Meet first transgender military officer in the world

Captain Hannah Winterbourne (right) is the first transgender officer in the world. She was born a man and spent the first few years in the Army as a man before deciding to undergo a sex-change operation while serving in Afghanistan and began her transition in 2013. Now she's the Army’s most highly ranked transgender soldier and the only one to become an officer. She's now in charge of 100 soldiers

Nepal to issue passports with third gender for sexual minorities

Gopal Sharm

Nepal will issue passports to sexual minorities, adding a third gender category, an official said on Wednesday in a sign of the conservative Hindu-majority country becoming more liberal since the end of a decade-long civil war.

The Himalayan nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are identified as either male or female in passports, despite a 2007 Supreme Court ruling ordering authorities to amend laws to include a third gender.

"We have changed the passport regulations and will add a third category of gender for those people who do not want to be identified as male or female," Lok Bahadur Thapa, chief of the government’s passport department, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

FYI, Transgender crisis hotline launches in Canada

Trans Lifeline is run by volunteers, all of whom identify as trans. (Greta Martela)

The Early Edition, CBC News
A crisis hotline for transgender people has expanded to Canada, offering counselling from transgender volunteers.

Trans Lifeline was launched in San Francisco by Greta Martela, who is a transgender woman.

She told Rick Cluff of CBC Radio Vancouver's The Early Edition the idea began while she was working for another non-profit organization.

"We were just a social organization, but we did have a 1-800 number and I would get calls from all over the country for people who were in crisis," she said.
"The fact that that phone number would be the best choice for anyone — I found really upsetting."

The hotline had a soft launch in the U.S. in September, with its official launch on the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.

Heartbreaking Suicide Letter From A Transgender Teen

17 year old transgender teen Leelah (Josh) Alcorn committed suicide on Sunday Dec. 28th by walking in front of a tractor trailer on a highway in Ohio. A few hours later, her suicide note, which she posted on her Tumblr page through scheduled publishing, went up. In the heartbreaking suicide note, she blamed her death on her religious parents who she said refused to acknowledge her gender and forbade her from transitioning into a girl. Read her suicide note below...

If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.

Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living in… because I’m transgender. I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. 

Nova Scotia Government Introduces Guidelines For Transgender Students

Education Minister Karen Casey says the measures are meant to make schools safe, respectful and supportive of transgender students. 

The Canadian Press
Nova Scotia is releasing new guidelines to help school boards protect transgender students from discrimination.

The guidelines recommend using a student's preferred name and pronoun, providing gender-neutral washrooms and ensuring access to physical education classes for all students.

Education Minister Karen Casey says the measures are meant to make schools safe, respectful and supportive of transgender students.