Tatyana Bellamy-Walker

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Transgender Harvard student dies in police custody while on honeymoon in Indonesia

A transgender advocate and Harvard graduate student died in police custody this month while on his honeymoon in the Indonesian tourist island of Bali.  Rodrigo Ventosilla, a 32-year-old transmasculine person from Peru, and his husband, Sebastián Marallano, were detained Aug. 7 by customs police at the Bali airport for illegal possession of marijuana, Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.  Two days after the arrest, Ventosilla was taken to the hospital, where he died on Aug. 11 due to “failure of bodily functions,” according to police spokesperson Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto, who added that Ventosilla became sick after […]

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For Nonbinary People, Struggle for Recognition Extends to Romantic Relationships

Rilen Taylor matched with someone on a dating site, but the experience went sour when the match insisted Taylor identify as only one gender, either as a man or as a woman. “If we were to date, I needed to be a girl,” recalled Taylor, who identifies as both male and female and responds to male pronouns. “I think he misunderstood and thought I was a tomboy.” This is just one of many uncomfortable experiences that Taylor — a freckle-faced, off-Broadway actor in New York — has faced as a nonbinary person trying to date in a binary world. As […]