LAPD Offers $25K Reward for Information on Suspects in Gang Attack on Trans Woman: VIDEO

The Los Angeles Police Department has released a surveillance tape that shows a gang of men stalking and attacking a transgender woman and is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to their arrest. The victim was hospitalized for a week with severe injuries, NBC Los Angeles reports:

The victim, known as “Vivian,” was assaulted while walking on Hollywood Boulevard about 2:15 a.m. on May 31, police said.The Los Angeles Police Department released security camera footage that shows multiple males chasing a woman in a red dress down a dark Hollywood Boulevard. The group is seen kicking the victim on the ground before running away. One of the suspected attackers was wearing a white tshirt with the letters YSL (Yves Saint Laurent), and black pants.

Watch the video, AFTER THE JUMP...

Social Security Administration Makes Strides In Transgender Rights, Removes Surgical Requirement

According to new regulations published by the Social Security Administration, transgender individuals will no longer be required to demonstrate surgical reassignment in order to change gender designation on official documents. The new
regulation is a big step for the transgender community. Salon reports:

“This is a tremendous victory for our community,” Ilona Turner, legal director of the Transgender Law Center, said in a statement. “The Social Security Administration was one of the last agencies to hold onto an outdated, one-size-fits-all standard for gender change. Transgender people will now be able to change all their federal documents with a simple letter from their doctor recognizing that they have undergone the appropriate treatment for them.”

The letter in question is a far more preferable, and private, mode of official recognition.

...the administration will accept a letter from the person’s doctor confirming that they have undergone “appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition,” but, as the National Center for Transgender Equality notes, “no specific type of treatment is required, and details of your treatment should not be included in the letter from your physician to the SSA.”

By increasing the options for legitimate recognition of gender reassignment, the SSA has taken a significant step toward reducing the bureaucratic processes which have made transgender individuals second-class citizens. Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Mara Keisling, recognizes the gravity of the new regulation:

“Most people may not see this as a big deal, but transgender people know that this seemingly small technical change will protect their privacy and give them more control over their own lives” she said in a statement celebrating the change.

Here's hoping that even more significant changes are underway and that discrimination will continue to slowly be disbanded.

Image courtesy of nyc.gov.

Neil Patrick Harris to Star in Broadway Premiere of 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch'

Neil Patrick Harris is set to take on the title role in John Cameron Mitchell's 1998 musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch when it premieres on Broadway in Spring 2014, Playbill reports:

"I am simultaneously ecstatic and terrified to be stepping into Hedwig's heels," Harris said in a statement. "It is truly a once-in-a-lifetime role and I can't wait to begin the journey."

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a musical comedy about a fictional rock 'n' roll band fronted by a transgender singer. The production began Off Off-Broadway at Westbeth and then ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical, and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies. Hedwig and the Angry Inch won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award.

David Binder and Jayne Baron Sherman are producing. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.

'New York Times' Urges Passage of Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA): VIDEO

The New York Times has posted an editorial urging passage of New York's GENDA bill:

A measure to outlaw discrimination based on gender identity or expression — the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or Genda, sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Daniel Squadron — passed the Democratic-led Assembly in April for the sixth time. There is a good chance it would also pass the Senate, with nearly all Democrats and some Republicans voting in favor. The challenge is getting the bill to the floor for an up-or-down vote before the end of the legislative session, scheduled on June 20.

Senator Jeffrey Klein, the Democratic leader in the Senate’s coalition leadership, must insist on a vote. He should tell Senator Dean Skelos, the coalition’s Republican leader, that bottling up bills like this one is not part of their power-sharing deal. It would help if Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a supporter of the bill, would commit political capital to enacting the legislation before the session ends. Sixteen states — including New Jersey and Connecticut — and the District of Columbia have enacted anti-discrimination protections covering transgender people. New York should not lag on this important civil rights issue.

Watch a brief spot from the Empire State Pride Agenda explaining the legislation,
AFTER THE JUMP...

Police Conducting 'Purges and Arrests' of LGBT People in Greece

Via GR Reporter, anti-LGBT oppression in Greece against trans people:

The police in Thessaloniki has been carrying out a series of ungrounded arrests of transgender persons as stated by the Greek Transgender Support Association. "According to written complaints filed by our members who live in Thessaloniki, it is clear that from 30 May 2013 onwards, the police have been carrying out purges and arrests of transgender citizens on a daily basis. The same complaints state that those arrested are being taken to the police headquarters in Thessaloniki in Dimokratia Square, where the victims are waiting for at least three or four hours to be identified under the pretext that the authorities should establish whether the particular person was not a prostitute," reads an address of the non-governmental organization (NGO).

And LGBT people in general:

Late last week, the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Christian Church Antimos openly urged the residents of the northern Greek city not to allow their children to participate in or to promote the gay parade. He described Thessaloniki Pride as an "unholy and unnatural event." Antimos announced that he had received a petition containing nineteen and a half thousand signatures of citizens of Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas, who "strongly and dynamically protest against the outspoken presentation of homosexuals in their city." He said that he was for the repeal of the festival and that he strongly supported the opinion of the discontented.

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece.

Intolerant Father Publicly Confronts Transgender Teen on 'What Would you Do?' - VIDEO

How will crowds at a dress shop react when an intolerant dad begins publicly confronting his transgender teen daughter as she shops for a prom dress? That's the premise of the most recent ABC News hidden camera program What Would You Do?

See how fellow shoppers react, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via think progress)