TransGuys

Apr 10 2018 ∞

Canadian advocate Rupert Raj appears on the Sally Jessy Raphael show in 1986.

Rupert in the ‘70s.

Rupert Raj (65) has been a Eurasian-Canadian, pansexual, trans activist since 1971. As a gender specialist/psychotherapist in Toronto from 2000 to 2015, he counselled transgender, genderqueer, intersex and two-spirit people, and as an expert witness, testified at human rights hearings. In 2013, Rupert was inducted into the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives, where “The Rupert Raj Collection” is housed. He co-edited (with Dan Irving) Trans Activism in Canada: A Reader (Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2014). Original Plumbing included Raj in its 2013 Heroes issue, along with other trans* historical figures and activists. In 2017, he donated his international poetry anthology, Of Souls & Roles, Of Sex & Gender: A Treasury of Transsexual, Transgenderist & Transvestic Verse from 1967 to 1991 (unpublished, 2017), to the University of Victoria’s Transgender Archives, which can be freely accessed online: http://www.uvic.ca/transgenderarchives/. His memoirs, True Tales of a Eurasian-Canadian Trans Activist, was published in 2017.

2,019 notes

Feb 24 2018 ∞

Safer Sex for Trans Bodies

Source: Safer Sex for Trans Bodies

(Source: trans-health.com)

534 notes

Oct 03 2017 ∞

Thailand’s oldest university, founded a century ago this year, celebrated another first today when a transgender man walked at graduation to receive his degree. Instead of wearing a dress as had been required in the past, Navarat “Grace” Techarathanaprasert wore the customary slacks and jacket of male students Friday to receive his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Chulalongkorn University. He’s believed to be the first student born female to wear the uniform consistent with his gender identity at a Chulalongkorn graduation.

(Source: khaosodenglish.com)

760 notes

Sep 15 2016 ∞

Book Box Set Giveaway

You’re invited to enter to win one of two box sets from Transgress Press that include the books Hung Jury: Testimonies of Genital Surgery by Transsexual Men and Below the Belt: Genital Talk by Men of Trans Experience.

Ends September 29. Enter now!

(Source: transguys.com)

107 notes

May 08 2016 ∞

I’m living through the turmoil of HB2

That deal was signed on the anniversary of my friend’s death, his suicide. He was an 18-year-old trans person of colour. Me and two of my friends did a Chinese lantern for him in the backyard of my house that night. When I heard what was going on, it was a punch to the gut.
Before HB2, I didn’t really think about going into the bathroom. I started transitioning when I was 20, so nobody’s going to know I’m trans unless I tell them. So it didn’t really affect me, but now people are looking around or starting to target trans people. ‘Cisgender’ people are going to look around the bathrooms, “Oh, is there a trans person here,” that’s been brought up.
You’re losing sleep at night. You worry about your trans brothers and sisters who are not passing, or are either queer or gender non-conforming. You worry about the people you can’t protect, the people you love and care about who are unsafe now.
I’m a 27-year-old trans guy who’s just trying to make it in my community. I put myself through college to be a paramedic. I also do bartending. I do things normal people do. I take care of my parents. My father is 76 and lives with me. I take care of my mother and grandmother.
I can’t just up and leave North Carolina because of this bill. I’m living through the turmoil of HB2.

- Liam Kai Johns, 27, from Charlotte

Source: CBC

(Source: cbc.ca)

266 notes

Mar 17 2016 ∞

Now THIS Is Perseverance

Yan has a harrowing reminder of how haters in Uzbekistan treat transgender people.“There’s a scar left by a screwdriver next to my liver,” the craggy-bearded and long-haired transgender man says, describing how his college classmates attacked him in 1997 in Tashkent, the capital of this former Soviet republic, a mostly Muslim nation of 31 million. Here, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Uzbeks are routinely ostracized, harassed and abused.

Yet despite all odds, Yan had his sex changed officially from female to male, underwent a surgery — and wed his high school sweetheart. It took him three years of patience and insistence, intrusive visits to doctors and officials, threats of legal action, a scrupulous search for loopholes, and… a bottle of expensive brandy.

Learn more about what it’s like to be trans in Uzbekistan.

(Source: Los Angeles Times)

212 notes

Feb 11 2016 ∞

Trans Men: Back to Jamaica

Photos from BBC Newsbeat’s recent documentary that follows two transgender friends as they travel back to Jamaica—one of the most transphobic countries in the world—to reveal their new identities to their families.

This is a well-done documentary with some positive outcomes. Watch now!

(Source: transguys.com)

272 notes

Nov 24 2015 ∞

More Than Ten Years on Testosterone - Is It Safe??

Have you ever worried about the possible long-term effects of being on Testosterone?

Well, you can relax because science has your back.

Italian researchers concluded in 2014 that “Testosterone administration in FtM subjects has a good safety profile” after finding “no significant serious adverse effects and no clinically relevant changes” in 45 FTM patients treated for at least 10 years with T.

Also notable: “Liver and kidney function tests did not show any significant changes.”

The aim of the study was to assess the effects and safety of Testosterone administration on body weight, lipid profile, hematological and bone parameters in trans men.

Source: Safety of More Than Ten Years Testosterone Administration in FTM Subjects. Cristina Meriggiola, MD, PhD, Antonietta Costantino, PhD, Carla Pelusi, MD, Martina Lambertini, MD, Alberto Bazzocchi, MD. Book of Abstracts, WPATH 2014 Biennial International Symposium.

Long-term cross-sex hormone treatment is safe in transsexual subjects.
Cristina Meriggiola M, Berra M. Asian Journal of Andrology. 2012;14(6):813-814. doi:10.1038/aja.2012.89.

Also see: Myths and Misconceptions about Testosterone - FTM Guide

18,149 notes

Oct 27 2015 ∞

Going Out On Top: Remembering Matt Kailey
Matt Kailey was a pioneering author, blogger, activist, and nationally recognized speaker on transgender issues. Born in 1955 in Omaha, Nebraska, Kailey transitioned in 1997 at the age of 42 and identified as a gay trans man.

There are few souls who walk this earth who are willing to risk everything to stand up for what is right and help others. Matt was one of those people. – Denise Kodi

Common T Injection Site No Longer Recommended

Doing T shots in your butt? Stuff to know:

Best practice guidelines in Canada call for IM injections to be done in the *Ventrogluteal (VG) muscle* NOT the more common Dorsogluteal site.

One reason is because of the sciatic nerve location:

Buttock intramuscular injection risks injury to the sciatic nerve, which may lead to lower limb palsy, most often presenting as paralytic drop foot. This condition rarely results from direct traumatic lesion of the sciatic nerve, but *usually from the caustic effect of the injected drug.*

Think that couldn’t happen to you? In Nova Scotia, the Supreme Court awarded more than $600,000 to a plaintiff who had damage to the sciatic nerve by injection to DG area. He suffers disabling pain in his buttock and left leg, is unable to work, and his condition is permanent. (cfmhn.ca)

Also: “Thickness of fat in this area… one study found the success rate of IM injections to be 32% (which fell to 8% in female patients)!”