In fact, the so-called "third sex" have a storied and respected history in India, occupy their own caste, and were traditionally the companions of queens. But nowadays, hijras - a term that today includes eunuchs, the intersex, transgender individuals, transvestites and self-identifying "third-gender" communities - are the object of discrimination. The estimated 200,000 hijras in India are frequently cast out by their families, forced to leave the educational system and are reduced to begging and sex work. Says the Times of India,

Hijras have few rights and are not recognized by Indian law. Except for the state of Tamil Nadu that has sanctioned special toilets - and a database to map the population of transgenders in the state and find out detailed demands such as ration cards and voter identity cards - they are denied the right to vote, own property, marry and the right to claim formal identity through any official documents such as a passport.

But, as Kalki Subramanian, the founder of the site and a gender-rights activist, explains to the Times of London, "It wasn't always like this...Only in the past 200 years, under the British, did we become too narrow minded." (The British government classified hijras as "a breach of public decency" and were deemed a "criminal tribe.") She adds, "Many of us would like to marry men; most of us would like to have children, to adopt...But for too long, because of our place in society, these have been distant dreams. People think of us as sexual perverts or clowns."

While "hijras" are represented in some same-sex dating sites, this is the first matrimonial site in the world for self-identifying hijras hoping to meet and marry men. The site states, "transsexual women by birth may not be physically women. But, by soul and heart, we are real women." And as is clear, starting it out of Madras is a major statement. Of course, the fact that the site is explicitly geared towards the population - one could argue, ghettoized - is a double-edged sword: hijras are still very much a group apart. And while the site is a designated safe space that seeks to promote larger discussion of gender identity and discrimination, it still only lists six perspective "brides." And yet, those women boast flattering head-shots and profiles (in Tamil) and their courage has reaped results: as the Times of London tells us, the site has attracted "more than 350 proposals of marriage from men in India, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the US and the Middle East." While one imagines not all the inquiries are serious - or savory - one can only hope that at least one relationship will result in the Valentine's Day wedding the site's founder envisions. And the site is explicit when it issues its challenge to prospective grooms:

Are you a man who believes in equality? Do you respect women and believe in eliminating oppression and exclusion based on gender? Are you someone who is against caste system and dowry? Will you treat your wife as a friend and an equal partner in your life? If so, the transsexual women you find on these pages are looking for life partners.

World's First Matrimonial Site For Transsexuals [Times Of India]

Eunuch Marriage Website Paves Way For Third Gender Comeback In India [TimesUK]
<a href="">Thirunangai.net
World's First Matrimonial Site For Transsexual Women [IndiaServer.com]
documentary [YouTube]
Eunuchs — India's Third Gender [ThingsAsian]

[Yogyakarta, Indonesia; November 10. Image via Getty]

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA - NOVEMBER 10: Transgender named Novi, applies make up to her face on November 10, 2009 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The Koran school, called 'Senin-Kamis' meaning Monday - Thursday, the 2 days the school operates. The school was founded in July 2008 by a 48-year old Maryani as a place for waria to pray. Islam strictly segregates men from women when praying, leaving no-where for 'the third sex' waria to pray before now. There are now estimated to be around 300 men who prefer to live as women in Yogyakarta, many of whom work in the sex industry after their prayers as this is the only option for them to make a living. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

[Yogyakarta, Indonesia; November 9. Image via Getty]

YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA - NOVEMBER 09: A member of Koran school attends a special prayer school for transgender Muslims or 'waria' on November 9, 2009 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The Koran school, called 'Senin-Kamis' meaning Monday-Thursday, the 2 days the school operates, was founded in July 2008 by 48-year old Maryani as a place for waria to pray. Islam strictly segregates men from women when praying, leaving no-where for 'the third sex' waria to pray before now. There are now estimated to be around 300 men who prefer to live as women in Yogyakarta, many of whom work in the sex industry after their prayers as the only option for them to make a living. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

