I’m sure some freaked out fundie preacher will blame the next national disaster or terrorist attack on this, but it brought a smile to my face to find out today that the first transgendered woman will be competing in America’s Next Top Model this season. Take this you wingnut hypocrites with your David Vitters and Larry Craigs and your polemics against the “sin” a person commits by daring to be who that person really is. I hope this woman wins the competition, I really do.
I know this is only a stupid reality show, but every little, tiny bit of acceptance for the variability and differences among human beings, whether on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender or, in this case, the right to change one’s gender, moves us that much closer to a world where most of us look beneath surface appearances and beyond our ingrained stereotypes and prejudices before judging a person’s character or worth.
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I guess that would make Iran a liberal nation?
The title of Transsexual in Iran (BBC2) might have led you to expect a profile of one individual. Instead, we met several – because it turns out that more sex-change operations are performed in Iran than in any other country, except Thailand. Under Shiah law, these operations aren’t merely allowed, but apparently encouraged as an Islamic cure for people trapped in the wrong body. The Government provides half the medical fees and, once you’ve changed sex, amends your birth certificate accordingly.
Iranian cleric who says the right to a sex change is a human right
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."Odd.