BY ANDREA HOUSTON - In its eagerness to be inflammatory and salacious in its coverage of the recent Human Rights Tribunal decision concerning changes to legal sex designation, the National Post has written a completely inaccurate story.

First the eyebrow-raising headline, "Human rights tribunal to would-be women: You can take your penis with you," which is simply disrespectful and a silly choice of words. 

But then reporter Tristin Hopper wrote this lead: "A man doesn’t need to have his penis removed to legally become a woman, according to a new order from the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal."

Admit it, National Post, you just wanted to use the phrase "would-be-women," which is not accurate, and stick the word "penis" in your lead.

Did you even read the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal decision? It's right there is the first paragraph of the introduction: "Since 1978 the Vital Statistics Act has provided that in order for a person to obtain a birth certificate with a sex designation other than the one assigned to him or her at birth, he or she must undergo 'transsexual surgery' and provide the respondent with medical certificates from two doctors certifying that 'transsexual surgery' was performed."

(This week the tribunal struck down the rule that required any transsexual surgery to change the sex category on birth certificates. The tribunal found that the surgical requirement for changing the sex designation on a birth certificate — as set out in the Vital Statistics Act — discriminates against trans people.)  

The Post story leads readers to believe that the tribunal decision is strictly about genitalia and that "lopping off the penis" is the only transsexual surgery, which is not the case. "Under current law, even if a man transitioning to a woman had undergone hormone therapy, grown a pair of breasts and developed a higher-pitched voice," the Post states, "they are barred from changing their sex without written proof of a vagina."

Lawyer N Nicole Nussbaum tells me otherwise; she explains that "transsexual surgery," as stated in the current policy, doesn't specify any particular surgical procedure. That's because there are several different transsexual surgeries, depending if you are MTF or FTM.

"It's actually very rare for people to have the complete removal of the male genitalia with no creation of vaginoplasty," Nussbaum says. "Transsexual surgery can be a number of different surgeries. The woman in the tribunal decision had an orchiectomy (the removal of the testicles), which is not SRS."

Other types of transsexual surgery could indeed include things such as male chest-contouring surgery, the removal of the Adam's apple, breast augmentation and the surgical alteration of the voice, she says.

"Men don't change their sex to become women," Nussbaum says. "Transsexual people have known their [true gender] for their whole recallable lives. They are essentially correcting the sex designation assigned at birth to reflect the gender in which they live."

The writers and editors at the National Post, or any publication for that matter, may benefit from reading the Trans Pride Canada style guide. Writing respectfully and accurately is just as important as beating the competition to page views.

 

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - A strongly religious candidate for the Wildrose party in Alberta is challenging Lady Gaga in her assertion that we are all “Born This Way.”

Edmonton South Wildrose candidate and pastor Allan Hunsperge says gays and lesbians should really make an effort to change, and not simply accept who they are, as Lady Gaga suggests they do. “Accepting people the way they are is cruel and not loving!”

The anti-gay statements were made in a year-old blog post, which has since been removed from his website. The tirade states gay people "will suffer the rest of eternity in the lake of fire, hell, a place of eternal suffering."

Then he says, “I am not judging, I am just stating a fact!”

Hunsperger also criticized the Edmonton Public School Board for providing a safe and welcoming environment for students, specifically mentioning the gay community. (What horrible people!)

On April 15, Hunsperger posted a statement on his blog:

“Recently, a blog posting I had written in the past has been widely circulated and has caused some controversy regarding my personal religious views. The views I expressed in this blog posting are my own personal religious views and were given in the capacity as a church pastor. I fully support equality for all people, and condemn any intolerance based on sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic. I also entirely support Danielle Smith in her commitment that a Wildrose government will not legislate on contentious social issues.”

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith (whose breasts may or may not look like bus tires) refuses to condemn him, saying Hunsperger's views are from nearly a year ago and are perfectly in keeping with his religious beliefs.

That seems fair. Why should anyone question the beliefs of people running for political office in Alberta? After all, the province has been so cool with gays for almost a whole two years now. Why, it was all the way back in Dec 2010 that Alberta finally removed homosexuality from its diagnostic guide to mental-health disorders.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Alison Redford was quick to jump in the fray, wagging her judgemental finger, saying, “People who believe this is a legitimate perspective absolutely blows my mind.”

Really? Check your own party.

Her energy minister, Ted Morton, once headed the Alberta Civil Society Association and has long been an outspoken opponent against marriage equality. “He was among those who urged former premier Ralph Klein to invoke the notwithstanding clause to block Charter status for sexual orientation rights,” the Globe and Mail reports.

Smith defends her party, insisting it is not anti-gay. She says the Wildrose party accepts a wide range of views and has no plans to legislate on contentious moral issues.

Yet, “Wildrose members voted last year to support conscience rights, which allow professionals to opt out of services on the basis of religious objections (such as a marriage commissioner performing a same-sex ceremony, or doctors prescribing birth control or performing abortions). They also oppose a comprehensive Education Act, which didn’t pass in time before the campaign began, because Wildrose said it threatened the rights of religious home-school parents by forcing them to teach in keeping with the Human Rights Act, including gay rights.”