The pictures in question were taken over the summer, and showed the pretending to kiss or lick "novelty phallus-shaped lollipops." Other images showed the girls in their underwear with dollar bills sticking out. The ACLU has become involved in the case, and they claim that since the incident occurred outside school, it should not effect their standing. •  A new study from Britain's Department of Health has found that new mothers feel most anxious around five months after giving birth. At this point, the excitement has supposedly worn off, and friends and relatives are supposedly no longer offering as much support, which leads many mothers to feel isolated and nervous. • Nutrition experts have complained that Kellogg's is falsely advertising that its Cocoa Krispies cereal can help "boost immunity." Currently, the Cocoa Krispies box reads: ""Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY," alluding to the addition of vitamins A, C and E. But Kelly Brownell from Yale University says, "by their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity." • Researchers recently found that 1/5 of smokers lie about smoking during pregnancy. The study, which looked at 3,475 women from Scotland, asked women to come clean about lighting up while pregnant and followed up with the revealing blood tests. •  The Cyprus Feline Society has identified two breeds of cat that they claim are "ancient breeds" and would like international recognition for them. The two breeds include the tall and elegant "Aphrodite," and short, broad-faced "Helen." •  A professor at Harvard has announced that next semester he plans a class based entirely on the HBO show The Wire. "I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication," said sociology professor William J. Wilson at a recent panel discussion.  • A new study found that while marriage rates are lower for women on welfare, receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, once they exit the system they are as likely to marry as women who were never on welfare. • International cancer specialists will meet this week to figure out how to combat the increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where almost two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until the cancer has spread through their bodies. Doctors say part of the problem is that in some areas women worry that men will leave them if they lose a breast. "It's not a trivial consideration," says Dr. Lawrence Shulman of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who is working to begin cancer care in parts of Africa where "the women are often seen as really either vessels for producing children or as sex slaves." • A mother in New York is challenging a judge's decision to 34 percent increase in the number of Down Syndrome births between 1989 and 2005, 15 percent fewer babies were born during that time due to prenatal testing. Some are worried that the decline in Down Syndrome cases will lead to cuts in research funding and that more people aren't even considering raising a child with Down syndrome. • A Texas health clinic operator CareNow says it regrets telling a Muslim doctor applying for a job that she couldn't wear her hijab. The company called it a "misunderstanding" after the American-Islamic Relations wrote to CareNow, explaining federal law requires employers to reasonably accommodate religious practices of an employee. • Today Michelle Obama is launching a mentoring program in which she and female White House staffers will mentor 20 high school girls from the Washington, D.C. area. The girls will get to visit their mentors' offices and gather for a group dinner. • Despite Liz Lemon's well-known love of the German language, 30 Rock is not popular in Germany. Its premiere last night on the German channel ZDFNeo earned a 0.0 rating, meaning it was watched by fewer than 5,000 people. Blerg. •

[Image by Joe Fudge of The Daily Press]

The House vote on the defense bill was 281 to 146. Unlike usual defense bill votes, most of those in opposition — 131 out of the 146 — were Republicans objecting strenuously to inclusion of what they referred to as "thought crimes" legislation in a defense bill.

"The inclusion of 'thought crimes' legislation in what is otherwise a bipartisan bill for troop funding is an absolute disgrace," said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, head of the GOP conservative caucus.

And why were they so upset? They were just looking out for hate speech:

GOP opponents were not assuaged by late changes in the bill to strengthen protections for religious speech and association — critics had argued that pastors expressing beliefs about homosexuality could be prosecuted if their sermons were connected to later acts of violence against people who are gay.

Supporters countered that prosecution could occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality.

Well, as long as that's settled...

This legislation comes at an interesting time. One of the Republicans protested:

"This is radical social policy that is being put on the defense authorization bill, on the backs of our soldiers, because they probably can't pass it on its own," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said.

Right...because soldiers couldn't possibly have an interest in protections that now include sexual orientation, gender, gender identification, and disability. I mean, obviously, every single red-blooded American solider is male, het, and proud! Well, unless you're a female soldier being dismissed due to Don't Ask Don't Tell:

All the services kicked out a disproportionate number of women under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, according to Department of Defense data obtained by the Palm Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The center studies gender and sexuality in the military. [...]

In addition, the Army removed more women under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy at a greater rate than men when compared with the ratio of women to men in each service.

Of those discharged under the policy, 36 percent were women, although women make up only 14 percent of troops in the Army, the data showed.

But who cares about facts? To the Republicans, these are "thought crimes" not "losing my job to discriminatory practices" problems or "tie someone to a fence after pistol whipping and torturing them" crimes. So, it's perhaps a good thing that "The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later" is showing at 120 theaters around the globe on October 12th, to commemorate the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death from "thought crimes."

