Transgender Student Stepping Out

From Stock & Land (Australia) which seems to be a rather agrarian publication comes the story of 15 year transgender student Riley:

"Riley"

"Riley, 15, from Sydney's north shore, is biologically male – but says being born a boy simply never made any sense. The high school student is one of an increasing number of teenagers who identify as transsexuals – those who feel they are trapped in the wrong body. Some are so sure that nature got it wrong that they are taking the bold step of "transitioning" – presenting themselves outwardly as the sex that they feel they are – during their teenage years or even earlier. For Riley, 2012 has been a watershed year. After going to school with bras secreted under her school shirt and with minimal make-up, she started wearing the girls’ school uniform. She is also doing some schooling of her own, teaching the teachers in the correct use of transgender pronouns. "They were having a lot of trouble with calling me 'she', but they are getting better," she says. When I meet Riley at her suburban home on a Sunday morning, she's dressed in jeans, knee-high boots, a cropped leather jacket and a T-shirt that boasts she's an "Angel by Day, Devil by Night". Her hair is styled perfectly, framing her prettily made-up face – as befitting for someone who is studying hairdressing part-time at TAFE along with her school subjects. We sit in the living room, where the table is scattered with photos of her as a young child. She seems to be constantly in fancy dress: vibrant-coloured outfits, make-up, glittery headbands. In one photo she's dressed in a cowboy suit but still manages to look feminine".

I can't say it enough, the courage of these trans teens to live their lives on their terms is simply wonderful!

The Breakfast of Non Champions

 From Legislative Queery:

Growing up there were two breakfast cereals available at our house: Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Cheerios. The two options were so ubiquitous on the breakfast tables of my youth that to this day I can't stand to eat either. But I may have to find a way to stomach Cheerios again after the taurus-shaped staple's parent couple, General Mills, came out against a proposed ban on marriage equality in its home state of Minnesota this week.

In contrast, the other purveyor of the processed grains of my youthful mornings, Kellogg's, has pulled its advertizing from the Teen Nick series "Degrassi" over story lines involving transgender youth. "Degrassi" is a long running Canadian television series that since 1979 has taken on a number of difficult teen issues including abortion, drug use, racism, gay teens and eating disorders. But apparently the existence of transgender teenagers is a step too far for Kellogg's.

The ad pulling comes after pressure from the hate group The American Family Association, which characterizes the portrayal of trans teens as promoting "bizarre sexual role-playing with transvestism, [and] homosexuality."

I went right out and outed my Kellogg's to the trash.