools.

      Gender Liberation, a new NGO in Malta.

      ILGA-Europe et with members of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner and officials from the Council of Europe. Seminar highlighted two new papers on human rights of intersex persons. DocDoc

      LGBT Youth Scotland is encountering more people who feel neither female nor male.

      Stonewall England and Wales, under new CEO, going trans inclusive.

      TGEU Co-Chair Arja Voipio spoke at the European Parliament about the need of the European Union to adopt a comprehensive LGBTI action plan with a strong focus on trans people.

      TGEU present at the conference “Democracy for All: Political Participation of LGBTI Persons in the Western Balkans” in Belgrade took to the occasion to call on the Serbian government to make up for lost time and to imminently begin discussions with relevant stakeholders to introduce a Legal Gender Recognitionlaw based on self-determination of the individual which reflects the needs of the local trans community.

      Trans*formation, London, the professional networking group for trans employees and allies.

      Transgender Europe calls on the World Health Organisation and governments to ensure that gender variant children are not labelled as sick, On 14 October 2015, International Day of Action for Trans Depathologisation,

      www.transrespect.org. (see section 6: Deaths for a summary of their research on murders of trans persons). Transgender Europe’s (TGEU) Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide research project, TvT, is now easily accessible in a new website.

      Transrespect and Transphobia in Europe – a joint event by TGEU and Böll-Foundation 11:00 18 June 2015 @ Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Foundation; Kottbusser Damm 72.

      UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee hears evidence surrounding the Gender Recognition Act. Various problems were raised.

      UK: Petition to Parliament to allow transgender people to self-define their own legal gender has gained nearly 10,000 signatures.

      Wipe Out Transphobia put up bi-lingual posters across Wales.

      Activists:

      Delia Johnson, 65, Milton Keynes, works as specialist diversity consultant for Trans In Sport, Northamptonshire Police and England Netball, fighting for the rights of the transgender community.

      Delphine Philbert, of Objectif Égalité Lorraine needs €2,200 for a legal appeal, that surgery abroad should be reimbursed.

      Jo Bernardo, Portuguese activist and artist.

      Júlia Mendes Pereira, Lisbon, co-founded Ação Pela Identidade – API. On TGEU steering committee.

      Leo Bebel, Milan, found Izabelly, from Bahia, Brazil, living on the streets, bathed and cared for her, and used social networks to find her family that had had no contact for 6 years.

      Shannon Taylor, 45, Suffolk, featured on a poster against transphobia being distributed at police stations.

      Megan Key awarded the Positive Role Model Award in the LGBT category of the National Diversity Awards, at a sparkling ceremony in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. The @TransGirlsCan campaigner has been active in highlighting transgender (trans) issues. Dedicated to raising awareness at all levels and throughout the country, Megan volunteers as a trustee for Wolverhampton-based charity Gender Matters, working with schools in Birmingham to promote trans awareness, and representing her trade union at the TUC LGBT conference.

      Steph Holmes, who runs Chrysalis Trans Support Network in north-west of England, was reported to have asked police to investigate a 'Dames on the Run” fund raiser for a children's hospice. This resulted in a lot of negative feedback.
      Oceania
      Cate McGregor patron of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation which works to promote and protect the human rights of glbti people in the Asia Pacific region.

      Georgia Yavanovic, Alice Springs, Klinefelter syndrome activists spoke against the 'normalising' surgery that was forced on her as a teenager.

      Greer, 63, Melbourne, President of Seahorse Victoria.

      NZ: Agender's new president Lynda Whitehead hopes to regrow it to what it was before.





        Equal marriage & civil unions
            Americas
              Mexican Catholic Archbishops attempted to exorcise the entire nation to rid it of the 'Satanic infestation' of same-sex marriage.

              Chile: civil unions recognised.

              Ecuador introduced civil unions.

              Grand Ronde Confederation, Oregon

              Greenland. Legislation passed, requires modification of Danish law. Will come into effect 2016.

              Mexico: Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning same-sex marriage are discriminatory.

