Transgender

I FELT SOME pressure to get this story into the paper before Chaz Bono got axed from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars. " He's not the most polished dancer, but I really hope Bono lasts on the wildly popular show because the transsexual son of singer/actress Cher and the late Sonny Bono is so much fun to watch. Plus, every flash of his smile is a slap at the haters and those who are urging a boycott of the show because they're afraid Bono might confuse their children. Of course, gender dysmorphia isn't contagious.

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.

A PAIR OF paparazzi at Los Angeles International Airport got in a fight while they staked out the best curb position to shoot . . . . . . British singer Pixie Lott. Surely you've heard of Pixie Lott. No? Well, "Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)" was a big hit across the pond, and Pixie's pix must command huge sums from the British tabs in order for paps to fight over her best angle. Airport police spokeswoman Sgt. Belinda Nettles said Saturday that pap Stefan Saad was arrested on suspicion of felony battery after the Friday night scuffle with an unnamed pap. Saad was released Saturday after posting $50,000 bail.

NEW YORK - The advocacy group GLAAD has given the CW network high marks among broadcast outlets for its portrayal of gay and lesbian characters. Cable networks Showtime, ABC Family, TNT and HBO all were given a favorable rating by the group. The number of gay and lesbian images on TV held steady this year. But the range of impressions continued to grow, with those representations increasingly presented in a matter-of-fact manner rather than as curiosities, GLAAD found in its annual Network Responsibility Index.

Bee Gees brother Robin Gibb has shaken off his night fever and is stayin' alive. According to the BBC, Gibb's doctor at the London Clinic, Dr. Andrew Thillainayagam, said the longtime pop star was conscious, lucid and talking with his loved ones. Gibb, who is amazingly only 62 considering the Bee Gees had hits in the 1960s, had been in a coma for 12 days. Dr. T. said that Gibb was tired but that "it is testament to [his] extraordinary courage, iron will and deep reserves of physical strength that he has overcome quite incredible odds to get where he is now. " Gibb had been battling colon and liver cancer, which was thought to be in remission, when he got pneumonia because of his weakened immune system.

In an interview with Mark Segal of the Philadelphia Gay News, Barack Obama indicated that he would not proceed unilaterally in fulfilling his promise to do away with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military. Instead, the Democratic presidential candidate said that he would work through a step-by-step process with the military brass. "The reason," Obama said, "is because I want to make sure that when we revert 'don't ask, don't tell,' it's gone through a process and we've built a consensus or at least a clarity of that, of what my expectations are, so that it works.

All I can say is, thank God for the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. The court ruled Wednesday that the state legislature may not offer "civil unions" instead of marriage for same-sex couples. That means the state must recognize marriage between people of the same sex. If it all comes to pass, these will be the first officially state-recognized same-sex marriages in U.S. history. You might not think I welcome this mistaken decision. And you'd be right. But at least now, all Americans know what the true cultural battleground is: marriage.

Education is a must on transgender issue Marybeth Hagan's May 8 commentary, "School's sensitivity is off-target," left me with this message: that a transgender child poses some kind of threat to the school and would be better off "separated" from his peers or "hidden" at home. As an early childhood education administrator, I and my colleagues constantly challenge ourselves to serve all children because the early years are so critical in forming social constructs that will persist for a lifetime.

As Chaz Bono recounted his transformation from cute little daughter of singers Sonny and Cher to the 43-year-old transgender man standing at the lectern, students at Penn State Abington found pieces of their own stories. For Richard Kirchenbauer, 60, it was the memory of seeing a 4-year-old Chastity Bono in Sonny Bono's arms during a performance at the old Valley Forge Music Fair. For Seonne Baylor, 23, it was coming out as a lesbian to her parents. For Erin Donnelly, 18, it was accepting a cousin who announced that she was pansexual.