Transgender

DEAR ABBY : I am a confused transwoman. I have been in a committed relationship for years with a woman who knew me before "the change. " I successfully transitioned two years ago and live and work as a woman. My confidence and emotional depth have grown. When I go to clubs and bars with other girlfriends, I attract male attention. (I pass well.) The problem is, my attraction to women is fading and men are now more appealing. My pulse races at the idea of spending time with men, while my current relationship now feels like we're housemates or family members.

A University City resident is one of four sexual minorities awarded a $10,000 "courage grant" from the Colin Higgins Foundation. Kiya Morton, 20, a transgender person who was born male, was honored Monday night at an awards ceremony in New York. "This is really a big help," Morton said yesterday. "It's going to help me go back to school. " Morton said she had been studying photography at the Art Institute of Philadelphia but had to withdraw because of money. She has since been working temporary jobs.

Philadelphia police are searching for information on the death of a 27-year-old transgender woman found shot in the head in the Northeast last week. The victim, known to friends as Kyra Kruz, was well-known in the city's gay community, said Gloria Casarez, director of the city's Office of LGBT Affairs. "She was a visible, friendly presence," Casarez said. "This has been surprising and upsetting to all of us. " Police found Kruz's body about 5 a.m. Sept. 3 in a wooded area off the 1100 block of Adams Avenue, in the city's Frankford section.

The longtime boyfriend of 31-year-old Stacey Lee arrived at the couple's Point Breeze rowhouse Monday night after work. He immediately noticed something was not right. "The house light was on," said the boyfriend, 39, referring to a small fixture next to the front door. "It's never on. " The boyfriend of Stacey Lee, a transgender person, asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing his job. Police do not consider him a suspect, and said he was at work when she was killed.

For school officials in Haverford Township, the challenge was daunting: What do you do when a 9-year-old student, with the full support of his parents, decides that he is no longer a boy and instead is a girl? Parents of a third-grade student at Chatham Park Elementary School approached the administration on April 16 to ask for help in making a "social transition" for their child. The Haverford School District consulted experts on transgender children, then sent letters to parents advising them that the guidance counselor would meet with the school's 100 third-grade students to explain why their classmate would now wear girls' clothes and be called by a girl's name.

Shortly after school began in the fall of 2004, an eighth grader named Tye Clark delivered a jolting message to her classmates. "I'm the same person I was last year and the year before, but I am transgender and will now come to school as a boy," Tye told four assemblies at Cedarbrook Middle School in Cheltenham Township. "You may not agree, but I hope you will respect me and my right to get a good education. " Eyes misting with tears, Tye asked to be known as Ty. The transgender teen finished to rounds of applause.

The elderly, soft-spoken gentleman stood in a room of about 100 men dressed in drag, and he finally felt at home. Things have changed a great deal for cross-dressers since Charles, now 66, started "dressing up" at home more than 50 years ago. Drag queen RuPaul has a successful talk show on VH1. Movies featuring drag queens, such as To Wong Foo . . ., have become box-office hits. But only after all these years did Charles muster the courage to attend his first meeting of the Renaissance Education Association, the "transgender" support group that celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

ATRANSGENDER lobbying group says SEPTA has agreed to remove gender-identification stickers from monthly transit passes next year, under pressure from transgender riders and others who feel discriminated against. Since the 1980s, the transit authority has required that all TransPasses have a male or female gender sticker affixed to prevent heterosexual spouses from sharing passes with one another. As a result, opponents argue, riders whose gender identifications don't match the stickers on their passes, including transgender men and women who are not living in one gender full time, and people who do not present themselves as male or female, have been harassed and ridiculed by drivers in front of other riders.

A TRANSGENDER teen girl and Lambda Legal Defense have filed a lawsuit against the city's Youth Study Center and Department of Human Services. The girl alleges that despite being diagnosed with gender identity disorder she was housed with males and subjected to constant verbal and physical abuse. In fact, according to the suit, one Youth Study Center supervisor told this petite girl that he would not call her by her feminine name until she had her genitals removed. Of course, the language he used was much more crude.

I commend Councilman Jim Kenney for his letter criticizing the comments of Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy in opposition to marriage equality. Much of the support for Chick-fil-A rests on two arguments: supporting free speech, and ensuring the city's competitiveness in attracting businesses. Both arguments fail to withstand examination. Kenney is not denying Cathy's right to free speech, nor could he. Indeed, it is evidence of a free society when a corporate official and an elected official can publicly disagree.