              Oneida tribe, Wisconsin

              Siletz confederation, Oregon

              Tlinglit and Haida tribes, Alaska.

              USA: Supreme Court ruled that same-sex married couples were to be constitutionally accorded the same recognition as opposite-sex couples at state/territory levels, as well as at federal level.

              Asia 

              Two Tokyo districts issued Japan's first certificates officially recognising same-sex partnerships

              Vietnam: allows gay weddings, it will not offer legal recognition or protection to unions between people of the same sex.
                Europe
                  Finland: legislation passed, but will not take effect until 2017.

                  Ireland: first nation to endorse equal marriage by referendum. Signed into law as 43th Amendment to the Constitution.

                  Luxembourg: passed by Chamber of Deputies.

                  Northern Ireland Assembly voted narrowly in favour of equal marriage, but the Democratic Unity Party vetoed it.

                  Slovenia: introduced by the United Left opposition party and passed, but opponents have obtained a referendum.

                  Oceania

                  Australia: Prime Minister Tony Abbott was staunchly against equal marriage, but has been removed in a party coup. The new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised a plebiscite after the next election.

                  Pitcairn Island, population 48, passed law to allow same-sex marriage.





                    Other Legislation, Litigation, other government and corporate actions, etc
                      International

                      Catholic Church issues ban on transgender godparents. Pope: “Let’s think also of genetic manipulation, of the manipulation of life, or of the gender theory, that does not recognize the order of creation. With this attitude, man commits a new sin, that against God the Creator. The true custody of creation does not have anything to do with the ideologies that consider man like an accident, like a problem to eliminate.”

                      UN Committee on the Rights of the Child urged Chile to cease intersex genital mutilation.

                      World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the Argentinian Gender Identity Law as a model for the world.

                      Africa

                      Mozambique repealed colonial-era law “"security measures to be taken against anyone practicing vices against nature”. No-one had been prosecuted under it for the last 40 years.

                      Americas

                      Argentina: surgery or hormone treatments to bring the body to self-perceived identity will be included in the Compulsory Medical Plan (PMO).

                      BC: NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert reintroduced bill to include trans persons in Human Rights Code.

                      Bolivia: people who want to alter their name and sex on official identity documents must apply to the Ministry of Justice, where a “psychological examination will be held to approve the process.”

                      Buenos Aires province: requires the province fill at least 1 percent of government jobs with transgender people.

                      California: judge has thrown out a proposed ballot initiative that advocated killing anyone who engages in gay sex, calling the measure "patently unconstitutional."

                      California: trans person to determine gender listed on own death certificate.

                      Citizenship and Immigration Canada will now accept revised provincial documents re change of gender for Citizenship Card, and will no longer require documentation regarding surgery.

                      Canada's Transgender rights Bill derailed when Senate added amendment excluding public toilets and changerooms, prisons and crisis centres. With the change of Government in October's election, there is hope of moving forward.

                      Chicago City Council added gender identity and national origin to an existing list where the police are forbidden to profile.

                      Colombia: name and gender can be changed on identity cards without intrusive physical and psychological examinations as before.

                      Delaware: trans inmates may now seek a name change based on gender identity.

                      Ecuador recognises transgender civil status.

                      Hawai'i removed surgery requirement before changing gender on birth certificate.

                      Houston, Texas: equal rights ordinance passed 11-6 by the Council, but conservative foes objecting to inclusion of gay and transgender provisions forced a referendum, and it was defeated.

                      Illinois: ban on conversion therapy for LGBT youths.

                      Manitoba: first Canadian province to ban conversion therapy.

                      Nevada: state employees and covered family members will have transgender health coverage

                      New Jersey Legislature twice passed a bill that removed requirement for surgery before changing gender on birth certificate. However it was vetoed both times by Governor Chris Christie, who found the issue funny.

                      Ontario: ban on billing for conversion therapy to change sexual orientation or gender identity.

                      Ontario to expand access to publicly insured sex reassignment surgery. Referral for surgery to be done by any qualified health-care professional.

                      Oregon: ban on conversion therapy for LGBT youths.

