Gay, trans seniors come out late, start second lifetime

(Miami) On his 75th birthday, Bill Farthing decided to be reborn. In the six years since he’d buried his wife of 45 years, he’d felt as he did long before: Lonesome, different, outcast. He wondered if he was going crazy; he contemplated suicide.

Looking back, the clues leading to this day …

A transgender star sparkles in India’s TV firmament

The neighbourhood is choked with rickshaws, bullock carts, spice stands, saree shops and bangle stalls. It’s India from central casting.

The TV star, not so much. With a long stride and a curvy sashay that sends her chiffon dupatta fluttering around her, Rose Venkatesan emerges from the dust and the crowd, more than ready for her close-up – but with a somewhat anxious air that suggests she is a bit worried about just what that close-up may bring.

Rose is, as she mentions at least once in every conversation, India’s first transgender television star. Once an engineer named Ramesh, she began to transition to female six years ago, to the horror of her conservative family.

Today she is a star, both in India and in the Tamil diaspora, including the large community in Canada. Her first TV talk show had an audience in the tens of millions. She has helped advance the political agenda of transgendered people, typically reviled but recently afforded a rare degree of accommodation by the government in Tamil Nadu. Her second show – which she is producing and directing and writing herself, as well as hosting – has just hit the air and early signs are that it’s a hit too.

Yet Rose, 30, also lives in a strange world of half-acceptance – sharing a home with a family that still calls her Ramesh and forbids her to wear a saree in front of them; hitting the town with her queer friends to flirt and party but insisting on a dark and empty restaurant when she meets a journalist to tell her story. “Weakness is death, strength is life,” she signs every e-mail – but strength, it would seem, can be exhausting.

See A transgender star sparkles in India’s TV firmament

Globe and Mail

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A Long Road Traveled

The last time I got as close to the White House as I did this week was many years ago—six years after the Stonewall riots, when I was a 13-year-old National Spelling Bee participant from St. Margaret’s School in Lowell, Mass. We spelling bee kids didn’t make it into the White House that day—we stood outside as first lady Betty Ford spoke to us from a balcony. By then I already knew I was gay. Raised in a staunch Catholic home and taught (and tormented) by nuns, I was certain that an open homosexual (that was the only term I knew back then) could never be allowed inside the White House. I knew nothing of the nascent gay-rights movement—it hadn’t reached Lowell in 1975. All I knew was that that whatever words there were to describe what I was, it would have to be suppressed forever. I assumed that I would have to either become a priest or figure out some other way to hide.

Thankfully, time marched on, and I eventually became a politicized college student rather than a candidate for the priesthood—and ultimately I kicked open my closet door and came out. But I can’t help thinking about that personal history as I replay the reel of yesterday’s visit to the White House in my head. As the executive director of SAGE, an advocacy group for LGBT senior citizens, I was invited, along with some 200 other LGBT leaders, to join the Obamas in commemorating gay pride—which falls this year on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

I was accompanied by three SAGE members: a lesbian couple who are 86 and 91, who reminisced about voting for FDR and described Barack Obama as “the most inspiring politician since Adlai Stevenson,” and a Stonewall veteran and founder of the Gay Liberation Front, an activist group formed in the aftermath, who proudly chose his SAGE T shirt over the ties worn by every other man in the room.

Apart from celebrating, we had gone to the White House to make a point: that older people have to be included in the Obama agenda for LGBT progress. And we did what we came to do, with one of our members (the Stonewall vet) even receiving a personal meeting with the president and Mrs. Obama. But as I stood with my partner, in the front row, some five feet from the presidential podium, I realized how intensely personal this experience was for me. I thought about how each member of the SAGE contingent has had our own life’s journey—and each of us was moved deeply and differently by that moment.

