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.

But watch out, trannies: a second vote, needed to finalize the repeal, is scheduled for May. (Let's hope Andrew Yeoman doesn't hold a counter-protest!)

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

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 Well, after landing a terrorism analyst gig while she was still a man, the job was rescinded after Schroer told a library official that she was having sexual reassignment surgery to switch gender.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."

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

'I just got a call. Wrong number. "Hi, I was wondering if you guys have a video called 'Transgendered Prison?'" Ah, the hilarity of 415.'

Hilarity, indeed. Also, we cannot seem to find TP anywhere online, so the cinematic gem might be dubious. If you find it, do send it our way.

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.

According to reports, his chat went something like this.

Rainforests deserve, yes, our protection, but the human being ... does not deserve it less," the pontiff said.

It is not "out-of-date metaphysics" to "speak of human nature as 'man' or woman'", he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall.

"We need something like human ecology, meant in the right way."

Somebody needs to sic Bambi Lake (at left at right) on this sick man. Because more of this is bound to happen whenever Benedict opens his mouth.

Speaking of men who give conservative thought a bad name, Debra J. Saunders' shout out to gays as intolerant faggot stupidheads, "Intolerance 2009," was sad. Pro-Obama gay leaders are hypocrites for not loving those who oppress them? Becoming unglued over politically incorrect terms like "bigot" and "hater"? THIS argument? Again?

Really, Chronicle, you can, and yet won't, do better. Thank God for Melanie Morgan.

Image: Moon Trent's Celebrity Gallery

On Saturday night, Trannyshack -- San Francisco's longest-running, high-art concept drag revue -- bid us bye-bye. For now, anyway.

And what a night, huh? For those of you who eschewed the shoegazing/indie/whatever-thirtysomething-genre sounds emanating from Golden Gate Park lastnight, 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, gangbang anal sex-filled merriment [NSFW]); and, of course, Heklina turned the shit out. Thank you, Heklina, for changing San Francisco, the country, and the world from a quaint and smelly little nightclub in SoMa.

Here are just a few images from Saturday night's farewell, captured by award-winning photographer Darwin Bell. (To check out even more images from last night's gorgeous tranny torture, go here.)

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 suspects are in there: Kenny the Clown (Kenneth Kahn), Chicken John (who, for some reason, I will always confuse with Big Brother's Chicken George [which, by the way, is so good this season!]), and almost the rest of the wacy gaggle. Interestingly enough, there’s no mention of journalistic martyr Josh Wolf, which we found bizarre.

Basically, McKinley points out that no "major contender" is going for Newsom's jugular this time around (a la Matt Gonzalez) -- even spot-on Chris Daly admits this as a “very difficult campaign” -- and that, of course, Newsom will be our mayor for four more years. Probably.

But you knew that already.

(Photo credit: Erin Lubin/Bloomberg News)