House Votes To Add Sexual Orientation To Law On Hate Crimes [Washington Post]
House Extends Hate Crime Law To Cover Gays [MSNBC]
More Women Than Men Dismissed From Military For Being Gay [CNN]
Guthrie To Present 'Laramie Project' Epilogue [MPR News]

According to Tom Whitehead of the Telegraph, the prisoner, identified as "A," has undergone hormone therapy and changed her birth certificate to say she is female. She's also obtained a certificate under Britain's 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which mandates that she be treated as a woman "for all purposes." She would like to have gender reassignment surgery, but she can't do that unless she lives as a woman for a period of time, which she can't do while in a men's prison. She's currently being housed in a "vulnerable prisoners" wing, where she is allowed to shower by herself and wear "subtle" makeup, but where she cannot wear skirts or women's blouses.

The judge ruled that keeping A in a men's prison violates her right to "private and family life" under the European Convention on Human Rights. He said that being incarcerated with men placed unfair restrictions on her, and kept her from her goal of getting surgery. His ruling makes a lot of sense, especially since A is now considered a woman under British law.

But A's most recent crime — tying a woman up and attempting to rape her — initially seems to cloud the issue. Would A's presence in a women's prison be a threat to the women there? Is this a case where someone's still-male anatomy needs to be balanced against her female gender identity? I initially thought so, but the truth is that woman-born women can rape women too. And men who have raped men are routinely placed in men's prisons. And the fact that A had to be in a "vulnerable prisoners" unit highlights the harassment and assault transsexual and transgender prisoners sometimes face from other inmates. Clearly, how to protect prisoners' rights is a problem neither Britain nor the US has solved. But safeguarding their right to live according to their gender identities is a step in the right direction.

Transsexual Prisoner Wins Right To Be In Female Prison [Telegraph]

Bangalore, June 28.


Bangalore, June 28.


Berlin, June 27.


Jerusalem, June 25.


Barcelona, June 28.


Bangalore, June 28.


Istanbul, June 28.


Bangalore, June 28.


Jerusalem, June 25.


New Delhi, June 28.


Paris, June 27.


New Delhi, June 28.


Paris, June 27.


New Delhi, June 28.


San Salvador, June 27.


San Salvador, June 27.


Paris, June 27.


San Salvador, June 27.


San Salvador, June 27.


Istanbul, June 28.


Bangalore, June 28.


Paris, June 27.


San Salvador, June 27.


San Salvador, June 27.


Istanbul, June 28.


New York City, June 28.


New York, June 28.


New York, June 28.

[All Images Via Getty.]

• A mob of 50 young men in Kathmandu, Nepal stripped a woman naked, beat her, and paraded her through the streets. Although the victim's identity is unknown, it is believed that she may have been a sex worker, or they may have mistaken her for one. • Eight of Jacqueline Kennedy's drawings of her husband, John F Kennedy, from 1961 are going up for auction today. • In 1993, Richard Allen Davis was convicted of the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Today the California high court voted to uphold the original ruling and keep Davis on death row. • A recent report has found that although American women are fairly responsible about cutting back their drug and alcohol consumption during pregnancy, many return to their previous vices soon after giving birth. • "For someone with her sensitivity and her intellect — she was such a people person. To get a disease like this and become increasingly passive and out of touch, it breaks my heart," said Jeanne Phillips of her mother Pauline Philips, more commonly as Abigail Van Buren, aka "Abby" from the Dear Abby column. After Pauline was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Jeanne took over the job of advice columnist and the "Dear Abby" title. • New research shows that breast cancer survivors who are taking the cancer prevention drug tamoxifen face a higher risk of having the disease return if they are also on certain anti-depressants, including Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. •  Although women now out number and outperform men in UK universities, they are still likely to earn a lower wage than men upon graduation. •  A report released Friday by the Human Rights Watch states that crimes committed against transgender people in Honduras often go ignored by the police. The group calls on the police to seriously investigate the crimes and punish all involved, which in some cases includes members of the Honduran police force. • Sterling Terrance Hospedales, a sergeant from Fort Lewis, has been charged with sex trafficking of a child and attempted sex trafficking of a child. He is accused of taking prostitution money from one juvenile and arranging to fly another girl in from Wyoming to work as a prostitute. • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new regulation which will require companies that use insects in their food dyes to list them as an ingredient on the label. Leaders of a Washington watchdog group are pleased with the measure, but would still like to see the insect-based dyes banned. • Folic acid may be even better for babies than previously thought, new study says. Doctors believe that the supplements can be helpful in preventing premature birth and heart defects, among other things. • Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said Friday the Army is investigating allegations that eight male soldiers at Fort Dix took pictures and video of a group of female soldiers showering in their unit. So far no charges have been filed. • Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi announced recently his intention to "reform laws that are unfair to women." He also voiced his support for women's rights groups that are working to stop violence against women. Mousavi is one of four candidates approved to run in the elections, which will be held on June 12th. • A survey of 88 Darfuri women living in refugee camps found that a third reported or showed signs of rape while most reported fear of rape or sexual assault. The vast majority of the rapes occurred while the women were away from the camp gathering firewood. •

