Category: News

Gender Affirming Care: A Case for Legalization Across All States in America

transgender male with beautiful face and long blond hair
Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2023

Text by ChatGbt

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Edited by Tony Ward

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Gender Affirming Care: A Case for Legalization Across All States in America

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Gender affirming care refers to medical treatments and interventions that affirm and support an individual’s gender identity. It encompasses a range of procedures, including hormone therapy, surgeries, and mental health support, which can greatly alleviate gender dysphoria and promote the overall well-being of transgender individuals. In this essay, we will explore the concept of gender affirming care and argue why it should be legalized for individuals who require such care in every state across America.

Understanding Gender Affirming Care: Gender identity is a deeply personal and integral aspect of an individual’s sense of self. For transgender people, aligning their physical appearance with their gender identity is vital for their mental health and overall quality of life. Gender affirming care aims to bridge the gap between an individual’s gender identity and their physical body through various interventions.

Hormone therapy is one of the primary forms of gender affirming care. It involves the administration of hormones, such as estrogen or testosterone, to align an individual’s secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity. This treatment can lead to significant improvements in mental health outcomes, reducing depression, anxiety, and suicidality among transgender individuals.

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transgender-male_female-him_her_black_patent_leather_dungeon-min
Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2023

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Surgical procedures, such as gender confirmation surgeries (commonly known as “top” and “bottom” surgeries), are also part of gender affirming care. These surgeries allow individuals to modify their bodies to better align with their gender identity. They can provide relief from gender dysphoria, increase self-esteem, and improve overall psychological well-being.

Legalization and Access to Care: While some states in America have recognized the importance of gender affirming care and have taken steps to ensure its availability, others still lack comprehensive laws and regulations regarding this matter. The lack of consistent access to gender affirming care can lead to severe consequences for transgender individuals, including increased mental health disparities, reduced quality of life, and even increased rates of self-harm and suicide.

Legalizing gender affirming care across all states in America is essential to ensure equal access to healthcare for all individuals, regardless of their gender identity. Denying transgender people access to necessary medical treatments not only violates their right to autonomy and self-determination but also perpetuates discrimination and marginalization. It is crucial for state legislatures to recognize the medical consensus that supports gender affirming care and enact laws that protect the rights of transgender individuals.

Critics of legalizing gender affirming care often argue that it is a matter of personal choice and that individuals should bear the financial burden themselves. However, denying coverage for these medically necessary treatments places an undue burden on transgender individuals, who often face higher rates of unemployment, discrimination, and limited access to healthcare overall. Legalization would ensure that gender affirming care is accessible through insurance coverage, Medicaid, and other public health programs, reducing financial barriers and promoting equality.

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transgender male looking sexy in the camera topless with tease underwear
Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2023.

Shanell Verandez: The Creative Director of Drinks

Shanell Verandez at the bar Rittenhouse Grill Philadelphia wearing a KVaughn dress winter collection 2022
Shanell Verandez at the bar, Rittenhouse Grill, Philadelphia wearing  KVaughn, Winter collection 2022.

Text by Shanell Verandez, Copyright 2022

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The Creative Director of Drinks

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I proclaim myself the “Creative Director of Drinks, because not only do I consider myself as a mixologist, but more of an Artist. As a bartender a.k.a mixologist a.k.a “C.D.O.D”, I am directing people’s vibes with my creative elixirs I refer to as “liquid babies” that will be sure to delight your senses! I am that creative…I have stirring it up behind the bar since 1996. Now back to the present, ‘Tis the season to be Jolly! What a better way to introduce some of my holiday “liquid babies” edition? Here are three of my favs to pop up the holidays! Cheers!
 
Holidaze Pop
This is a nice, crisp, slightly sweet flavor to soothe the soul.
         Grand Mariner (2ozs.)
         Mango or Pineapple juice (1 oz.)
         Dry Brut Champagne 
          Orange slice
Build Grand Marnier, mango or pineapple juice in a flute glass, then balance champagne. Garnish with an orange slice and enjoy!
 
