Transgender model's memoir claims it's 'nightmarish' to live in the U.S.

Geena Rocero, a transgender model, appeared on "CBS Mornings" to discuss a new memoir titled "Horse Barbie" which described life in the U.S. as a trans person "nightmarish."

Rocero’s memoir tracks the Filipino model’s life as a transgender model in the Philippines to immigrating to the United States and passing as a "cisgender" woman. Rocero officially came out a transgender woman in 2014 through a viral TED talk called "Why I Must Come Out," which reached over 3.6 million views.

Host Tony Dokoupil questioned Rocero on "visibility" since the memoir described U.S. life as "nightmarish" while Rocero has received constant support.

"I actually want to talk about the visibility, right, because so much has changed culturally in America. Your book is out, you’ve got a major publisher, you’ve got a TED Talk that went viral, right? People know you, and yet you also describe the situation here in the U.S. for trans people as nightmarish. Talk about that dichotomy, those two worlds," Dokoupil asked.

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"I really felt like I’ve been like living — because I’ve lived half of my life in the U.S. — I mean, half the life in the Philippines, half here in the U.S. So it’s just this constant navigating the different cultures, because what we have in the Philippines and what, you know, I’ve experienced in the Philippines, now we know that visibility is just one component and finding equity. It should be all of that, right? The equity access to the most basic rights, the visibility, respectable, nuanced, dignified visibility for trans people, all of those things," Rocero said.

The model continued, "And I think even in this moment that we’re seeing right now, the attacks on particularly trans youth, the most vulnerable in our country, we need to honor their lived experience. I want to tell them that there is nothing wrong with them, keep living your life, be who you are, as what I have detailed in my book."

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Treatments for transgender youth have come under fire over the past year as several states and Republican lawmakers penned or enacted legislation to restrict gender surgeries or treatments to children. By contrast, many Democratic lawmakers have pushed for laws to provide "trans refuge" for children wanting to receive medical procedures. 

Elsewhere during the segment, Dokoupil remarked on lines that he enjoyed from the book such as "I learned to be trans in the Catholic Church."

"You know, I couldn’t ask for a better parent, my mom who just truly loves me. This is a devout Catholic woman who loves her trans daughter," Rocero responded. 

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Transgender ideology has been spotlighted in the media recently after major corporations and brands started advocating for promoting LGBTQ ideas in their products. Fox News uncovered on Friday that the Target Corporation partnered with a K-12 education group to promote in-school gender transitions for children without parental involvement. 

South Korea recovers piece from North Korea's failed spy satellite rocket launch: 'serious defects'

South Korea’s military said it salvaged an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket carrying a spy satellite after it plunged into waters near South Korea. 

Later, the Defense Ministry released photos of the suspected rocket part.

North Korea’s attempt to launch a spy satellite into space, which would be the country’s first, failed Wednesday after the rocket plunged into waters approximately 124 miles west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo. The country’s space agency attributed the failure to "the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to (the) carrier rocket" and "the unstable character of the fuel," according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The North’s National Aerospace Development Administration will conduct a more thorough investigation into "serious defects revealed" by the launch, according to KCNA.

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Pyongyang said it will conduct a second launch as soon as possible, once it learns what went wrong.

The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket, carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite, launched from the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground at 6:37 a.m. local time. The rocket lost thrust between its first and second stages and crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast, state-affiliated media reported.

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South Korea’s military also reported the North Korean rocket had "an abnormal flight" before crashed.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno confirmed no object from the launch reached its intended orbit in space.

Wednesday’s launch prompted South Korea and Japan to briefly urge residents to take shelter. South Korea's capital, Seoul, issued alerts over public speakers and via text messages and Japan activated its missile warning system in southwestern Japan, which was the rocket’s suspected path.

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Seoul’s military said it boosted military readiness and Tokyo said it was prepared to respond to any emergency.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said his country will keep its missile defense systems deployed until June 11, which is the end of North Korea’s announced launch window.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un has continually pushed for his country to develop long-range missiles and has conducted various tests in recent years which have demonstrated a potential range that could reach all the continental U.S. Experts, however, have said North Korea lacks the technology to construct functioning nuclear missiles.

Kim claims the rocket technology, as well as the space spy satellites, will serve as deterrents to potential aggressions from South Korea and the West.

The satellite launch directly violated U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban North Korea from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology.

It came as diplomacy between Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul has stalled.

Washington strongly condemned Wednesday’s launch because North Korea used banned ballistic missile technology, according to Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council.

The launch also escalated tensions and risked destabilization in the region and the world, he said.

"We are aware of the DPRK’s launch using ballistic missile technology, which, is a brazen violation of multiple unanimous UN Security Council resolutions, raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond," U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Public Affairs said. "This launch involved technologies that are directly related to the DPRK intercontinental ballistic missile program."

The U.S. said it will take all measures necessary to ensure the security of the American homeland and its regional allies.

"We are assessing the situation in close coordination with our allies and partners. We have assessed that this event did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or of our allies, but will continue to monitor the situation. The U.S. commitment to homeland defense and the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan, remains ironclad," the statement continued.

North Korean official Ri Pyong Chol defended the North's need for a space-based reconnaissance system in a statement Tuesday, saying such technology could counter potential security threats from South Korea and the United States.

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In the statement, Ri said North Korea would test "various reconnaissance means" to monitor moves by the United States and its allies in real-time.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, said North Korea could utilize three to five spy satellites to build a space-based surveillance system that allows it to monitor the Korean Peninsula in near real time.

The spy satellite is one of several high-tech weapons systems that are coming out of North Korea.

Other weapons on Kim’s wish list include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile.

South Korea is expected to launch its first spy satellite later this year.

North Korea successfully put its first satellite into orbit in 2012 — and a second one in 2016 — after repeated failures. Pyongyang said both are designed solely for Earth observation within its peaceful space development program, although some critics are skeptical.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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