                      New York State: Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his executive power to expand the state's anti-discrimination rules to safeguard transgender people, creating a protection advocates had been fighting for years to try to receive.

                      Puerto Rico schools now allow students to choose between skirts and trousers.

                      São Paulo government launched Transcidadania program to socially integrate trans person. First 100 beneficiaries to get up R$840 for vocational courses.

                      US: FBI, which is now required to track hate crimes against trans persons, counted only 33 in 2013, while the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) counted 344.

                      US: "Religious Freedom" act passed in Indiana, to legitimize discrimination against LGBT persons; Kansas rescinded an LGBT anti-discrimination order, and Arkansas prohibited anti-discrimination codes being enacted by cities and local governments

                      Anti-trans "Bathroom Bills" proposed in Nevada, Florida, Texas and elsewhere in US, to stop trans persons from using public toilets.

                      Asia

                      Bangladesh: Hijras to be recruited as traffic police.

                      Bengal government announced Transgender Development Board. Only Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra of the other provinces have transgender development bodies.

                      India: the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, unanimously passed a private member’s Bill which aims to protect the rights of transgender persons and end discrimination against them. This was the first private member's bill on any topic to pass for 45 years.

                      Indian government asks Supreme Court to define 'transgender'.

                      Ruling BJP is worried that the private member's bill on transgender rights could provide a strong opening for decriminalization of homosexuality which the ruling BJP is opposed to.

                      Iran consider bill to protect transgender people.

                      Israel: State Attorney's Office told the High Court that it no longer opposes allowing Israelis to officially change their sex, even without undergoing an operation.

                      Malaysian court rules transgender people 'mentally ill'. More.

                      Nepal adopted new constitution that explicitly protects gays, lesbians and trans persons.

                      Raipur, Chhattisgarh, provide 2% special housing quota in its schemes for transgender.

                      Taiwan, issued gender reassignment regulations but would bar those married or with children.

                      Thailand: 'sexual identity' in new Human Rights Charter. Also passed Gender Equality Act.

                      Vietnam: new legislation will allow those who have undergone reassignment to register under their new gender. The law will come into effect early in 2017 after 282 of 366 lawmakers voted in favour. Comment
                        Europe:
                          The Council of Europe called on its 47 member states to adopt transgender inclusive anti-discrimination and hate crime legislation and introduce a third gender option in identity documents for people who do not identify as male or female.

                          European Commission published on 10th November 2015 its annual progress reports addressing the track record of EU accession countries, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia and Turkey. The EU Commissioner Hahn stressed that the leading principle of “fundamentals first” in the accession process must include the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. The EU Commission highlighted alarming levels of discrimination and violence that LGBTI people are facing throughout the accession region, drawing attention to the inadequate response from authorities. The reports on Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, however, fail to reflect on the absence of adequate gender recognition procedures.

                          The Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) has for the first time addressed gender identity discrimination in one of its reports. In its report issued on November 11, 2015, it recommends that Austria enable that trans persons in detention have access to trans specific health and legal gender recognition. Also, non-discrimination policies should be developed.

                          The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the requirement of permanent infertility to undergo gender reassignment surgery is a violation of the right to privacy, as guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case resulted from Turkish authorities refusing to grant authorisation for gender reassignment surgery because the applicant requesting it was not permanently unable to procreate. Article 40 of Turkey’s Civil Code stipulates that persons undergoing gender reassignment surgery need to be permanently infertile, which the person in question was not.

                          Finland: Government submitted a proposal to the Finnish Parliament to abolish a standing requirement that requires trans persons to be single in order to be granted legal gender recognition.

                          Georgia: proposal to allow change of gender in official documents.

                          Ireland: Gender Recognition Act. No need to consult a doctor. A simple two-page form to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and revised birth certificate.

                          Italy: the Supreme Court in Italy ruled that a marriage between a man and a woman remains valid even after the man had a sex change, saying the marriage can’t be annulled until Italian authorities recognize civil unions.

                          Italy: Supreme Court ruled that trans persons have the right to self identify, and that surgery is not required.

