Voice techniques

[jamiethegrey.livejournal.com]

A bit of background:

I'm 17 and FtM. I've been out to my parents for about 14 months, but they still won't try to get it, I turn 18 soon, but I can't start T until I'm out the house, and I have a year to go.

I'm looking for non-T related ways of lowering my voice. Exercises I can do, or... well... anything. Any suggestions?

Australia: FTMs Recognised as Men

[ftmichael]

http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/18/2658751.htm

Transsexuals recognised as men
By James McHale
Posted Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:26am AEST
Updated Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:38am AEST

Two West Australian women who changed their gender have won the right to be legally considered men, despite still having female reproductive organs.

The transsexual men were previously denied legal recognition of their sex change and appealed against the decision.

The state's Attorney-General, Christian Porter, intervened, arguing that until they had hysterectomies they could not be considered men under the Gender Reassignment Act.

The State Administrative Tribunal found that because the legislation did not specify reproductive surgery as a requirement, the pair could be legally considered men even with female reproductive organs.

One of the men, whose identity is legally suppressed, says he is happy with the tribunal's decision.

"It means that it opens up lots of opportunities for lots of other people who until now have never tried to get their sex legally changed because they didn't think they'd be able to," he said.

"Now it means that rather than having an arbitrary set of surgeries that people have to have, each case can be taken on its merits.

"[It's] a result that will make life easier for both myself and the other applicant and for lots of other transpeople."

The Attorney-General has declined to comment on the decision.

US, NY: Man gets 25 years for Transgender hate killing

[ftmichael]

http://newsday.com/ny-man-gets-25-years-for-transgender-hate-killing-1.1376199

NY man gets 25 years for transgender hate killing
August 18, 2009 By The Associated Press
BEN DOBBIN (Associated Press Writer)

SYRACUSE, NY (AP) — A laborer who became just the second person in the nation to be convicted of a hate crime in a transgender slaying drew a 25-year sentence Tuesday for shooting to death a Syracuse woman.

Dwight DeLee, 20, showed no emotion when a judge imposed the maximum penalty for manslaughter as a hate crime in the November slaying of Moses Lateisha Green, 22. Born male, Green began living as a woman at 16 and dressed frequently in women's clothing.

"I'm no monster, I'm a young human being," DeLee said, offering an apology to Green's family while insisting he didn't kill her.

Acquitted of murder as a hate crime, he faced a minimum of 10 years in prison. The manslaughter conviction means he intended to injure, not kill, someone because of anti-gay bias when he fired a .22-caliber rifle once into a car where Green was sitting outside a house party with her brother and a friend.

Green, born Moses Cannon, was "the sweetest person you ever met" and well-loved by a family that accepted her for who she was "right from the beginning," said her father, Albert Cannon. He added that he would accept DeLee's apology "if it came from his heart, but I don't think it did."

The only other hate crime conviction in the slaying of a transgendered person was in May, when a jury in Colorado convicted Allen Andrade of beating 18-year-old Angie Zapata to death with a fire extinguisher after discovering she was biologically male.

In July, the US Senate approved legislation to extend current federal hate crimes protections to gays and other groups.

The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named after the gay Wyoming college student murdered in 1998, would expand federal hate crimes — currently defined as those motivated by race, color, national origin or religion — to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The House passed a similar hate crimes bill in April.

"More than one transgender person is killed per month in this country," said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York. "Many go unnoticed or largely unnoticed."

Syracuse police are investigating whether Johnny Gaston Sr., the father of two prosecution witnesses in DeLee's trial, was shot in retaliation for their testimony. Gaston was hit in the neck and critically wounded five days after the trial ended on July 17. He has since recovered.

On the witness stand, his son and daughter both recanted statements they gave to police incriminating DeLee. During the trial, the judge warned DeLee there would be serious consequences if he was linked to reported threats being made against prosecution witnesses.

Defense attorney Clarence Johnson denied prosecution claims that DeLee hated homosexuals and argued there was no evidence he had a history of anti-gay bias before the shooting. It was not immediately known if an appeal is planned.

Several witnesses said they heard DeLee refer to Green as a "faggot" just before Green was shot. But Johnson questioned their reliability, pointing out the shooting happened on a darkened street with a crowd of people around and that all the witnesses had been drinking alcohol, some heavily.


Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.