Results tagged “transgender”

The State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a transgender person seeking a name change does not have to provide proof of any medical procedure justifying the change, striking down an earlier ruling. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nonprofit advocacy organization, had brought the case to New York Civil Court in February on behalf of Olin Yuri Winn-Ritzenberg, a transgender man who wanted to change his first name from Leah.

LGBTQ advocates are pushing the state legislature to amend New York's hate crime law to include gender identity. Under the current state law, prosecuters can classify assault as a hate crime if it stems from the victims' sexual orientation, but crimes against transgender victims do not necessarily qualify. One of the leading advocates for reform is Carmella Etienne, 23, who was attacked in Queens in July by two men shouting anti-gay slurs and threatening to cut her throat.

As the debate to legalize gay marriage rages on within the chaotic confines of Albany, two young men took matters into their own hands and hoodwinked their way into a marriage certificate at the City Clerk's Office. Hakim Nelson and Jason Stenson were married on May 26th, sliding under the radar on Nelson's food stamps card, which lists him as a female. No one at the clerk's office raised an eyebrow since Nelson arrived wearing an orange dress with white leggings. The two believe that they made history with Stenson saying, "People in Albany can say, 'Look, it's already happened, so let's just make it legal.'" Hakim Nelson and Jason Stenson, you might be New York's first gay marriage to go public, what are you gonna do now? We're taking our story to the New York Post! The Post talked to a city official, who seemed pretty unfazed, telling the paper, "If someone is trying to willfully sneak through, we try to stop it. But you have instances of females [who] have male names and vice versa. You've heard of a boy named Sue, right?" The newlyweds have been honeymooning at a homeless youth shelter in Brooklyn.

After a two year absence, 47-year-old Yeshiva University literature professor Jay Ladin returned to school last week as Joy Ladin, putting the oy in Joy by arriving at the midtown campus wearing a black skirt and pink lipstick. According to the head of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Ladin is the only transgender employee of a religiously conservative university in America.

There was plenty of buzz Monday about Radar's investigative report on $2,000 an hour hipster hookers, but that wasn't the week's only close-up on the oldest profession. A bit further down market, to say the least, the Villager's Laurie Mittelmann pals around with transgender street walkers in the West Village: "While shoes may also pain the feet of males and females, underwear can present unique problems for pre-operation transgender women. They want foxy little numbers, but still need to cover bulging male genitalia." And just like the author of the Radar story, Mittelmann also turns down a paranoid john who approached her for "'rocks and sex.' Apparently, he thought there was a chance this reporter was an undercover cop. 'You’re either going to hook me up with some fun, or hook me up in cuffs,' he said, licking his lips and kneading his pants." Demonstrating enormous self-control, Mittelmann somehow resisted his charms.

Republicans in the State Senate introduced a bill this week that would protect minors, particularly transgender students, from bullies. But no one will take credit for sponsoring the bill, and it may disappear as quietly as it was introduced. A spokesman for the Senate majority leader Dean G. Skelos would not comment on the proposed law, telling the Times, “We are focused on property tax relief.” Similar legislation has been passed in the Democrat-controlled Assembly; the mysterious Republican version would require schools to train teachers to intervene during bullying and keep track of bullying cases, including incidents involving sexual orientation. 11 other states have already enacted such laws, according to Alan Van Capelle of the Empire State Pride Agenda.

The Daily News reports that a Bronx prostitute was killed by a john. The suspected killer reportedly didn't realize the prostitute was a transgender woman. Talib Stewart, also known as Nesha and Sanesha, was stabbed in a Belmont apartment building, and the 37-year-old killer was apprehended there as well.

Last month, New York City kicked off a big global advertising campaign to attract more tourists to the Big Apple. The ads appear in a number of venues, and the Post notes that media space has been bought in Out magazine and on the LOGO network, as well as LGBT websites. A Bloomberg administration official explains that gay and lesbians have more disposable income, as they are usually dual-income without kids, "What we're saying...