There were champagne toasts and rounds of applause as the World Professional Association for Transgender Health released on Sunday its newest Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People at a symposium at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta.
WPATH revision committee chair Eli Coleman launched the 7th version of the standards of care to some 300 people who attended the symposium as part of a partnership with the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association and the Southern Comfort Conference, the largest transgender conference in the nation that takes place annually in Atlanta.
At the annual Fall Garden Party thrown by the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative, major news was announced — the nonprofit organization that has focused on serving lesbian health will now be dedicated to serving the entire LGBT community.
Now named The Health Initiative, the organization is expanding its services and "expanding our circle and expanding our reach," Linda Ellis, executive director, announced at the Garden Party held Sunday at Einstein's.
Hundreds of women and many men attended the annual Garden Party that serves as the largest fundraiser for ALHI. For photos from the event, click here.
"Medical professionals are seeking us out to be at the table with them. The issues we have to deal with today have to do with advocacy," Ellis said.
Tommy Theollyn, the father of a seven-year old transgender son, is trying to get his son, D., access to the boy's restroom at Todd Grant Elementary school in Townsend, Ga., after being told by the district's superintendent that the child must use the girl's restroom. Theollyn presented his case before the McIntosh County School Board on Sept. 15, and also gained support from the ACLU last week.
Theollyn claims that before the new school year began last month, he met with D.'s teacher about his son's transgender status. Theollyn says that the teacher was understanding of his son's unique situation and offered support, but when the new school year began, Theollyn said he was told his son would be required to use the girl's restroom.
Theollyn, a transgender man who transitioned after giving birth to D., claimed that Superintendent William Hunter refused to allow his child, who was labeled a girl at birth but started identifying as a boy last year, access to the boy's restroom and threatened to call Child Services during a heated meeting in August.
The only child of world-renowned pop duo Sonny and Cher Bono, Chaz is remembered by many of us as their cherub-faced daughter Chastity, blowing kisses to the audience of her parents top-rated variety television show “Sonny & Cher.”
In 1995, Chaz was outed as a lesbian.
But this time Chaz is in control, and on his own volition has announced he’s legally a man, and will now appear on the 13th season of “Dancing with the Stars,” premiering Sept. 19.
But not everyone is cheering, and ABC is catching some of the fallout.
GA Voice readers were divided over the case of D., a second grader in Townsend, Ga. (www.thegavoice.com, Aug. 26; update in print edition, Sept. 2).
Labeled a girl at birth, the child began living as a boy last year. Tommy Theollyn, D’s parent who is also a female-to-male transgender, wants him to be able to use the boys’ bathroom at Todd Grant Elementary School, but the McIntosh County Public Schools superintendent refused.
D, who was previously home-schooled, is now being homeschooled again. Meanwhile, a petition Theollyn started on Change.org has more than 31,000 signatures asking for D. to be allowed to use the boys’ bathroom at school.
Each year, the Southern Comfort Conference brings transgenders, transsexuals and cross dressers together in a safe space to not only learn from each other but also to learn from experts on such topics as surgeries, transgender fiction writing and career searches.
For the 21st year of the conference, set for Sept. 22-25 with the theme “Coming of Age,” SCC is also partnering with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association for an all-day joint symposium at the Emory University Conference Center on Sept. 25.
“It should really be an historic event,” said SCC chairperson Alexis Dee. “For the first time, our community will have the opportunity to directly address the professionals that set the guideline for transgendered care and treatment.”
As lead singer/guitarist and current business manager for the Atlanta band The Sexual Side Effects, Amber Taylor, 33, is busy. She’s booking clubs for her band to play, she’s writing songs, she’s posting flyers around the city promoting upcoming gigs. She also holds down a day job working as a web designer and computer programmer.
The Sexual Side Effects headline the annual East Atlanta Strut on Saturday, Sept. 17. SSE plays My Sister’s Room on Oct. 1 with local artists, and plays Atlanta Pride this year, taking the Bud Light Stage on Oct. 8.
Taylor is also involved in a TV project about transgender artists and musicians being shopped around by a producer.
The Sexual Side Effects includes “Spikey” Mike Sidner on bass, Matt Foster on guitar and drummer Clay McClure. The band is working with producer John Briglevich (Drivin’ N Cryin’, Edwin McCain) on a debut EP.
New season of ABC's hit show kicks off tonight
More than 2,300 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling on the McIntosh County Public School system to allow a seven-year-old transgender child the right to use the boys' restroom.
The petition was created by Tommy Theollyn, a 28-year-old transgender man from Townsend, Ga., after he said he was told by McIntosh County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. William Hunter that his child, D., would not be allowed to use the boy's restroom at Todd Grant Elementary School.
"My child is transgender; put simply this means he looks like and identifies as a boy, but has the body parts assigned to girls," Theollyn states in the petition. "Forcing him to use a bathroom that does not match his presentation effectively discloses his status as a transgender child and thus endangers him."
The Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative and Georgia Equality are asking members of Georgia's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities to fill out a short survey to help the organizations plan for the future of the Phillip Rush Center.
The survey takes just 10 minutes and "will likely be the most important thing you can do this week to help secure a fair and just Georgia," said Linda Ellis, executive director of ALHI.
Atlanta Stonewall Week wrapped up this weekend with numerous events to bring the community together to celebrate the anniversary of the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, that is credited as the start of the modern day lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights movement.
On Friday, June 24, Congregation Bet Haverim and the Atlanta Pride Committee hosted the Pride Seder, similar to the Jewish traditional Seder meals held during Passover but with an obviously LGBT twist. The event included readings of key moments in Atlanta’s LGBT history as well as a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of AIDS. Congregation Bet Haverim’s chorus also entertained the crowd of more than 100 people with traditional Jewish hymns as well as a fun medley of gay favorites such as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way.”