See A Long Road Traveled Newsweek

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Award-winning journalist Kevin Naff to direct both Genre Magazine and Washington Blade’s editorial vision

NEW YORK — Genre Magazine, a division of Window Media LLC, the nation’s largest gay publishing group, today announced the appointment of veteran LGBT journalist Kevin Naff as Editor-in-Chief of Genre Magazine. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operations and strategic planning for the magazine, while continuing his post as Editor of Washington Blade — the nation’s oldest, largest and most respected gay newspaper — celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2009. The announcement was made today by William Kapfer, Genre Publisher and Window Media Co-President.
Naff joins Genre after more than six years with the Washington Blade, including nearly three as editor, where he has overseen a senior team of editors and reporters responsible for covering some of the country’s most historic political events and its leaders. Naff is an award-winning journalist, columnist and blogger known for his provocative approach to analyzing the news. In addition to recurring guest commentator spots on Sirius/XM satellite radio and National Public Radio (NPR), he has been tapped for national appearances on such shows as Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor,” CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ and CBS’ Logo network.
William Kapfer, Genre Vice President & Publisher and Window Media Co-President, says: “Kevin brings a real passion for LGBT journalism, and an appreciation for the vital role Window Media’s collection of print and digital assets bring to the community. Our readers demand flexibility not just in the content they receive, but also in how that content is delivered. This appointment underscores Genre’s mission to continue to produce the top quality magazine in our category–while continuing to provide readers with easily accessible, fresh, original content across our suite of integrated media channels.”
“I’m excited to join the team at Genre and help build on the magazine’s colorful history,” Naff said. “I look forward to advancing Genre’s mission, while also celebrating this year, the Blade’s 40th year as the nation’s leading LGBT news source.”
Prior to joining the Blade, Naff worked for Reuters as a financial journalist in New York, then spent four years at the Baltimore Sun, launching its web site in 1996. He served as vice president of business development for an online startup and as a private consultant before returning to journalism at the Blade. Naff sits on several boards, including the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association D.C. chapter, Live Baltimore and the Pennsylvania State University gay alumni organization. He lives in Baltimore with his partner of 11 years.* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Discovery Health Features Two Groundbreaking GLBT Profiles in TRANSGENDER M.D. and FOSTERING LOVE

(Silver Spring, Md.) — This month, Discovery Health will air two programs profiling incredible stories about members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. TRANSGENDER M.D. — premiering Thursday, February 12 at 8 PM ET/PT — follows the medical practice of Dr. Marci Bowers, the only OB/GYN in the tiny town of Trinidad, Colorado. Dr. Bowers is world-renowned for her progressive work in the field of gender reassignment and is the reason that Trinidad has become known as “the sex change capital of the world.” But Dr. Bowers has a secret — she was actually a “he.” Originally born male, Dr. Bowers formerly was known as Mark, a married father of three who came out with his desire to become a woman and underwent gender transition from 1996-1998. Today, Dr. Bowers lives happily as a woman with her partner in Trinidad. TRANSGENDER M.D. showcases Dr. Bowers’ dedicated work as she endeavors to give patients the same opportunity that she had, and the lives they have always wanted.

Premiering Wednesday, February 18 at 8 PM, FOSTERING LOVE is the story of a married same-sex couple in California with more than enough love to go around. Meet Jim and Mark, parents with an ever-growing family comprised of biological, foster and adopted children. Together for six years, Mark and Jim recently decided to move their brood from the city to the country to live and work on an alpaca farm. Amid this change, Mark and Jim are attempting to adopt Olivia, a baby girl they have fostered since birth — but complications with Olivia’s birth mother threaten to interfere with their dreams. Discovery Health’s cameras capture the joy and occasional frustration that come along with raising a family full of infants, toddlers and teenagers, while attending to a barnyard full of animals.

TRANSGENDER M.D. and FOSTERING LOVE are produced for Discovery Health by MEg TV. For Discovery Health, Lisa Lucas is executive producer and for MEg TV, Nancy Saslow is executive producer.

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Canadian gay couple shares adoption success story

BurlingtonPost.com says Yo Mustafa and Paul Groulx “went from zero to three children in a matter of six months”. The couple, which has been together since 1989, now cares for three boys including a 13-year old and 11-year-old twins.

Mustafa and Grouix started their adoption journey in July 2003 by attending an Adoption Council of Ontario information evening.

The sons were neglected by their biological parents and eventually placed into the care of Children’s Aid. At the time, the older boy was six years old and the twins 3-1/2. They were in foster care two years.

See Canadian gay couple shares adoption success story
Proud Parenting

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Out former DNC official said to get White House job

Brian Bond, who has held several positions with the Democratic National Committee and led the Victory Fund for six years, reportedly has been tapped to become deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. The openly gay Bond will advocate presidential policies to various constituency groups, with a special emphasis on LGBT concerns, according to this article. Advocate.com