Black Kiss
This liquid baby is for the baby is for the bold daredevil. These are the people ready to start the new year now! It is a sweet, bold blackberry saturated cocktail with an orange sage bourbon finish.
                      Bourbon (2 ozs.)
                     Cointreau (1/2 oz)
                      Simple syrup (3/4 oz)
                      3 blackberries 
                      1 sage leaf
                      Orange peel
 
Silk Martini 
             Ciroc Coconut vodka (2ozs)
              Kahlua(3/4 oz)
             Frangelica(1/3oz)
              Half/ Half cream
             Chocolate syrup 
              Coconut flakes 
In a 16 oz glass mixer, fill with ice, than mix vodka, kahlua, frangelica and cream together, shake and pour into a frosted martini glass garnished with chocolate syrup inside and top with a sprinkle of coconut flakes… Enjoy!
          
  This liquid baby holds a special place in my heart, I have been shaking this cocktail since 2005, when I entered this one in an bartending competition and won first place. It is a sweet, creamy chocolate, coconut twist paradise that will make you forget that ol’ egg nog! Heck…
All three liquid babies will make you even forget that ol’ mistletoe too! ‘It’s the season from Yours Truly Behind the Bar💋! 
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Shanell Verandez behind the bar at Rittenhouse Grill Philadelphia
Shanell’s wearing KVaughn Winter Collection. Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2022

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To access additional articles by Shanell Verandez, click here: https://tonywarderotica.com/shanell-verandez-the-sexibeast/

Bob Shell: Newly Released Government Report Says UFO Exposure Harmful

spiral of creation by the stars NASA photo
Photo Courtesy of NASA.

Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2022

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IT’S OFFICIAL: NEWLY RELEASED GOVERNMENT REPORT SAYS UFO EXPOSURE HARMFUL 

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A government report finished in 2010, but classified until this year says UFO contact can have serious health effects. Witnesses to close encounters have experienced radiation burns, brain damage, perceived time suspension, and a wide variety of other effect, some of them ‘supernatural.’ 

The formerly top.secret report was prepared by the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP), a secret program that studied UFO encounters. The existence of this $ 22 million program was revealed by Luis Elizondo, its former head, in 2017, but it has taken until now for the Defense Intelligence Agency to release part of its report in response to a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by news media. 

The report classifies reports of UFO encounters, including ones accompanied by other ‘paranormal’ events, such as sightings of ghosts, bigfoot type creatures, spirits, and other phenomena, often combined with effects such as abduction, paralysis, eye injuries, electrical shocks, sexual encounters with ‘aliens,’ permanent healing, and others. 

The report compiled 42 cases of adverse medical effects from patients’ medical files and 300 from ‘unpublished’ cases. 1,500 pages of the report were released as a result of the FOIA request. 

The report is titled ‘Anomalous Acute And Subacute Field Effects on Human and Biological Tissues.’ Note the use of the word ‘Field,’ which assumes that UFOs are accompanied by some sort of magnetic/electrical/gravitational/quantum mechanical/etc. field. 

“Classified information exists that is highly pertinent to the subject of this study and only a small part of the classified literature has been released” the report states. So much for ‘full disclosure!’. 

Attached to the report is a list of physiological effects experienced by those who have come in contact with UFOs/UAPs. 

Among these effects are apparent abductions (129 cases), electromagnetic effects on vehicles (77 cases), perceived time loss (75 cases), burns (41 cases), force field effects (18), and ‘alien’ sexual encounters (5 cases). 

In an interview with GQ magazine (UK), Elizondo stated, “I’ve got to be careful, I can’t speak too specifically, but one might imagine that you get a report from a pilot, ‘Lue, it’s really weird. I was flying and I got close to this thing and I came back home and it was like I got sunburn. I was red for four days.’ Well that’s a sign of radiation. That’s not a sunburn, it’s a radiation burn.”

