Transgender People

Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald, 24, and some friends, all of whom were black, were walking outside a Minneapolis bar last June when four white people began calling to them using racial and other types of epithets. McDonald, who was born a man and is transitioning to a woman, later testified that she and her friends tried to walk away. But, authorities say, one of the bar patrons, Molly Flaherty, smashed a glass of alcohol against McDonald's face, cutting her. A fight broke out. At one point, Flaherty's ex-boyfriend, Dean Schmitz, said: “Look at that boy dressed like a girl," according to McDonald's testimony.

A New York man who shot and killed a transgender woman last year was convicted Friday of first-degree manslaughter and a hate crime -- a conviction hailed by advocates seeking greater protections for transgender people. Dwight DeLee, 20, of Syracuse, faces 10 to 25 years in prison for killing Lateisha "Teish" Green, 22, outside a house party in November.

In another major setback for efforts to develop a vaccine to boost immunity to the human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, a key clinical trial was ordered shut down this week after an independent panel of safety experts found that participants getting the vaccine appeared to be slightly more likely to contract the virus and no better at suppressing its replication than those who got a placebo. Investigators involved in recruiting volunteers and running the trial at 21 sites across the country, including the AIDS Research Alliance of America in Los Angeles, were ordered to stop immunizing volunteers with the genetically engineered HVTN 505 vaccine and to inform the subjects enrolled in the study whether they got the experimental vaccine or the placebo.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday granted illegal immigrants access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges, putting California once again in the center of the nation's immigration debate. But he vetoed a measure that would have allowed state universities to consider applicants' race, gender and income to ensure diversity in their student populations. Deciding the fate of 50 education-related bills, the governor also rejected an effort to make it more difficult to establish charter schools.

I was endlessly amused by your Column One, "Boy, You Fight Like a Girl" (May 17), especially the sentence, "The ultimate challenge: to be another gender." These Internet gamers are learning things that I, a transsexual woman, have known for years, specifically how it feels to be the other sex. The difference is that most of us transgender people cannot easily retreat back to our born genders, if at all. Ultimately I see these cyber-roles as a positive thing, that non-transgender people are getting a taste of what it means to cross the gender line.

A committee of United Church of Christ representatives approved a resolution that would move the church one step closer to becoming the largest Christian denomination to endorse same-sex marriage. The resolution supported by the church's president, the Rev. John H. Thomas, drew overwhelming support and was recommended for approval today when the church's assembly voted in Atlanta. It would specify that bisexual and transgender people merit the same support and protections as gays and lesbians.

Outfest, one of the world's largest gay and lesbian film festivals, is getting more diverse. From Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, it presents Fusion, the first lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender People of Color Film Festival. The festival will screen 36 gay-themed short films and videos from the last 15 years produced by African American, Latino and Asian filmmakers Screenings will take place at the Japanese American Community and Cultural Center in downtown Los Angeles. -- Patrick Day

San Francisco police have agreed to train recruits and veteran officers to be more sensitive to transgender people. The move comes amid accusations of bias against cross-dressers and transsexuals in a city noted for its tolerance of sexual variety. The department gave the program the go-ahead at the request of community activists and the city's official police watchdog agency.

The Obama administration's point man on civil rights said he would seek to fight discrimination against gays, an area in which the Justice Department has had only a small role in the past. Tom Perez, assistant attorney general in charge of the department's Civil Rights Division, said pending legislation in Congress would allow the department to attack discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The division has historically targeted discrimination based on race, gender or religion.