                          Malta: surgery, sterilisation and a diagnosis of mental illness no longer needed to change legal gender.

                          The Polish Parliament passed a Gender Accordance Act: 252 MPs voted for, with 158 against, and 11 abstained. However the President, Andrzej Duda, vetoed it. This was even before the General Election which swung heavily right.

                          Portugal: 'gender identity' added to Labour Code.

                          Russia banned trans persons and others with mental disorders from driving.

                          The UK National Union of Students (NUS) bans drag as fancy dress - except it doesn't. picture


                          Ukraine: passed an anti-discrimination amendment to the labour code that outlaws gender identity discrimination. Legal gender recognition is very cumbersome, involving forced psychiatrisation, divorce and sterilisation. Non-matching ID documents are often the reason for trans people being laid off or not getting hired.

                          Some Events of 2015: Part 2: Persons, Changebacks

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                          0

                          Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.
                          Part 2: Persons, Changebacks Part 3: Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans & Intersex Kids,
                          Part 4: Politics & Government, Celebrities, Sports
                          Part 5: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Military, Cops & Firefighters, Conviction & Imprisonment, Homeless Shelters, US TSA, Nemeses,
                          Part 6: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Legal, Deaths
                          Part 7: Drag & Butch, Dress Reform, Homeogender Surgeries, Fashion, Beauty Pageants & Carnivals, Music & Performance,
                          Part 8: Internet, Art, Radio, Television, Adverts, Pornography, Theatre, Cinema
                          Part 9: Jargon, News Media, Journal Articles & Studies,
                          Part 10: Archives & History, Books.

                          Persons

                          This is a general persons section. In additional there are sections below on transkids, trans and families, celebrities, show biz, political, sports, inmates, schools and universities, doctors, etc.

                          Africa: 

                           

                          Alex was insulted and assaulted while in a bar in downtown Nairobi. With the help of Transgender, Education and Advocacy, he filed a complaint with the police, and the attacker was sentenced to 2 years in jail.

                          Juanita van Zyl, 36, harassed while attempting to change her papers.

                          Mieke, 26, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, has a YouTube channel.

                          Sisa Abu Daooh, has lived and worked as a man for 40 years. This was an open secret in Luxor, Egypt. Awarded prize as 'best mother' by President Sisi.

                          Sandile Ndelu, 22, Cape Town, postgraduate law student.

                          Tatenda Zenzo Karigambe, late 20s, Zimbabwe, a twin, chemical engineer, has spent $80k on transition and surgery. The Registrar-General officially gave her documentation as a female.


                          Police in Agadir, Morocco arrested 20 gay and trans persons, and charged them with “breach of public decency”.

                          Americas:

                           

                          Abby Stein, 24, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a dynastic Hasidic, in transition. More

                          Angelica Ross, 34, Washington DC, former performer, founding CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises.

                          Aiyyana Maracle, 65, on the Iroquois Six Nations reserve, artist and scholar, has returned to the reserve to live with her son and grandchildren.

                          Andrea Fernandez, 47, La Plata, Argentina, subjected to abuse while in hospital.

                          Anita Nishikawa and her husband, in Brasil's Federal District, were arrested for extorting money from sexual clients.

                          Ari Chivukula, software engineer at Facebook, added fill-in-blank option for gender.

                          Barbara Ann Berwick petitioned California Labor Commission for reimbursable expenses during her stint as an Uber driver, is looking for work as a consultant or as a CEO.

                          Brae Carnes, Victoria, BC, has posted photographs of herself in men's toilets, to protest an amendment to Canadian trans rights bill.

                          Brielle Harrison, ex-Facebook and Google, now working at Apple.

                          Brunner Valin, whore at age 14, widowed, HIV+, now lecturer at Diversity Centre, Cidade Universitária, São Paulo and remarried.

                          Buck Angel, 42, interviewed.

                          Caiden Fratangelo, transitioned successfully to male at all-female Chatham University, Pittsburgh.

                          Calpernia Addams interviewed.