My comment: that’s like recent reports of Russian soldiers who worked digging ditches inside the ‘hot zone’ at Chernobyl experiencing the same effects. 

Elizondo also said a pilot who got even closer would say, ‘Lue, I’m in the hospital. I’ve got symptoms that are indicative of microwave damage, including internal injuries, and even in my brain there’s some morphology there.’ and then you might get somebody who gets really close and says, ‘Lue, it’s really bizarre. It felt like I was only there for five minutes, but when I looked at my watch 30 minutes went by, but I only used five minutes worth of fuel. How is that possible?’ “ 

Elizondo speculates that these effects have ‘something to do with warping of space time.’ 

The program rated encounters on a scale. AN1 has no lasting physical effects, AN3 comes with “associated entities such as ghosts, yetis, spirits, elves, and other ‘mythical/legendary entities.’ AN5s are those associated with injuries and deaths. 

Former Senator Harry Reid asked for the report to remain secret in letters recently released by the Pentagon, because ‘Officials said that the UFOs are ‘from an unknown provinence that may be a threat to United States interest.’ 

Reid stated the secret program had identified ‘several highly sensitive, unconventional aerospace technologies requiring extraordinary protection.’ 

In November, the Pentagon announced the creation of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group (AOIMSG), that will work across the Department of Defense and the entire US government ‘to detect, identify and attribute objects of interests in Special Use Aerospace, and to assess and mitigate any associated threats to safety of flight and national security,’ according to a press release from the Department of Defense. It will be part of office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, currently Ronald S. Moultrie. This action was directed by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. 

Does this mean that the era of official denial that the US government is interested in UFOs is finally over? We can all hope so. I’m not holding my breath, but just maybe we’re one tiny step closer to full disclosure. That’s long overdue. 

Following in my father’s footsteps, I have studied UFOs since the 1960s, regarded as a disillusioned crackpot by many. It feels very good to finally be vindicated. 

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About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author and former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models.  He is serving the 15th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read Bob Shell’s, first essay on civil war, click here: https://tonywarderotica.com/bob-shell-some-prison-thoughts/

 

Shanell Verandez: The SexiBeast

 

Text by Shanell Verandez, Copyright 2022
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Photography by Tony Ward, Copyright 2022
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Creative Director: KVaughn
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Assistant to photographer: Anthony Colagreco
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The SexiBeast
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I hope I don’t offend, but I have a high disdain for sex…. I am an Asexual Being. At times this has caused a lot of misunderstandings and hurt feelings towards others including myself. One would wonder… What does this stem from? What has now caused me to embrace a life of Asexuality? Shall we begin? I was a very horny little girl, I was fascinated with my tiny breasts and would always pose nude in mirrors any chance I got and used to hump my stuffed teddy bears, and pillowcase edges. 
 
Sometimes at night my parents would come home and find me naked in their bed with a smile on my face. I would even flirt around with my Uncles ( one paternal, one maternal) they were only two years older than me as well as some of my female friends (remember I am fascinated with breasts) and I had some very developed female friends.  I was trying just about anything to relieve my sexual tension as a young girl. Then I became menstrual at 11 and my Mother (whom to this day I still have an intense strained toxic relationship with) went bonkers. I thought I was dying because of her reaction to my panties. She didn’t explain to me what was happening to my body, I had to get the lesson from my Aunt.
 
Throughout my teens, I started to feel ashamed and shy about sex, because my Mom would constantly accuse me of having sex and even would “check” my panties after a slumber party or events to smell or see if I had sex. Then I discovered sex games, spin the bottle, etc and almost lost my virginity to a cute mixed neighborhood boy in his backyard, but he couldn’t find my opening.
 
My Mom at one point even let me take a boyfriend but I refused to have sex with him because I now wanted to be the good girl who wasn’t a pregnant statistic in the neighborhood, so I focused more heavily on school, sports and music. I had no more time for human interaction, nor intimacy. I kept my virginity until I was 20 years old and lost it to a narcissist, abusive mixed East Indian man boy. I will finish that relationship right there, he doesn’t deserve anymore space. After that sexual experience, I started to attract the same shitty men with the same intentions in mind… Hit it then Leave.
 