• Saberi said she was moved to hear that so many people worked for her release. She added, "I think that if somebody is supposed to speak about my case from now on, nobody knows about it as well as I do, and I will talk about it more in the future." • Tennessee has nullified the 18-month marriage of a transgender woman and a man because the state considers them both men. The woman was born a man and had a sex change operation, but the state does not recognize gender change (or gay marriage) even after sex reassignment surgery. • A Sacramento woman survived a car crash because she was hurled out of the car, over the the highway sound wall, and landed in a plum tree in a backyard. Firefighters say she survived because the tree cushioned her fall. • A Turkish court has ordered that an employer give a woman her job back after she was fired for kissing her boyfriend at work. The kiss was brief, and no customers say it, but her boss caught it on a security camera and fired her. • The banning of four books of French erotic literature in Turkey has caused debate over the qualifications of committee members to determine what is literature and what isn't after they decided to ban a book by the acclaimed French poet Apollinaire. • A new study suggests chemicals and hormones produced from our changing moods can affect eggs and sperm, altering the patterns of genes that are active in them and thus how a child develops. • Scientists have found that by observing the pattern of activity in the brain they can tell whether a person heard words spoken in anger, joy, relief, or sadness. This is the first study to show that emotional information is represented by distinct spatial signatures in the brain. • Scientists in Australia have figured out why there is an obesity epidemic: we eat too much food. They calculated how much people are eating today as opposed to three decades ago by comparing agricultural data. They determined that based on the total amount of food that is grown and imported, humans are actually less fat than we should be based just on changes in consumption, which may be explained by exercise. • A McDonald's in Alabama pulled Kidz Bop CDs from the store's Happy Meals because parents complained they could hear an obscenity in a cover of Gavin DeGraw's "I Don't Wanna Be." McDonald's says there's no obscenity in the song, but a parent says, "In the song the word is supposed to be 'looking,' but they're saying the f-word with the -ing on the end." • A stripper working at a Times Square peep show caught an ex-con who was counterfeiting money. She noticed that the two $10 bills he handed her looked like they were made on an Ink Jet printer and alerted her manager. When confronted, the man panicked and dropped 21 more bills. The man was arrested and is currently out on bail. • A British man was arrested after he drove up to a police officer posing as a prostitute and how much she would charge to have sex with his 14-year-old son, who was sitting in the car. The man won't serve jail time because of his "previous excellent character" and the boy will be allowed to live with his father, but the man will be put on the sex offender registry for five years. • A study found that in many police units in England and Wales female officers have to wear uniforms and stab vests designed for men. Maria Eagle, the justice minister, said, "It does make a very clear point, doesn't it? How welcome would you feel as a woman in a police force like that, if you can't even get clothes that fit you? It's crazy." • Police are investigating whether a Russian gynecologist, Igor Ivanov, purposely sterilized his pregnant ex-fiance, Olga Sokolova, when she was admitted to a hospital with abdominal pains. Sokolova had called off their wedding on the night before they were supposed to get married because she believed he was cheating on her. She started dating someone else and got pregnant. Ivanov was the only doctor on duty when she was admitted to the hospital, and he told her she was miscarrying and performed emergency surgery, causing serious internal damage that will prevent her from having children. • On Saturday Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd will run a 100-mile marathon in Florida while wearing her nun's habit to raise money to help orphaned children. ''I'm like Johnny Cash,'' Lloyd said. 'I wear black to draw attention. And when people ask me: 'Why in God's name are you doing this?' I can say, 'For the orphaned children.''' • A video posted by the U.K. National Health Service in Leicester was banned by YouTube after 24 hours for showing what looks like a teenage girl giving birth on a playground while students watch. The NHS was trying to get their anti-teen pregnancy message to young people with a viral video. • Business is booming at Cryos, the world's biggest sperm bank. In 2008 the number of donors tripled, from 30 a day to 100 at its four offices in Denmark. The worldwide demand for sperm surged in the past three or four years and Cryos "can't meet the avalanche of demand from the western world, in particular the United States," said Chief executive Ole Schou, "We help a tsunami of highly-educated single women who are more demanding and who prioritised their careers and who want to have a child before it is too late." • Vietnam is experiencing a boom in male births, which researchers believe can be blamed on the tenfold increase in the availability of ultrasounds in the last decade. They believe women being able to know the sex of their unborn child is increasing the number of sex-specific abortions. • A scientist who writes under the name "Mike The Mad Biologist" blogged that he perceives a double standard in how female scientists are viewed when they party after work. "If a female scientist at a meeting parties hard and flirts, she is viewed as a 'party girl.' In other words, she is no longer viewed as a scientist with an interesting social life, but as 'a good time' (although perhaps not sexually)," he writes, adding, "Mind you, I think this double standard sucks. But... I'm not sure what we (including male scientists) can do about it, other than not be assholes (which would be a good start)." • Here's a letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly from an alum of 1945: "Gone is the distinct masculine flavor of an all-male college. The maleness of the Nassau Inn's Tap Room has been replaced by a female, dainty, tearoom atmosphere... My fear is that the Princeton University I knew has been taken over by a female majority (for better or worse). I am surprised that other male graduates are not upset by these developments." • English ice cream maker Frank Frederick is reviving his Italian family's 100-year-old gelato brand, along with his grandfather's practice of singing opera to his cows to make them produce endorphin-rich milk. Frederick flew in opera tenor Marcello Bedoni from Italy to serenade his cows. "The cows are such gentle beasts and have a good ear for opera," said Bedoni. •