                          Cassandra Cass, 37, had operations to look like Jessica Rabbit.

                          Cole Carman, 18, San Francisco, is freezing his eggs before surgery to become a man.

                          Diana Lombardi, Connecticut, transitioned at 59.

                          Dominique Jackson, from Tobago, now living in the Bronx, author of The Transsexual From Tobago.

                          Ethan Smith, 22, poet and activist, Boston, wrote poem/letter to girl that he used to be: “At 19 you started to fade. I tried to cross you out like a line in my memoir I wished I could erase completely. And maybe I'm misunderstanding the definition of death”.



                          Giana Lopez, 25, New Jersey, is planning to move to UK in hope of getting a NHS transition.

                          Gloria Halvorsen, 53, St John, ex-Navy, ex-husband, has transitioned.

                          Haley Carney intends to move to England to marry a woman she has met online, and become a UK citizen.

                          Jay Prior, life coach, profiled.

                          Jennicet Gutiérrez, interrupted LGBT right speech by President Obama, and was escorted from White House.

                          Jennifer Boylan, 10 years later.

                          Julianna Fialkowski, 25, Lynchburg, Virginia, provided a bed for a trans teen kicked out by his parents, was arrested, misgendered, $2,500 bail and $6,000 in legal fees.

                          Katella Dash, 38, Minneapolis, has spent $100,000 on various surgeries, appeared on Botched reality show, and want to enlarge her breasts from 38h to 38MMM, but doctors refuse in that it could kill her.

                          Kayden Coleman, 29, been transitioning for 10 years, found himself pregnant. He married his boyfriend.



                          Laura Rae, Winnipeg comic and Artistic Director of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival transitioned.

                          Liam Zarrillo, 23, and Ben Cathcart, 27, Winnipeg, have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for their top surgery.

                          Lindsey Sachs, 30, Santa Rosa, California, struggles to get surgeries covered by insurance.

                          Lore Graham, Boston, identifying as neither male nor female, had double mastectomy and hysterectomy.

                          Loren, 28, Louisville, Kentucky, married and ex-US marine, in transition.

                          Marsha Morgan, San Clemente, California, ex US Navy, school-bus driver, in transition.

                          Miss Major Griffin-Gracy– profile

                          Nicoll Hernández-Polanco, Guatamalan asylum seeker in Arizona, in an all-male facility, and abused. Finally, after 6 months, given asylum in US.

                          Olympia Palomo Moreno, 26, president of the Colectivo por la Diversidad Sexual y Equidad de Género AC, and Betsy Santillán, beauty queen and stylist, both of Mexico City, had their name and gender entered in the City Civil registry.

                          Patricia Dawson, electrician, Hot Springs, Arizona, fired.

                          Rajee Narinesingh, Philadelphia, had chemical injected in her face in 2005, which resulted in disfigurement, has now been largely corrected by a plastic surgeon.

                          Sadaisha Shimmers, San Francisco, arrested, strip searched by male officers, and booked as male, despite being female on her California ID card.

                          Samantha Hulsey, San Francisco, suffered a transphobic attack in January, and another in November.

                          Sofia Vissa, has spend $100,000 on a brow lift, liposuction, breast implants, five rhinoplasties and gender surgery, appeared on Botched reality show.

                          Steph James, 50+, St Louis, after a 30-year marriage and 3 children, lost her job. Now working in home health care.

                          Sumayyah Dawud, Tempe, Arizona, transitioned 2011, converted to Islam 2013, now having gender questioned at the mosque.

                          Tess Graham, 64, Louisville, Kentucky, transitioned at 55, after 33 years of marriage and 2 children. Was thrown out of 3 churches.

                          Thomas Beatie, divorced, pleads guilty to disorderly conduct after accused of stalking ex-wife.

                          Tyqwon Eugenen Welch, who had $45,000 of facial feminization surgery from Dr Douglas Ousterhout, was dissatisfied by his work, and wanted a refund. She set fire to his house, 2650 Steiner St, San Francisco, which incidentally was featured in the film Mrs Doubtfire.