I started to realize that sex to me is meaningless and serves no purpose in my life. At the same time,  I admire people who embrace their sensuality and are sexually free. Believe me, I have had my share of sexual encounters from being a Dom at the Hellfire club , Voyuerism, Ménage a Trois and Tantra.  Maybe I was exposed to the wrong people at those times but it made me realize what type of pleasure I want and don’t want. As an Asexual Being, people wonder… How do I please myself? Toys Toys Toys they are a Godsend. Maybe one day my sexual drive will come back on high gear and I will be back on the intimacy  trail with some lucky guy…
             Stay Tuned…..
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Editor’s Note: This is Shanell Verandez first sitting with Tony Ward for the Vixen’s series. To see all of the work to date from the new series, click here: https://tonyward.com/new-work-the-vixens-series/
 

Bob Shell: Photographer’s Language and Thought Police

A young woman wearing a fetish outfit corset with spikes high boots and long barrel pistol
Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2022

Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2022

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Photographer’s Language and Thought Police

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Now photographers are being singled out by the ‘thought police.’ According to a new ‘Oppressive Language List’ put out by the administration at Brandeis University, we’re no longer supposed to say we ‘shot’ a photo, did a photo ‘shoot’, or took a ‘shot’ at something. We’re  not supposed to say we ‘triggered’ a camera or a flash, because the words ‘shoot,’ ‘shot,’ ‘trigger,’ etc., all have gun associations. 

This is not just for photographers, they say. We’re also not supposed to say ‘killing it’ for doing well at something.  Australians will have to no longer use ‘shoot through’ as slang for dying.  Apparently, guns are such nasty, evil things, and all references to them, even oblique, must be expunged from our language. 

Now, I’m not a gun fanatic, like people I know who have personal arsenals, but before my arrest, I did have a Remington single-shot, bolt-action .22 rifle, a single-barrel .410 gauge shotgun, and a 9 mm semiautomatic Beretta pistol. The shotgun was a gift from my grandfather who used to go dove hunting with it until he was shamed into quitting hunting by members of his congregation. You see, he was a Methodist minister and some of his flock disapproved of a minister hunting. The only times I ever fired it were to shoot at tin cans I threw into the air. I’m not a hunter, but I am open minded enough not to hassle friends who are. This world has room.for both. 

My rifle and pistol were both gifts from my father. I used them only for target practice, and became a pretty good shot. Both are being held for me by a friend until I can get my ridiculous conviction overturned. 

I’m not in favor of government gun control, because I’ve lived in countries that have it, and my harmless plinking away at targets would have been very difficult, or impossible there. 

The purpose of the United States Constitution and its Amendments is to limit government, not empower it. Those wise founders of this republic had lived under repressive monarchy and never wanted it rearing its ugly head here. 

But, right now as a convicted felon, if I get out I can’t own any guns, I can’t exercise that right granted to me, not by government, but by the Constitution. 

I was convicted in state court. Gun ownership is a Federal right. Will someone please explain to me how a state can trump the Federal Constitution. The same goes for voting in Federal elections, which I can’t do now. All citizens were given rights by the Bill of Rights, which was added to the Constitution to spell out our rights and guarantee them against government intrusion. Somehow those guarantees have been diluted. 

A great man once shouted, “Give me liberty or give me death!” We got the latter.

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About The Author: Bob Shell is a professional photographer, author and former editor in chief of Shutterbug Magazine. He is currently serving a 35 year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the death of Marion Franklin, one of his former models.  He is serving the 15th year of his sentence at Pocahontas State Correctional Facility, Virginia. To read Bob Shell’s, first essay on civil war, click here: https://tonywarderotica.com/bob-shell-censorship-rears-its-ugly-head-in-virginia/