TransNews Weekly- 14 July 2007

1. Cross-dresser mistaken for a stalker
A cross-dresser in Oxford, England, was physically assaulted when mistaken for a stalker by Lee Carney, who assumed was following his girlfriend. It was the first time the victim had ever been public in women’s clothing.
Read more at the This is Cheshire website

2. Cuba to update same-sex and trans-rights
Cuba’s government is planning an update on its Family Code to extend rights to gay and trans people. If approved, gay and lesbian couples would get the same rights as heterosexual couples, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Read more at the Workers World website

3. Statistics shed light on economic troubles of the trans community
New national statistics on transgender discrimination by Richard Juang, a respected scholar and activist, sheds light on employment discrimination and economic problems trans people have to endure. The statistics show unemployment rate and poverty rate to be as much as 8 and 5 times higher respectively in case of trans people .
Read more at the Transgender Workplace website

4. First out trans-artist to be signed by a major record label speaks out
The lead singer of Toronto rock band The Cliks, Lucas Silveira, who has been signed by Tommy Boy's Silver Label, making him the first out transgender artist to be signed by a major record label, has spoken out about the challenges of being trans.
Read more at the SFGate website

5. Madras Court orders compensation for family of victim of police harassment
India’s Tamil Nadu state government has been ordered by the Madras High Court to issue compensation to the family of a transgender individual who had committed suicide last year after being sexually harassed by the police.
Read more at the The Hindu website

6. Defeat for intersex individual accused for fraud
A judge in Colorado Springs has denied the plea to finance psychiatric evaluation of Storme Shannon Aerison, an intersex women who is accused in a supermodel scam. Aerison, the judge ruled, was feigning mental impairment to avoid prosecution.
Read more at the CBS4Denver website