France Provides Asylum for Algerian Transsexual

As reported by Reuters.

France gave political asylum to an Algerian transsexual on May 15. The board that decided the case said the applicant had been threatened by Islamic fundamentalist rebels, and then sexually abused by the police after seeking their help. Neither the name or gender of the applicant was disclosed by the board.
 

T* Beauty Pageant Busted in Malaysia

Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.

NewsPlanet Staff
Thursday, May 21, 1998

Forty-five transvestites were tried in an Islamic court May 19 following a police raid of a drag beauty pageant held in Alor Star, the capital of the Malaysian state of Kedah. Fifty crossdressers had been vying for a title for the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle before some 300 guests in the Kedah Indian Association hall when police burst in and arrested all the contestants.

Five non-Muslims were released, but the rest were charged with wearing female clothes and posing as women in a public place, charges carrying maximum penalties of 160-pounds fine and six months' incarceration. After this week's hearing, 34 contestants were released on bail, while the other 11 remain behind bars. Despite Islam's severe restrictions against homosexual behavior, a 1996 study of more than 1,000 young men aged 15 - 21 years found that one-fifth had engaged in sex with another male.
 

Transgendered Clergy in the UK

Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation. You can find the original May 31 story in the Times archive at http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/.

The "London Times" reported on Sunday [May 31] the existence of a group of transgendered Church of England clergy who meet regularly as "The Sibyls" and worship together with some in drag. The report said that two women priests had formerly been males and that two others were in the process of sex reassignment, while fourteen others were transvestites. Anglican officials immediately issued a denial of the whole story, with a spokesperson saying the church was aware only of one male priest who had undergone sex reassignment after his retirement. Bishops who will be attending the global Lambeth Conference next month -- many of whom are still resisting the now long-established ordination of women -- will be considering a confidential report on transgender clergy.

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