On February 2, 2010, the U.S. Tax Court issued an important decision in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, ruling for the first time that treatment for gender identity disorder qualifies as medical care under the Internal Revenue Code, and is therefore deductible.
Read about this hugely important decision at the GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) website, http://www.glad.org/work/cases/in-re-rhiannon-odonnabhain/
From MIT’s student newspaper, 1/27/10
The Registrar’s Office has modified its requirements for students to officially change their recorded gender. Since last week, instead of requiring evidence of sex-change surgery, students now may provide documentation from a licensed health care professional to verify their gender with the Registrar.
read the rest online at http://tech.mit.edu/V129/N63/sexchange.html
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: January 5, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has inserted language into the federal jobs Web site explicitly banning employment discrimination based on gender identity.
Read the rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/us/06gender.html
Texas State is not among the 280 colleges and universities in the United States that have non-discrimination policies including gender identity and expression.
Texas State students have worked toward implementing gender identity into the anti-discrimination policy recently, but have been unsuccessful.
Fernando Gomez, vice chancellor and general counsel of the Texas State University System, said the Board of Regents allow each individual campus to decide whether to include the poliy statements.
“We did discuss it and the decision was made to not add it,” said Joanne Smith, vice president for Student Affairs.
Read the rest at http://star.txstate.edu/content/transgender-students-still-strive-equality
from an email list, edited to remove poster’s identity:
It was a wonderful evening in which Marci spoke to about 100 students, faculty and non-students. She had also spoken earlier in the afternoon to a large audience that had a large number of professional medical people in the audience. That was taped unlike the presentation last night. Once that becomes available, they will make it available for me to post.
Marci talked about her life, her family (both of her daughters are going to go to med school) and current events relating to GRS. She prefers to call the procedure genital reassignment surgery instead of gender reassignment surgery. She was funny, witty, comical and serious. She told us about some of her other work: working with women in Africa who had been circumcised. She and a doctor in France have developed a reversal procedure that makes these women and girls whole again.
Marci answered each and every question and stayed afterward to talk to many who hung around. She also showed the complete surgical procedure that takes about 3 hours to do. She forewarned everyone that it was bloody and some actually left before she showed the video which was sped up to cover everything in about 10 minutes.
Dr. Marci Bowers will be speaking at Texas State University in San Marcos this coming Tuesday evening as a part of the Biannual Meeting of the Allies of Texas State Program. Her topic will be “Transcending Gender: Aligning Body & Mind”.
She will speak from 7-9 pm in LBJ Teaching Theater. Anyone and everyone are welcome. Here is a map to LBJ Student Center:
www.maps.txstate.edu/campus/buildings/lbj.html
I hope that some of you can make it. Her visits are rare and this one is not posted on her web page.
This program is made possible by support from Equity and Access, Alcohol and Drug Resource Center, Student Health Resource Center, and Alliance LGBTQ Faculty and Staff Organization.