                          Asia:

                           

                          Health official: Amruta Alpesh Soni unable to get US visa because her Indian passport says gender=T, but US forms do not permit this option.

                          Bedi Keskin, 51, Armenian stone cutter Istanbul Grand Bazaar, continued in trade after sugery 21 years ago.

                          Deiniel, 22, Philippines, a Pinoy transman.

                          Fulande, of Shahpur, Ahmedabad, complained to police that rival hijras threw acid on her.

                          Joe Wong, Program Manager at Asia Pacific Transgender Network.

                          Kazuki Osawa, 26, and his wife are adopting a child. This will enable them to be entered on the Japanese family register even though they are not permitted to marry.

                          Mama Yuli, embarks on a national movement, lobbying for acceptance of warias in Indonesian society, and is featured in an Australian television documentary.

                          Sechil, 40, Istanbul, had the 10,000 lira needed to transition.

                          Tang/Black Rose met men online, drugged and robbed them.

                          Thanradaporn, Bangkok, in news after her feminised breasts touched by monk, says that okay because she was born male.

                          Shivy, 19, taken from US college by parents and returned to India, was granted protection by Delhi High Court. More



                          Li Xiongjin, Guangdong, attempted self-castration three years ago. Appeared on reality show U Beauty, and now her surgery will be paid. More

                          Yiscah Smith, 63, Jerusalem, husband and father of six, now trans activist but still Hassidic. Author of Forty Years in the Wilderness: My Journey to Authentic Living.

                          Trans Tamils in Malaysia in fear after YouTube video, calling for them, and those who walk with them, to be beaten on the street, went viral. 21 more trans women arrested.


                          Europe:

                           

                          Annie Wallace's own life inspired Julie Hesmondhalgh who played Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street.

                          Alessandra Bernaroli (previously Alessandro) married Alessandra in 2005. The husband transitioned in 2009, and changed her gender on legal documents. The civil registry authorities later informed the couple that their marriage has been nullified. The Bernarolis wished to stay married, and appealed to the Supreme Court which ruled that they could not be made to divorce against their will, and the marriage remains valid until a civil union law is passed by parliament.

                          Anne Stewart, 47, Perth, ex-Army, bus driver.

                          Cal Fox, 25, from Liverpool, did drag for 6th-form party, felt more normal, worked as a drag performer, and now starting transition.

                          Charli Darling, 38, Salford, Manchester, grew breasts at 13. Is also XXY.

                          Chelsea Attonly, 30, MtFtMtF has now decided to stay with female.

                          Chris Sutton, whose brother Stephen raised ₤5 million while fighting incurable cancer, is openly genderqueer, and collected Stephen's awards and was on television.

                          Danielle Gormley, now 31, served in Royal Medical Corp at age 17, and later was a bus driver. After doing drag for a stag do, decided was trans, and is now working as a magician and awaiting surgery.

                          Ebony Lewis, 30, 6'7” (2.01m) from Jamaica, now in Chatham, Kent, had NHS surgery 2014.

                          Fay Purdham married a childhood friend.

                          Finlay Games and Drew Bushnell, Glasgow, both became men, and are to marry.

                          J, a UK Charedi trans woman is profiled in The Jewish Chronicle.

                          Jack Monroe, food journalist, who blogged as A Girl Called Jack, announced that is transgender.

                          Jane Fae discusses her early years, on IOS Rainbow List for 3rd year running.

                          Joe Halliday, born without a penis, raised as a girl, now reclaimed his masculinity, published autobiography.

                          Jeanette Solstad Remo, 61, Oslo, ex-navy, adopted by Amnesty. Her case has led to proposed change in Norwegian law.

                          Julie Clarke, Hebrides, shortlisted for Role Model of the Year at the Icon Awards.

                          Kasey Hildreth crowd-funding for top surgery, as did Erik Ly.

                          Kay Browning, 25, Devon, has had top surgery, but will go no further until he is a mother.

                          Kirone McCaffrey, 26, Dagenham, warehouse worker.

                          Lydia Foy awarded European Citizens Prize. After nomination by Sinn Féin MEPs.