The teenager, codenamed Alex, has known for years that he was not destined to live as a woman. The Age reports that as a child, Alex believed everyone in the world was male, and was very upset to learn the truth about his gender. Alex had a troubled past; his father died when he was only five, and when Alex was 10, his mother turned him over to the state, saying that she feared her daughter was "a follower of the devil." When he was 12, Alex went to Family Court to request permission to go on hormone medication to suppress the bodily changes that would come with puberty. He also began wearing diapers to school in order to avoid visiting the girls' bathroom.

In late 2007, Alex appeared in Family Court once again, to seek permission to have his breasts surgically removed. Chief Justice Diana Bryant authorized the mastectomies for Alex, and, in a recent interview with The Age, she explained the reasoning behind this decision. Australian law requires judicial permission for any medical procedure on a minor that is not intended to treat a bodily malfunction or disease. Bryant said she weighed the arguments against allowing the procedure, and believed that it was in the best interests of the minor to perform the surgery, especially since if Alex was forced to wait until he was 18, he would no longer qualify for support from state social services. "Overwhelmingly, the evidence was that it was in his interests. And I made that order. I wanted to make it quickly so that he could have the operation straightaway," said Bryant.

However, some do not agree with allowing minors to make these sorts of life-altering decisions. Medical ethicist Nick Tonti-Filippini argues that since science has not found a biological cause for gender identity disorder, the causes of the condition were probably environmental, and thus subject to change with time. "Genetically, there doesn't seem to be anything different about them," he said. He continued: "What you are trying to do is make a biological reality correspond to [a] false belief." Tonti-Filippini worries that performing gender reassignment surgery puts individuals at "major risk" for suicide. He also cited a Melbourne man who underwent gender reassignment surgery when he was 22, and is now suing the doctors because he regretted the decision. In Tonti-Filippini's opinion, "sex-change operations are just a form of mutilation."

Fortunately for Alex and others like him, the courts had a more progressive take on his condition. After listening to the testimony of several psychiatrists, Bryant decided that no matter what caused Alex to identify as male, he wasn't about to change his tune anytime soon. When asked whether she thinks the court may be leading, rather than reflecting, community values, Bryant said:

"Yes, probably. But only because people don't have to consider it before it happens. If you had a general debate in the community, I suspect you'd get a reasonably conservative view.

