Arrest made in the Murder of Transsexual woman found dead in NYC

Amanda Gonzalez was found dead lying in the nude in her NYC apartment a few weeks back and the case sent tidal waves through the TG community.  There is now a suspect in custody and his name is Rasheen Everett.

Everett can be seen below trying to cover his head as he is led into custody by investigating officers. I am so happy to see that authorities acted quickly on this case and didn’t let this murder go unsolved. All too often cases involving those in the GLBT community don’t seem to get the attention they deserve.

The man wanted for strangling a transgender woman in her Queens apartment has been arrested in Las Vegas, police said.

Rasheen Everett, a 29-year-old ex-con wanted for two attempted murders in Massachusetts, allegedly killed Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar, also 29, inside her Glendale apartment in March.

He fled to Vegas, where he was staying with an acquaintance, sources said.

The victim was discovered March 30, her naked body sprawled across the bed, when worried friends persuaded the landlord to open the door to her apartment.

“We found her on her bed. She was naked,” her friend Barbara Vega, 35, told the News at the time. “Everything in the apartment was destroyed. All her Marilyn Monroe pictures were destroyed.”

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/04/15/2010-04-15_arrest_in_murder_of_transgender_woman_amanda_gonzalezandujar.html#ixzz0lB3W8QyS

Real Sports chronicles the lives of Transsexual Sports writer

I don’t know how I missed this one but I found it very interesting and informative.

Hopefully you will too.

See part 2 after the jump!

Transsexuals beat the brakes off of a man

As ghetto as this appears…I have to admit, I enjoyed seeing the transsexuals stand up for themselves. People need to understand that its okay to have your opinion but its not okay to disrespect.

Check out this video below were two transsexuals out to enjoy their night, were interrupted by an asshole with too much mouth and not enough muscle.

Transgender Parents teaching lessons to their hetero contemporaries

In our ever evolving society we are going to see the term “family” redefined as more families come out of the closet. If you don’t watch Oprah yu are probably unaware that there are many families out there, where one parent is gender variant.

Those who go against the grain are often the target of much berating and ridicule. In order to be gender variant a thick skin is a must and the same can be said for being a parent.

Let me share with you a real-life story involving a transgendered parent. A few years after Michael B. married his wife Barbara in the 1970s, he told her that he preferred wearing women’s clothing and that he felt more comfortable thinking of himself as a woman.

The marriage was a rocky one, but it lasted for almost twenty more years. In 1998, the couple divorced and a year later Michael had gender reassignment surgery and changed her name to Monica. After that, Barbara went to court in their home state of Kentucky and successfully got an order prohibiting Monica from contacting any of their four children because she was now living as a woman.

But things soon got even worse for Monica. Barbara eventually remarried and she and her new husband petitioned the court to terminate all of Monica’s parental rights so that the new husband could adopt the one child out of the four who was still then a minor.

The Kentucky trial court granted the petition after concluding that Monica becoming a woman meant that she had neglected her child and caused her grave emotional harm, necessitating the termination of her parental rights. That ruling was upheld by the Kentucky Court of Appeals in 2007.

Monica B.’s case is an example of the kind of pervasive discrimination faced by transgendered parents. It also tells us something important about what it means to be a parent in our society.

For many years now, gay and lesbian parents have had to contend with the argument that depriving a child of a mother (in the case of gay male parents) or of a father (in the case of lesbian parents) harms children. This argument is at its core grounded in the notion that there is something special or unique about the supposed different nurturing styles of fathers and mothers. In response, advocates for gay and lesbian parents have argued that gender in parenting is largely irrelevant because what should matter is not a parent’s gender but instead whether and how the parent loves and cares for the child.

But to some extent, the “gender in parenting” argument in the context of gay and lesbian parents takes place at an abstract level. As a result, in lesbian and gay parenting cases, we tend to ask questions such as whether mothers in general care for children in ways that are different, if not necessarily better, than fathers in general do.

Transsexual woman arrested for carrying too many condoms

“First [the police officer] asked me what I was doing with all these condoms. Then he took the bag and threw it in the garbage. Then he arrested me.”  — A transgender woman in New York City, from a 2009 Sex Workers Project survey.

Sienna Baskin, staff attorney at the Sex Workers Project in New York City, says there’s a question she’s always asked at the “Know Your Rights” workshops she leads for prostitutes and other sex workers: “How many condoms are we legally allowed to carry?”

There is no law in any state in the U.S. restricting condom possession, but if you’re a sex worker, you might have reason to believe there is a legal limit. Law enforcement officers in New York City, Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area routinely confiscate condoms from suspected suspected sex workers, sometimes filing them as evidence of prostitution. Almost everyone interviewed for a recent Sex Workers Project survey, Baskin says, “mentioned a certain number of condoms over which they felt more concerned about increased harassment.” Cyndee Clay, executive director of D.C.-based Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive, says, “It’s a common enough practice that everyone knows about it.”

Keeping a few condoms tucked in your handbag probably won’t land you behind bars — unless police profile you as a possible sex worker. Are you in an area known for street prostitution? Are you a transgender woman? Are you a woman of color? Do you have a prior record? If you answer yes to any of these questions, the number of condoms you’re carrying could suddenly become grounds for suspicion, even if you are not engaging in illegal activity.

Sex workers have reasons to want to avoid attracting attention from police that go beyond fear of arrest. There’s a long and shameful history of abuse and harassment of sex workers by law enforcement — ranging from violence and threats of violence, to police demanding sexual favors in exchange for leniency, to rape. Within this uneasy context, the confiscation of condoms is not an anomaly but emblematic of the failed law enforcement approach to sex work. Instead of preserving the safety and well-being of this often vulnerable population, police officers are endangering them and undermining their ability to protect themselves, their peers, their clients and their communities.

Although sex workers have been challenging this kind of harassment for at least a decade, recent developments have brought the issue to the headlines. For one thing, a long-awaited bill in New York state which would prohibit the use of condoms as evidence seems to be gaining momentum. And in Washington, D.C.,

more than a thousand people recently sent letters to the mayor protesting the confiscation of condoms in the city, which has the nation’s highest HIV-infection rate.

Instead of stigmatizing condom use, law enforcement should be promoting it, especially among high-risk groups such as sex workers. “Sex workers are safe-sex educators,” says Kimberlee Cline, a San Francisco-based escort. “Not only do we teach people how to use condoms, we teach people how to enjoy sex while wearing a condom. It’s really important for us to be recognized as part of the solution.”

Source