                          Marie-Pierre Pruvot/Bambi, 79, received l’Ordre du Mérite. Interview.

                          Mark McDonagh, 54, Edinburgh, pub manager and ex-Hell's Angel rocker, began transition after dying wife urged her to be herself.

                          Michelle Pindar, 57, Hull, ex-builder now owns a beauty salon.

                          Parma Bertoli, who has less than 12 months to live, Worcester, wishes to marry Stephanie, also trans, and Malvin Hobbs, who runs an events company is organising, despite hate messages.

                          Rihanna Cooper, 21, Hull, accepted on surgery path at 16, then decided to be a boy and stopped treatment. Now wants to be a woman again. This time has to pay for treatment.

                          Ridley Middlemore, 16, is freezing his eggs before surgery to become a man.

                          Ri Ri Fox, 28, ex Royal Navy, in transition.

                          Roxy Cuthbertson, 63, married 3 times lorry driver, in transition.

                          Roxy Roberts, 50, former bodyguard, had transitioned and connected to autistic son.

                          Sandra MacDougall, 63, Glasgow, has been stripped of her pension in that she never applied for a Gender Recognition Certificate, and must now wait until the male retirement age.

                          Sue Pascoe, previously Master of the Hunt in North Yorkshire, had surgery with Dr Narendra Kaushik in Delhi.



                          Summer Mendes, 43, Glasgow, psychic medium.

                          Suryani, fled Malaysia after 5 friends were murdered, but as they were not registered as trans, it is not officially a hate crime and Denmark is denying asylum.

                          Susan Bond, 56, Doncaster, frustrated at long wait for surgery, fired a BB gun at a parked car.
                          Tiffany-Rose Davies was set to marry a Dubai property developer who would pay for her surgery. She got death threats after being featured in the Daily Mail, and later found that he was already married with children.


                          An asylum seeker was granted protection and recognition of her gender in Malta.


                          Oceania: 

                           

                          Jasmin Taylor-Scott, 42, Queensland, mining-camp chef, supported by co-workers.

                           
                          Mary Haddock-Staniland, New Zealand, and her identical-twin brother.
                          Pindi Stevens, Sydney, vilified by her ex-friend, ex-drag queen neighbour, after homophobic comments from Stevens..

                          Stephanie McCarthy, 43 year-old punk singer, bashed by a group of men at Town Hall Hotel, Sydney.

                          Tina Healy's mother has dementia, and Tina has to repeatedly come out with her as she does not remember, although she is always accepting.



                          Trudi Morrison-Gardine, from Ontario, now in Brisbane, IT specialist. Co-founder of Trans-IT Support.

                          Taylor, 47, Melbourne, member of Seahorse


                          Changeback

                          Australian, mid 30s, felt like a girl since 4-years old, on female hormones and had breast implants, changed mind after 45-minute epileptic seizure.


                          Joel Nowak's blog Retransition

                          Book: 
                          • Blood and Visions: Womyn Reconciling with Being Female. Autotomous Womyn's Press, 2015.

                          Some Events of 2015: Part 3: Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans Kids

                          0
                          0

                          Part 1: Organizations & Activists, Equal marriage, Other Legislation.
                          Part 2: Persons, Changebacks
                          Part 3: Marriage, Lovers and Family, Trans Kids
                          Part 4: Politics & Government, Celebrities, Sports
                          Part 5: Schools, Universities & Colleges, Military, Cops & Firefighters, Conviction & Imprisonment, Homeless Shelters, US TSA, Nemeses,
                          Part 6: Doctors & Sexologists, Medicine, Genetics, Legal, Deaths
                          Part 7: Drag & Butch, Dress Reform, Homeogender Surgeries, Fashion, Beauty Pageants & Carnivals, Music & Performance,
                          Part 8: Internet, Art, Radio, Television, Adverts, Pornography, Theatre, Cinema
                          Part 9: Jargon, News Media, Journal Articles & Studies,
                          Part 10: Archives & History, Books.

