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From our fabulous News Hawks!

Have you seen a TG-related news story online or in your local paper? Send it in to TGF and become a News Hawk! Don't assume we know everything that's out there, because you are our eyes and ears. To file a story, send it in to Cindy.

Boys Need Female Hormones

Contributed by Rachelle Austin and Jami Ward
via Reuters
May 12, 1998

A new finding about how the body reacts to male and female hormones may offer a better treatment for prostate cancer.

Researchers said Tuesday they found hormone regulators previously were thought to respond only to male hormones also responded to the female hormone estrogen. They said their findings could open better ways to treat prostate cancer, and could explain some of the processes behind male development in the womb. It also serves to further blur the gender distinctions between so-called male hormones such as testosterone and female hormones such as estrogen. In fact, all hormones are found in both sexes, only in differing amounts.

Researchers have known that the male hormone testosterone activates the androgen receptor, which controls the ''expression' or activation of a male hormone gene. The androgen receptor is also important in the development of the male reproductive system.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chawnshang Chang and colleagues at the University of Rochester said they found in tests that both natural estrogen and testosterone acted on this receptor.

They found the receptor reacted to estrogen when a certain co-activator was also added. This co-activator worked with natural estrogen but not with synthetic estrogen.

They said their findings may explain why synthetic estrogens work better to suppress prostate cancer, which has hormonal causes, than natural estrogens.

They also noted that there was some evidence that estrogen could in some way be responsible for the abnormal growth of prostate cells in prostate cancer.

The findings could open better ways to treat prostate cancer, the Rochester researchers said.

``Even after several decades, surgical or medical castration, combined with the administration of anti-androgens, remains as the major treatment for disseminated prostate cancer,'' they wrote.

But estrogens were sometimes used instead to suppress the effects of male hormones, and were cheaper. The finding that natural estrogen works differently from synthetic estrogen could be an important point.

``Further studies of this (estrogen to androgen receptor) pathway may therefore allow us to develop new hormonal therapies for the treatment of prostate cancer and other androgen-related disorders,'' they concluded.

McDonald Bombs in Recent Show

Contributed by Elizabeth Parker

Former "Saturday Night Live" regular Norm MacDonald, who made a habit of telling transphobic jokes on national television is bombing in his solo career. The June issue of Esquire magazine, covering MacDonald's appearance at the University of Iowa, reports that his jokes about bestiality, masturbation and mass murder sent audience members fleeing out the door.

Victoria TS Wants Bar Punished

Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
via Reuters
May 5, 1998

VICTORIA, British Columbia - A Canadian undergoing a sex change is asking authorities to cite a gay bar for gender discrimination after being barred from using the women's facilities.

Tawni Sheridan alleges she was eight months into hormone treatments to change from male to female in 1995 when BJ's Lounge in Victoria ordered Sheridan to stop using the women's bathroom.

Sheridan claims the club, which caters to gay and lesbian customers, aggravated the situation five months later when they barred her altogether because she no longer matched the appearance of the man on her old identification card.

The lounge said Sheridan was barred from the washroom after female patrons complained they felt uncomfortable. Sheridan's lawyer claims the club jumped to unfair conclusions -including that gender is based on anatomy.

"He (the manager) never asked her to lift her skirt or remove her shirt," said attorney Alison Sawyer, who is representing Sheridan before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal. They were scheduled to attend hearings on the case on Wednesday.

The club originally offered to settle to avoid legal costs but then decided to fight, and claims Sheridan said she wanted to use any money she won from a lawsuit to pay for the sex-change operation.

"We believe we have not discriminated. This is not a case of us versus transgendered individuals...Our clientele are predominantly gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual. We try to be inclusive," manager Stephen Andrew told Reuters.

Andrew said the club has changed its rules to allow transsexual patrons to use the women's room. Female patrons are urged to be more tolerant and can use the staff bathroom if they still feel uncomfortable.

Andrew said Sheridan was readmitted to the bar in 1997 after she obtained a female identification card, but was barred again when she continued to protest the washroom policy.

Sheridan's complaint cites discrimination based on gender and physical and mental disability. The tribunal is not expected to release its ruling for several weeks, but could order Sheridan be paid compensation for loss of dignity.

Hoffman Sues Over Drag Photo

Contributed by Jodie Miller
via Associated Press

May 12, 1998

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A computer-altered photo of actor Dustin Hoffman in a cute yellow dress is no laughing matter -- and isn't protected by the Constitution, a federal judge said.

U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian on Monday gave the green-light to Hoffman's lawsuit against Los Angeles Magazine for violating his publicity rights by publishing a retouched photo of Hoffman in drag.

The ad showed the Academy Award-winning actor in the dress next to a caption that read: "Dustin Hoffman isn't a drag in a butter-colored silk gown by Richard Tyler and Ralph Lauren heels."

The actor, who starred in the 1982 movie "Tootsie" about a man who dresses as a woman to get an acting job, sued for $5 million in April 1997 claiming the photograph was altered with a computer and used without his permission.

Attorneys for the publishers -- Capital Cities/ABC Inc. and Fairchild Publications Inc. -- had asked the judge to dismiss the suit, claiming the photo was protected by the First Amendment.

A spokeswoman for ABC said the company would not comment because the matter was still in litigation.

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