Tag: Omaha

Aug 01 2015

At the crosswalk of haters and hate

Stephen E. Thompson is a 45 year-old man who was working as a DJ at a party thrown at Down Under Lounge in Omaha.  His attire for the evening consisted of what has been called priestly garb: (a black Catholic shirt with priest collar and skinny skeleton jeans.

photo barone_zps14zw6rq6.jpgKara Jeslyn Barone, 27, and a friend, both transgender women, needed to use the women’s restroom that night.  It turned out that Thompson’s girlfriend, Dahlia Strange, needed to use the restroom at the same time.

These things happen…especially at bars.

Thompson went berserk.  He began kicking at the door and tried to force his way in.  Barone pushed him out and locked the door in order to keep him out. Strange finished her business and opened the door to leave.  Thompson took the opportunity to punch Barone in the face…while calling her a “faggot” and other anti-gay slurs.

Feb 25 2012

Updating: More of the Story

Some stories require follow-up.  How else are we going to know how they are progressing?  In December I wrote about the treatment of transkids in A Voice for the Future.  I’d written about the issue before that as well.

How are doctors treating these children?

They’re prescribing young GID patients with puberty-blocking drugs until age 16, as recommended in guidelines from the Endocrine Society. Then doctors begin lifelong treatment with sex-changing hormones, while monitoring for potential health risks. The guidelines recommend the aid of mental health professionals throughout the process.

A new study about gender non-conformity has been published and even made its way to the mainstream media (Washington Post, CNN Health, The Week, AP.  Two articles about gender-variant behavior are in the March issue of Pediatrics.  The Advocate picked up the story, but concentrated on a survey from 2010 about how 41% of transpeople have attempted suicide.  They did, however, provide a link to LiveScience, which was helpful.