Yesterday a federal appeals court put on hold a trial court order that transgender woman Michelle Lael-Norsworthy, who is currently being held in Mule Creek California State Prison, receive sex reassignment surgery. This came the same day a California board recommended parole for Norsworthy who was convicted of second-degree murder. According to a report by…
In this issue of LGBT Weekly, Stampp Corbin makes the moral and right case for gender affirmation surgery for a transgender prisoner in the California State Penal System. “Judge Jon S. Tigar said Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, 51,” publisher Stampp Corbin wrote, “should be entitled to gender reassignment surgery because it was the ‘only adequate’ treatment for…
I remember in early 2004 going to the SRO bar on Fifth and Elm, one of the maybe half-a-dozen times in my life. I remember hearing the line from a cis man (a non-trans man) in male attire saying to me, “I like people like you.” I remember thinking it was the oddest line I’d…
After I came out in 2003, most of my holiday seasons have been filled with holiday depression. You know, that kind of seasonal depression one experiences that has known cause or causes and comes and goes at roughly the same times each year in fall and winter. Annual events and anniversaries with gray and black…
According to the USA Today article VA Treats 2,500 Veterans, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA – part of the overall Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA), in 2013 treated 2,567 veterans with the diagnosis of gender dysphoria for transgender specific health care. That’s a significant population of trans veterans in the VA. And, being statistically…
I can frame the hardest month of the year for me by the dates of Nov. 20 and Dec. 25. For me, it’s a month punctuated by anniversaries, holidays and the sun’s low position in the sky that contribute to feelings of depression. Each year, the Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) begins my hard…
The recent suicide of comedian Robin Williams focused a lot of attention and information on these three serious issues for a few days and then, as usual, it was onto the next major media story. I don’t believe that there is anyone that does not know someone who has a drug/alcohol addiction or suffers depression…
Sometimes, not knowing the truth about something of immediate importance can create some of the most intense stress, says former chronic pain sufferer Janet Komanchuk. “The families of victims who’ve been missing for years or decades – identifying the body of their loved one, for example, can bring closure. For me, being diagnosed with fibromyalgia…