Alberta will head to the polls April 23. 

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - The Mormons may seem like one of the most unlikely groups of people to release an It Gets Better video. But that's exactly why a video from a few very brave queer students at a strict Mormon-run college is so powerful.

These 22 students attend one of the most anti-gay post-secondary schools in the country: Utah's Brigham Young University. BYU has an honour code that all students must adhere to, and that code prohibits “homosexual behaviour." Up until 2010, the school banned all gay rights advocacy, The Washington Post reports. It's estimated that 1,800 queer students attend BYU.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints forbids gay sex and gay marriage. Gay students are not allowed to kiss or even touch. By posting the video, the students could face excommunication from the church and expulsion from BYU.

The video notes that BYU is consistently ranked one of the most unfriendly campuses in the nation for queer students.

Just five years ago, BYU students weren’t allowed to discuss their sexual orientation without risking expulsion under the school’s honour code. A clarification in 2007 stressed that stating “one’s sexual orientation is not an Honor Code issue.”

In the video students confess that they have considered suicide because they didn’t think they could be Mormon and gay; they note that queer BYU students often try to "cure" themselves. "Increased personal righteousness is reported by LGBT Mormons as the most common, yet least effective, method of attempting to change sexual orientation."

Here's a selection of their quotes:

"God clearly doesn't love me because God does not love gay people."

"I know what it's like when your father condemns you."

"I thought that eventually, maybe it would be better if I died."

"I just felt like I needed to kill myself because the heartbreak of me dying would be less than the heartbreak my parents would experience by me coming out to them."

"I tried everything to be the perfect Mormon, thinking I could cure myself."

The students elaborate on their experiences in their own separate videos. Click here for the BYU It Gets Better YouTube channel.

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - Some of Barbara Walters' questions to Jenna Talackova may be cringe-worthy in last night's episode of 20/20, but none compare to the paranoid and offensive theory by Donald Trump revealed at the end, that Talackova has an "ulterior motive" for entering the Miss Universe pageant.

 
Trump says she entered the pageant because the first letters of her name spell "JENNATAL." Wait, what?

(Trump has already appeared on TMZ boasting about the size of his own genitalia.)
 
Talackova's lawyer responds by saying, "With all due respect to Mr. Trump, he really needs to stop being focused on genitals. His, or anyone else's. This world does not revolve around his penis or anyone else's genitalia. Whether a person is a woman is not simply defined by her genitalia."

The rest of the interview was quite fascinating, especially hearing Talackova speak confidently and candidly about her transition experience.

Walters says the story "raises fundamental questions. What is a woman? Do you have to be born female to be female?" She begins with, "You were born a boy?"

"My name was Walter," Jenna says, flashing a smile.

Walters: I'm going to have to ask you some tough questions.

I will now refer to the Trans Pride Canada media reference guide, released April 6.

The style guide says: "One’s surgical status should only be referred to (in the extremely rare cases) when it is absolutely required in the context of the article. Casual discussion of one’s genitalia is not appropriate for anyone of any gender."

Walters: "Part of the sex surgery is the skin of of the penis is used to make a vagina? Is that correct"

Talackova answers with grace. "That's correct… It was terribly painful, but seeing something on your body for that long and not being able to look at myself in the mirror because I couldn't stand seeing the other part. [Getting the surgery] was actually very rewarding."

Talackova maintains composure when Walters asks what she would look like naked. Her mother, who is at her side through the interview, says, "she has a vagina, and she looks like a woman."

Then, a montage of mainstream media coverage of Talackova shows how she has been portrayed. At the 6:24 mark, one host is quoted saying , "Jenna Talackova is a dude!" Please send this person a copy of the Trans Pride Canada style guide immediately.

See the 20/20 interview here.

ANALYSIS: Beauty queen saga highlights need for trans bill: MP

BY ANDREA HOUSTON - OMG OMG OMG! A priest in Ireland is pretty embarrassed after a slideshow of hardcore gay porn popped up during a talk to 26 parents and one eight-year-old kid.

Father Martin McVeigh had prepared a slideshow presentation to show parents of schoolchildren preparing for first Communion. Instead, the congregation was treated to a selection of hot gay porn.

McVeigh told Ireland's Herald newspaper he has no idea how hardcore gay porn found its way onto his computer. 

 “I don’t know how it happened, but I know what happened," McVeigh said. "There are people making innuendoes who weren’t even there, but in this day and age these stories grow.”

Well, we know what happened. The images popped on screen when he connected his USB drive into a PC to start the presentation. Instead of the word of God, a hardcore gay porn started. It's called Windows AutoPlay.

"There were plenty of shocked faces. There's a lot of parents very angry about it,” said one parent.

The Archdiocese of Armagh, to which the parish belongs, called the police and handed over the USB stick for inspection. The police told them there was no crime in gay porn and the drive didn't contain any pedophilia. It was just normal gay porn.

According to the Ulster Herald, the parish is holding "emergency meetings" to decide the fate of this gay priest.