But if people were put in the position where they had to decide about a particular case, then I think the majority of people would come to the same conclusion - just on the basis of the evidence, and the level of absolute human unhappiness, and the opportunity to make a real change to somebody's life for the better. That's what it's about."

Court Lets Girl, 17, Remove Breasts [The Sydney Morning Herald]
Young People, Big Decisions [The Age]

[Image via Flickr]

Andrade's defense attorneys claimed that Andrade reacted without premeditation, in a rage at finding out that Zapata was born male (which Guanabee suggests may have happened after the two had sex). One lawyer said, "Justin Zapata lived like a female, looked like a female, sounded like a female. That's what Mr. Andrade believed. And when he found it wasn't Angie, it was actually Justin, he lost control." But prosecutors countered that Andrade knew that Zapata was born male for 36 hours before he killed her, and that he did so "out of his dislike for homosexuals." The jury agreed, deliberating for only two hours before finding him guilty of both murder and hate crime — one of the first times hate crime law has been applied to a transgender victim. Andrade will serve a life sentence without parole.

A really telling — and disturbing — aspect of this case is the language used on both sides. Andrade's defense lawyers insisted on referring to Zapata as Justin, perhaps implying that Andrade's actions somehow made more sense because Zapata wasn't "really" a woman. Andrade himself referred to Zapata as "it" when he was first arrested. There's also an interesting contrast between the AP's description of Zapata as "biologically male" and the Times's "born male." Does the Times's version do a better job of acknowledging the complexities of biological gender?

Blogger Drew Wilson reminds us that Zapata's death was, sadly, not a first for Colorado. A Navajo teen, Fred Martinez, was killed in 2001 because he identified as a two-spirit, a Native American who occupies both male and female gender roles. Notably, his murderer, Shaun Murphy, was not convicted of a hate crime. The conviction of Angela Zapata's killer on this charge is the saddest kind of progress.

Murder And Hate Verdict In Transgender Case [NYT]
Jury reaches verdict in Colo. Transgender Slaying [Breitbart]
As We Remember Angie, Let's Not Forget Fred [Drew Wilson, Denver Gay Examiner]
Breaking: Allen Andrade Convicted Of First Degree Murder [Feministe]
Defense Says ‘No Hate Crime' In Angie Zapata Trial, Prosecution Proves Otherwise [Guanabee]

Yesterday opening statements were heard in the murder trial of Angie Zapata, which marks the first time someone has been tried under the sexual orientation section of Colorado's hate crime law, according to The New York Times. Zapata was killed in Greeley, Colorado, two weeks before her 19th birthday last summer. Andrade, 32, told the police that he met Zapata on the internet and they had a sexual encounter. He then found out that she was biologically male and attacked her with a fire extinguisher. In an affidavit, he said he thought he had "killed it," but Zapata tried to get up, so he hit her in the head again.

Andrade and Zapata communicated nearly 700 times via text message, cell phone, and computer between July 12 and 16 because Zapata said she was looking for a roommate, reports the Associated Press. The two spent the day together and ended up in Zapata's one-bedroom apartment. He told police that she performed oral sex on him, but wouldn't let him touch her. Andrade saw photos in the apartment that led him to ask about her gender. She told him, "I am all woman," according to Andrade.

Defense attorney Bradley Martin, who repeated referred to Zapata as "Justin," her birth name, said his client was deceived because her profile said she was a straight female. "This case is about a deception, and a reaction to that deception," said Martin, "Allen discovered that Angie, this girl he had spent the last night with, was in fact a man, and Allen snapped."

Prosecutors say Andrade plotted to kill Zapata 36 hours after figuring out that she was born male. "This is the person who spent time with her, talked to her and then, on the evening of July 16, picked up a fire extinguisher and bashed in her skull," said Brandi Nieto, a deputy district attorney, adding, "His statements will show he did this because she was transgender."

In a recorded phone conversation from jail between Andrade and his girlfriend, he said, ""It is not like I went up to a schoolteacher and shot her in the head or killed a straight law-abiding citizen." His attorney said he was just joking.

Andrade is facing life in prison for the first-degree murder charge and the hate crime charge carries an additional sentence of 3 years. Eleven states and the District of Columbia have hate-crime laws that cover gender identity. According to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, 21 transgender people were killed last year, but this is the first time any state's hate crime law has been applied to the murder of a transgendered person.

