Oakland went ahead and finally banned one of the city'/s most bizarre and benign laws: cross-dressing. Today, the Oakland council voted 7-0 to remove the ban from the city's municipal code. CBS 5 notes: "The ordinance, adopted in 1879, bans people from dressing 'in the attire of a person of the opposite sex.'" No one, authoritative or otherwise, took the law seriously, but it's still a good things to eradicate - in Oakland or anywhre else. more ›

We're a little late on this one, but: local tranny Donna Sachet made history this past week by becoming the first (?) drag queen to perform the "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Major League Baseball game. (We cannot find any clips of her singing at Tuesday's game, but here she is performing at some pageant thingy.) more ›

Photo of an unidentified tranny Ambrosia Salad singing into a light bulb at "Chili Dog" by Darwin Bell. more ›

A federal judge ordered the Library of Congress to pay $500,000 to former Army Special Forces Commander Diane Schroer (née David Schroer) on Tuesday. Why? Well, after landing a terrorism analyst gig while she was still a man, the job was rescinded after Schroer told a library official that she was having sexual reassignment surgery to switch gender. This, to which many SFist readers can attest, is a problem transgendered folk face on a regular basis. "If [transgendered people] are fortunate enough to get something, it's well below their capabilities. It's not just about money, it's about knowing you are a valuable person," Schroer said after the settlement. After ruling in her favor in September, U.S. District Judge James Robertson wrote, "She experienced the emotional pain and suffering of losing her dream job merely because she was a transsexual," going on to point out, "She was well qualified for the job." more ›

Mission Mission's Allan Hough brought this to our attention today. Ahem. more ›

The main man who gives something so important as religion a bad name, Pope Benedict XVI, has publicly said that "saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction." Surprise! This backwards bit of wisdom came during his year end-of-year hate speech to senior Vatican staff. more ›

For those of you who eschewed the shoegazing/indie/whatever-thirtysomething-genre sounds emanating from last night's concert in Golden Gate Park, opting to check out Trannyshack's final party, you were richly rewarded with performances by Trannyshack legends Fauxnique; Kiddie; Scissor Sisters' Ana Matronic; Precious Moments (whose performance included real-life, strap-on... more ›

Here we have le Gav looking lover-ly while kicking it with some tired Ethel Merman tranny (excuse me, fabulous "Ethel Merman impersonator") in Jesse McKinley's stellar New York Times article about our personality-littered mayoral race. (And while a very interesting piece, why Rita's or Jeremy's brilliant coverage and point of views aren't mentioned is beyond any and all logic. We're just saying is all. We digress.) Almost all of the usual and self-consciously zany... more ›