Sometimes I get that “It’s about me.’ Not even because something really is about me, but because folk want to make it about me.

Over at the blog Gender Reality; It’s not about the clothes they have a post entitled Stop both engines…. It apparently is an ad hominem post by one of the bloggers at that blogsite — just a bit earlier in the week, another blogger at the blogsite posted another ad hominem piece entitled Autumn Sandeen – you’re a dick.

Well anywho, the Stop both engines… post is about me wearing a military uniform consistent with my gender identity. The photos on the site are three years old, but only now is when the writer of that post is objecting to my wearing of female U.S. Navy uniform.

And here’s part of the writer’s argument against me wearing a uniform consistent with my female gender identity:

We’re having a bit of a dilemma here, and for a change, it is all about the clothes. You see, some people have suggested that Sandeen is treating the female naval uniform as a costume. Others are not so charitable.

The thing is, when you look at the pictures of Sandeen, you might get the impression that she served in, and retired from the US Navy as a female.

Nope.

She never wore the female uniform. She bought it after she retired from a navy that would have kicked her out for being transsexual. It get’s worse, as she deliberately wore the very same uniform when she chained herself to the White House fence, knowing full well that she would be arrested and processed as a transsexual.

…Be proud of your service – that’s fine and admirable, but quit wearing that uniform as a costume – Autumn Sandeen never wore a female uniform while serving…

In the comment thread, the blog author of the piece responded to commenter in the comment thread who wrote “The military does not recognize her as female. Neither does the State of California. She’s playing dress up.” by writing:

To be fair to Sandeen, if she managed to get her birth certificate changed we’ll apologize to her for the error. If…

The responses are personal, even though I have no idea who the blog author or the thread commenter are.

A retired, U.S. Navy Chief wrote a comment though that I thought needed a response. First, the Chief’s comment:

Common sense and dignity govern when and where a military retiree can wear a uniform. For formal occasions, retirees and veterans can wear the current uniform or the last one worn on active duty. A local commander can authorize the wearing of other uniforms. Wearing a uniform is forbidden for business or personal gain or while participating in an event that may cast the military in an unfavorable light.

Regardless of her motives, Sandeen violated 10 USC CHAPTER 45 by wearing that costume. That was not brave, it was grandstanding to draw attention to herself, gather more fame and a lame attempt to increase her ‘credibility’ as a trans crusader. The only reason that she was not remanded by federal authorities was that they had the common sense not to provide her with a free venue and the attendant publicity where she could whine and cry about being persecuted for being transgender, as opposed to be hauled up on the carpet for breaking the law and code of uniform justice.

And here’s how I responded to the chief:

The actual violation I engaged in by wearing a Navy uniform to protest against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is found in the U.S. Navy’s Uniform Regulations, specifically found in Chapter 6, Section 10. The relevant paragraph in the section states:

“Retired personnel are prohibited from wearing the uniform in connection with personal enterprises, business activities, or while attending or participating in any demonstration, assembly or activity for the purpose of furthering personal or partisan views on political, social, economic, or religious issues.”

The violation of that regulation made my two 2010 protests Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) offenses — specifically Article 92 offenses for which I could have been court martialed. The maximum punishment for an Article 92 offense includes 2-years confinement and a dishonorable discharge.

It would have taken a lot of effort on the U.S. Navy’s part to reactivate me, charge me under Article 92, and then prosecute me for what many perceive to be a relatively minor offence. However, if the U.S. Navy had decided to take that tact back in 2010, and I’d have been found guilty of one or more Article 92 offences at court martial, then there was a possibility that I could’ve lost my retirement pay and benefits under the Hiss Act. The Hiss act is codified under 5 USC Chapter 83, Subchapter II – FORFEITURE OF ANNUITIES AND RETIRED PAY, and loss of retirement pay and benefits for the on if the offence of wearing a uniform to protest against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would have depended on whether the offense rose to the level outlined in § 8312 – Conviction of certain offenses. Frankly, I’m not an attorney — I’m just not sure.

