Articles- Collected Articles For The Transgender Community

Transgender identity should be classified as a medical condition and not a mental illness, according to HIV experts as reported by Pink News. The issue was raised at the second International Experts’ Meeting on HIV Prevention for MSM, WSW [men who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women] and Transgenders in Amsterdam last November.

A report unveiled at the conference, titled Moving From Intentions to Action, argues that classifying transgender identity as a mental illness further stigmatizes this community.

“Gender identity variance (transgender identity) should be reclassified from its current classification as a mental health disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD),” the report said. “Instead it should be classified as a medical condition. This would provide a diagnostic category in the ICD that would accommodate the needs of those gender identity variant people who require medical care for their condition, but without the stigma attached to mental disorder.”

Homosexuality was once classified as a mental illness. The American Psychiatric Association removed it from its list of mental disorders in 1973, and the World Health Organization did the same in 1990.

By Joanne Herman- Transgender advocate and author of “Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not”

Defense industry veteran Amanda Simpson of Tuscon, Arizona, who really is a rocket scientist, was just appointed by President Obama to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security as a senior technical advisor. Her job will include managing exports of dual use technology as well as conducting press and media liaison work for the agency.

Simpson is highly qualified for the position. She has worked in the aerospace and defense industry for 30 years, most recently serving as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems. She holds degrees in physics, engineering and business administration, and is a certified flight instructor and test pilot with 20 years of experience.

Simpson is not the first high-profile transgender appointment in Washington. She joins Diego Sanchez, who was named in 2008 by Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, as senior policy advisor on issues regarding healthcare, veterans, labor, the U.S. Census, and LGBT rights.
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by Seth Hemmelgarn
s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

With huge HIV/AIDS funding cuts and a continuing prevalence of the disease among African Americans, Oakland continues to battle HIV/AIDS as officials worry the disease could spread.

In 2007-08, the budget for education and prevention in Alameda County was $1.5 million. That included money from the state general fund.

Now, the general fund money is gone, leaving $661,000, which comes primarily from Ryan White Part B funds – federal money that’s distributed by the state. That funding is only for education, prevention, counseling, and testing, according to Kabir Hypolite, director for Alameda County’s Office of AIDS Administration.

The county’s budget allocation from the state AIDS office for care and treatment services this year is $1,190,000, according to Hypolite.

He said the cost of providing care for someone with AIDS can be as much as 10 times as providing HIV care.

At the state policy level, “We are, in essence, gambling now with thousands of people’s lives, and we may wind up paying a far, far greater price in the very near future if we don’t restore these cuts,” he said.
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by Seth Hemmelgarn
s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

The man suspected of murdering a transgender woman in San Francisco more than two years ago has been found guilty of several charges related to the rape of another transgender woman.

The March 2007 murder of Ruby Ordenana is still under investigation, but Donzell Francis, 41, could face 15 years in prison for charges related to the rape of another transgender woman in 2007.

Michael Swart, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Francis in the recent trial, said the district attorney’s office is presently reviewing the Ordenana case. Sergeant Wilfred Williams, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, said the case is still under investigation.

“Now that the jury has convicted the defendant of committing his atrocities against the victim” whose case was the subject of the recent trial, “the DA’s office is looking forward to charging the defendant with the serial rapes of several other transgender women in San Francisco, including the rape/murder of one such victim,” Brian Buckelew, director of legal affairs and public information for the district attorney’s office, wrote in an e-mail to the Bay Area Reporter .
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by Lisa Keen of The BAR

Amanda Simpson starts work this week as one of the first presidentially-appointed transgender persons to the executive branch of any administration. The honor of the first belongs to Dylan Orr, a 30-year-old law school graduate from Seattle.

The Obama administration appointed both Simpson and Orr in late November. Orr began work on December 7 as special assistant to Assistant Secretary of Labor Kathleen Martinez in the Office of Disability Employment Policy at the Department of Labor.

Simpson, 49, began work on Tuesday as senior technical adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security in the Commerce Department. The bureau’s mission is to protect national security through the management of international trade, the enforcement of treaties, and the promotion of economic, cyber, and homeland security.

Orr, a native of Seattle, graduated from the University of Washington School of Law in July and was admitted to the bar in November. During law school, his studies focused on disability rights, civil rights, and employment and immigration issues. He served as president of the law school’s GLBT student organization. He did his undergraduate work at Smith College in Massachusetts, and also worked for a time with the Department of Social Services in Salem, Massachusetts.
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from the National Center for Transgender Equality

Amanda Simpson, who has served on NCTE’s Board of Directors for the past 3 years, has been appointed by the Obama Administration as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce. She’ll be working in the Bureau of Industry and Security.
“I’m truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me. And at the same time, as one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.”
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