One year ago, Latania McKenzie sat down at her computer and with a few clicks started putting into action a dream she’d had for years — a blog that caters to masculine-identified women as well as to transgender men.
Named Queer B.O.I.S., the blog espouses the values McKenzie, 30, and her partner and blog co-founder, Taliba, aspire to in their professional and personal lives. While B.O.I.S. is meant to quickly identify its target audience, the letters also have meaning: Business, Opulence, Investment and Style.
McKenzie, 30, moved to Atlanta 12 years ago from Belgium. She likes to shop in the men’s department and has a deep affection for pocket squares and bow ties. She said the blog is meant to bring visibility to a community that is often overlooked in the media. And while her first name is Latania, she prefers to just be called McKenzie.
For fans of "Bound" and "The Matrix" trilogy as well as "V for Vendetta," the Wachowski brothers became icons in the film industry. They were quite simply geniuses and garnered a huge, devoted fan base.
But then reports came out years ago that one of the brothers had transitioned to female. The Wachowski Brothers, Andy and Larry, were no more. They were now Lana and Andy and now known simply as the Wachowskis.
Vandals smashed the glass storefront of Boy Next Door early Thursday morning and management of the men's fashion store believes it may be tied to an article published in Fenuxe, a local LGBT magazine. Boy Next Door caters to a gay clientele.
Raymond Dowis, general manager of the store located at 1447 Piedmont Ave., told Atlanta police today he believes the property damage totaling $1,000 is due to his store's advertisement in Fenuxe. The vandals struck at approximately 4:49 a.m. Thursday and shattered the glass of the front of the store.
Fenuxe published an article titled "Why can't we have nice things?" in its Oct. 4 Pride issue critical of the local gay bar scene. The art with the story was a waiter holding a silver platter with a pile of shit on it. The controversy was reported by Project Q Atlanta. Atlanta Pride was held Oct. 13-14 in Piedmont Park.
‘Unity, visibility and self-esteem’ on display in Piedmont Park
The fourth annual Atlanta Pride Trans March steps off Saturday to raise awareness and visibility for the “T” in “LGBT.” Marchers gather at 1:15 p.m. at the Hospitality Center and step off at 1:45 p.m.
The Trans March was started to raise awareness and visibility for transgender and gender non-conforming people both inside and outside the queer community, says Jamie Green-Fergerson, Atlanta Pride’s board of directors vice chair.
“We march through the park as a statement that non-trans LGBTQ people also need to be aware of trans issues and that education needs to start inside our community,” she said. “The Trans March centers the experience of transgender and gender non-conforming people, but partners, parents, children and friends of marchers join us every year.”
Buck Angel, the “man with a pussy” who garnered fame through porn films and is now an activist, was greeted warmly by dozens of young transmen at the 22nd annual Southern Comfort Conference.
At the Transmen’s Welcome Party on Sept. 20, Angel, attending his first Southern Comfort, talked with fans, posed for photos, signed autographs and mingled with the crowd. Not only a porn star, Angel is an educator on sexuality and gender through his “Sexing the Transman” documentary.
Angel discussed his story with the group of men and women who gathered in a conference room at Atlanta’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. But none seemed to know that Angel was embroiled in an online transgender controversy about the sensitive topic of disclosure — when is the right time to disclose to a romantic interest that you are transgender?
For most of life, Blake Alford was enveloped by solitude.
From the ostracism experienced coming of age in the 1950s and ‘60s – getting beaten up and kicked down the stairs at school for being queer – to more than 30 years on the road driving a truck, Alford was used to feeling alone.
And sharing one’s own company can be particularly isolating when you are at war with yourself, when your body and your mind have dueling definitions of who you are.
“Being behind the wheel of a truck, you don’t see very many libraries, you don’t hear very much about being transgender, especially back during that time, so I didn’t have any information about it,” said Alford, who, at age 56, transitioned from female-to-male almost a decade ago.
Human relations professionals, as well as other parties interested in diversity, have a golden opportunity to learn more about the issues surrounding transgendered employees. Out & Equal of Atlanta, in conjunction with Turner Broadcasting’s TurnOut, hosts two back-to-back events to help foster dialogue about issues that come up when an employee experiences a gender transition.
On Tuesday, Sept. 18, a special screening of the film “No Dumb Questions” will be shown at Turner Broadcasting. This film is a lighthearted documentary profiling three sisters, ages 6, 9 and 11, struggling to understand why and how their Uncle Bill is becoming a woman.
Filmmaker Melissa Regan will answer questions along with the father of the girls and, for the first time, the three sisters together. Since this film was made 10 years ago, the sisters have a different perspective and are eager to share with the audience about the process they went through.
Advice columnist Dear Abby has long been a supporter of LGBT equality, coming out in 2007 in support of same-sex marriage. And since about 2005, the syndicated columnist in some 1,400 newspapers, has taken on topics in her column dealing with gay and lesbian issues.
This week, Jeanne Phillips — aka Abigail Van Buren — tries to help "Lost Angel," a transgender woman who has been in a long-term relationship with a woman, including through her transition, but now finds herself sexually attracted to men.
Getting Congress to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act is no easy task, obviously, especially when it comes to the gender identity part. I mean, the anti-gay bigots are frothing at the mouth thinking about who will be using what bathroom.
But today the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee held a hearing on ENDA and included a transgender witness to testify about his experiences. This is the same Congress that likes to discuss birth control with no women present, so no doubt this was a major victory for LGBT and ENDA activists.