Murder Trial Tests Colorado Hate-Crime Statute [The New York Times]
Defense: Colo. Transgender Slaying About Deception [The Associated Press]

• A Saudi man has reportedly divorced his wife by text message. Under Saudi law, a man may divorce his wife if he says (or, I guess, texts) "I divorce you" three times. • A seven-year-old girl with with a Y chromosome but not other signs of "maleness" usually associated with the genetic abnormality (shriveled testes, ambiguous gonads) is providing scientists with new clues about the "master switch" of gender. • A couple from Seattle have discovered the newest trend in the wedding industry: outsourcing vows. • Washington State passed a bill yesterday that protects transgender people under the current hate crime legislation. • A report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals this "shocking" fact about the pay gap in London: women working in finance make 55% less a year than their male counterparts. • Actress Virginia Madsen is currently working on a documentary about women ski jumpers and their campaign to be allowed to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. • Sociological Images has posted a very interesting video on female sex tourism, followed by a discussion of the way we think about the role of the "victim" in sex. • Researchers at St Andrews have found that people do judge you by the color of your skin, and that certain (pale) skin tones are still associated with illness. • Despite certain high-profile celebrity adoptions, Americas are actually adopting fewer foreign children than we did five years ago. • This Easter, a new line of nonedible Peeps branded products (think china and stuffed animals) will appear in stores. No word yet on whether they will also explode in the microwave. •  Click here to watch a depressing video about the sale and use of skin-bleaching products in Jamaica. Skin-bleaching was once practiced only by women, but has now spread to men and children. • Oh dear: "Teen pregnancy boosts girls' risk of getting fat," reads a headline on Reuters. • After being groped by a stranger on the subway, a quick-thinking woman snapped a cellphone picture of her attacker, which eventually led to his arrest. • Another lawsuit against the "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" people has been dropped. • 

The weave is a little busted, but seriously, she's gorgeous:

Why is this more fishy than any other unsolved murder? Because earlier this year Johnson, while getting arrested on prostitution charges, was beaten by her arresting officer, a man named Bridges McRae. He also peppered her with anti-gay slurs, which eventually resulted in the firing of McRae and fellow officer James Swain, who held Johnson down. The entire incident was caught on tape and splashed across the internet.

Johnson was in the process of settling with the city of Memphis for $1.3 million when she was murdered. There is no evidence linking McRae or Swain to Johnson's death at this time, but the circumstances of her death remain suspicious. Jonathan Cole, the Shelby County chairman of the Tennessee Equality Project, tells the International Herald Tribune, "For the most part, I think people in the South treat each other well. But there are prejudices that people have, and those prejudices come out in ways that are often violent when no one is looking." However, the cruelty and hatred hurled towards Thomas "The Pregnant Man" Beatie shows that it's not just the South, but the entire country, that needs a lesson in transgender tolerance.

Murder Of Transgender Woman In Tennessee Revives Scrutiny [IHT]
Transgender Day of Remembrance [GLAAD]

Earlier: Why Do People Hate The Pregnant Man So Much?

• The Center for Adolescents of San Miguel de Allende is the only school in Mexico that offers a professional midwifery degree and may be the model for future schools to teach midwifery all over the world. • The British woman who was given the first successful ovarian transplant last year is expected to give birth this week. • A new law in Australia requires Family Courts to consider ordering mothers to repay child support to the men they claimed were the fathers of their children if paternity is successfully challenged. So far, 18 men have been cleared of paternity. • New research suggests that women with a history of serious mental illness are much more likely to have babies who are stillborn or die within the first month of life. • After attacking Kenyan police earlier today, six gunmen kidnapped two elderly Italian Roman Catholic nuns from their homes and drove them into Somalia. • Is it better to get married earlier or later in life? • Researchers say that a new technique for screening embryos during IVF will double the chances that the embryo will implant in the mother's womb. • A girl in North Carolina who studied teenage highway deaths for her senior project was killed in a head-on collision on Saturday. • Stu Rasmussen has been elected the mayor of a small town in Oregon, making him the country's first openly transgender mayor. • Kombucha may be the hot drink right now, but home brew versions can be potentially dangerous. • In perhaps the first case of its kind, an Italian couple face prosecution for causing their child "psychological suffering" after they allegedly argued in front of him during their divorce. •