Gender

Pastor Duke Taber will be the first to let you know that his small congregation in Pine Haven, Wyo., is about as far removed from the gay marriage controversy boiling over in the country as any church could be.

"I know of two gay couples," said the pastor with a humble-sounding demeanor while talking about the town of about 500 people. "It's not like I'm in San Francisco or Portland, or Orlando, Florida."

Yet Tabor, who said 30 to 50 people tops attend his service on Sundays, wants his congregation to be an example of how Christians worldwide should love homosexuals no matter what. more >>

The number of children receiving hormone treatment for gender identity disorder has increased greatly at one Australian clinic over the past decade, with the number of patient referrals growing eight times since 2003, doctors recently reported in the Medical Journal of Australia.

The Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, a publicly-funded clinic, has seen a great increase in children with the disorder seeking cross-sex hormonal treatment since it opened its doors in 2003.

According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, those experiencing gender identity disorder experience "a persistent and intense distress about assigned sex, together with a desire to be (or insistence that one is) of the other sex. There is a persistent preoccupation with the dress and activities of the opposite sex and repudiation of the individual's own sex." more >>

Jenna Talackova, who made headlines as the first transgender contestant for the Miss Universe Canada pageant, did not win the coveted title in the final round of judging Sunday but maintains that she is proud of herself for making it through the competition.

Talackova made it to the top 12 contestants, but did not make it to the final five. She was, however, voted as "Miss Congeniality" by her fellow contestants. Talackova shares this title with three other contestants in the competition.

The 23-year-old Vancouver resident was born male, but underwent a sex operation four years ago to become a female. more >>

Argentina made history Wednesday by becoming the first country in the world to make sex-change operations a legal right of every citizen, mandating that public and private insurance providers cover such surgeries. The new legislation, backed by President Cristina Fernandez, who is expected to sign it, will also make it legal for a person to change his or her gender on paper without a sex change operation.

The Gender Identity Law, which passed the senate by a vote of 55-0, makes sex-change surgery as well as hormone therapy available as part of public or private health care plans. In addition, any adult in Argentina will be able to officially change his or her gender, image or birth name on an identification card without having to get approval from doctors or judges and without having to undergo physical changes beforehand.

Also, youths under 18 who want to change their genders will have the right to do so with the approval of their legal guardians. more >>

Tom Gabel, lead singer of punk rock band Against Me!, has announced that he is "transitioning" into a woman, Rolling Stone magazine reports.

Gabel, 31, told the music magazine that growing up, he struggled with gender dysphoria, or a disconnection with one's natural gender.

"Growing up, my experience with transsexualism was nothing but shame," the singer told Rolling Stone. more >>

Thomas Beatie, a transgender male known as the world's first "Pregnant Man," has announced that he has separated from his wife of nine years.

"Like all marriages, we have our ups and downs, and we're going through a rough patch right now. At the moment, we're separated," Beatie said during a recent taping of the syndicated TV show "The Doctors."

Beatie chose to have a baby after learning that his wife Nancy, 49, could no longer have children and made headlines around the world when photos of his bearded face and pregnant belly were made public, according to PEOPLE. more >>