                          Marriage, Lovers and Family


                          AJ Kearns, 41, Melbourne, became pregnant and gave birth when his wife was unable to.

                          Bianca, 33, & Nick, 28, Bowser, Kentucky, both trans with two children.



                          Camryn Colen and his now-wife obtained a marriage license from Kim Davis, who is now famous for refusing 'same-sex licenses'.

                          Chelsea Jade, 28, found a husband, but 'he' then also transitioned.

                          China Bell, 43, Florida, 6'3” (1.91m) dating 4'4” (1.32m) bodybuilder.

                          Denise Brunner, 58, married 34 years, 3 children.

                          Emily Dodge, 62, is now caring for her wife, Jean, who stood by Emily as she transitioned, but now has dementia.

                          Erica, 61, and Ellen Maurizio, 62, Illinois, stayed together after former's transition in 2006.

                          Geri, a singer, has found a potential husband.

                          Laura Budd and wife, Saskatchewan, overwhelmed by support.

                          Lexy Bradbury, 30, Rochdale, and accepting girlfriend.

                          Lindsey Deaton, married 36 years, 2 daughters, Cincinatti, orchestra conductor, transitioned 2 years ago.

                          Lorenna, 23, has found a husband in the UK.
                            Soni, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, complained that her husband, Raju, assaulted her after she discovered his earlier wife and child.

                            Tricia Russell, Jacksonville, Florida, and wife still together after 3 decades of marriage.


                            Trans Kids


                            Transgender kids club at the Children's Hospital, St Louis, Missouri, has monthly meeting for 20 children 5-12 .

                            Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso opened the Children & Adolescent Gender Clinic.


                            Granddaughter of Democratic US Representative for California's 17th district.

                            Hunter, 15, Michigan

                            Jazz Jennings, 14, show on cable channel TLC

                            Ryland, 7,

                            Surridge, 11, New York

                            Zay, Ohio,

                            Lily, St Albans, 6, an identical twin, knew at 18 mths that was a girl.

                            Tom Sosnik, a Jewish teenager whose coming out speech was posted on Facebook by his parents.

                            Luana, 8, youngest person to register gender change under recent Argentinian law.

                            Paddy, Leicester.

                            Gabrielle, Ottawa, gets legal name for 16th birthday.

                            Lia, 10, New Hampshire, starting puberty blockers, featured in Growing Up Trans.

                            Ellie-Jo, north Wales, returned to school as a girl.

                            Ziya, 6, Atlanta, gender fluid.

                            Jacob, 5, Massachusettes.

                            Kai, 10, Cheltenham, to start puberty blockers.

                            Boy in Brisband, allowed onto testosterone at 16.

                            Avery, 15, Los Angeles, now on male hormones.

                            Milla, 10, Brisbane, being bullied at school.

                            Blake, 18, Wigan, transitioned at 16.

                            Avan, 6, Sydney, Nova Scotia, with a twin sister.

                            Gabe, 16, Cape Breton

                            Kammie, 15, Dallas

                            Juno, 18, Rochester, New York, is now a girl like her twin sister.

                            David, 14, Chile, successfully integrated at school.

                            Jasper, 16, Edinburgh, being bullies.

                            Bee, 18, featured in BBC Scotland's Transsexual Stories.

                            Willa, 7, Malta

                            Gavin and Rai, 15 and 13, two in one family.

                            Danni, 3   


                            See also Micheal in the murder section in Part 6, dead at age 13.

                            Films
                            I Am Leo CBBC, 17 Nov 2014, awarded a children's BAFTA.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x_u2cs8DpI


                            Books:
                            • Arin Andrews. Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015.
                            • Laurence Hérault. La parenté transgenre. Publications de l'Université de Provence, 2014.
                            • Peter Keins. Trans*Kinder: Eine kleine Fibel. CreateSpace, 2015.
                            • Amy Ellis Nutt. Becoming Nicole: The Extraordinary Transformation of an Ordinary Family. Kindle, 2015. Newsarticle.

                            • Alex Gino. George. Scholastic Press, 2015. A novel. Newsarticle.
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