When I chose to join with GetEqual to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) with a number of uniformed lesbian and gay veterans, I had two reasons for protesting. The first is that DADT was wrong and needed to be challenged. Secondly, I wanted to send a message to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) community members that for me, if an issue is an issue for even one subcommunity of the LGBT community, then it’s my issue — my hope was, and still is, that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people would in turn work on trans issues with the same intensity that I worked on a purely LGB issue.

My broader point was, and still is, that civil rights aren’t about you or about me, or about yours or my demographics. Instead, civil rights are about us — all of us. Civil rights are human rights, and we’re at our human best when we embrace fighting for the ordinary equality of all of us. I believe we haven’t started living until we can rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Paraphrasing that thought, I broke a regulation to protest a law that my conscience told me was unjust, and I willingly accepted the punishment I did receive, and the potential punishments I knew I could receive. I took the action I did because I wanted to arouse the conscience of the President, Congress, and broader society over its injustice towards LGBT community members, and I protested in uniform with very much the highest respect for the military in which I’d served 20-years.

I certainly respect the Chief’s viewpoint on protesting in uniform. However, my lesbian, gay, and bisexual siblings in LGBT community can now serve openly in the U.S.’s five military services — that makes the very small part I played in DADT’s repeal worth it. Basically, I’d do what I did again — even if I knew ahead of time I’d definitely have the character of my discharge downgraded and lose my pension for protesting in uniform.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood. In whatever way one wants to define me as being nonconforming, I’ll take it if it means furthering the cause of ordinary equality.

I’m not likely going to ever convince people who believe I’m a narcissist that I’m not — it likely doesn’t matter to those folks that I’ve both a psychiatrist and a psychologist (who treat me for my actual bipolar type II/cyclothymia condition) who would disagree with them on the narcissism diagnosis. Or, that I’ve worked on issues regarding ordinary equality for LGBT people because I care about those who suffer in broader LGBT community, and especially those who suffer in the population of transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people — I’m sure as hell not a part of the struggle ordinary equality for any personal fame. From experience I can say that there are big personal downsides to being well known in and out of trans community, and though I advocate being out and proud as trans, the negatives of being “famously” out and proud as trans far outweigh any personal benefit to being well known as trans.

But a trans blogger at a pro-transsexual/anti-transgender blog writing about my photos in uniform that are now more than three years old, and writing about my taking to White House fence in protest to DADT over two years after I first took to the fence — wow. For that trans blogger, it really is seemingly all about Autumn…the Autumn that she apparently hates in large part because I identify with the term transgender.

Well, I haven’t updated this blog in roughly three years. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, it’s that I’ve have been writing elsewhere both on the web and in ink-and-paper publications, and most of my posts here were crossposts of those writings.

Often I need an outlet for personal thoughts, and just haven’t had a place to make those comments I don’t want to post on Pam’s House Blend or in the Trans Progressive column of LGBT Weekly. So, I think I’m going to start updating this blog again for when I have personal thoughts I don’t currently don’t have any appropriate place to share.

To begin with, I’ve written these general thoughts on activism elsewhere on the web, and I’m going to repeat those thoughts here:

Civil rights aren’t about you or me; civil rights aren’t about your demographics or mine. Instead, civil rights are about all of us, and what is — and what has been — at stake in all of the world’s civil rights movements is the human dignity of all of us.

And…

It’s just not enough to know what we’re against; we have to know what we’re for, and then work and sacrifice for it.

I’ve engaged in activism that’s been behind the scenes — community activism that isn’t public. Some of that non-public community activism involves attempting to break ground by using myself as a test case. I recently was involved in changing public policy on the federal level by functioning as a test case, but the federal policy I worked for is now giving others a benefit that again has again been denied to me. And, not because I’m not eligible for that benefit, but the non-public action that I took to help create the benefit for others hasn’t fully ran its course behind the scenes. The change I helped put in process is being denied me because the process behind the scenes is still ongoing.

What’s in the best interest of communities isn’t always in the interest of individual community members; the path of least resistance is often in the best interest of an individual community member, but that path often doesn’t help other community members who, for whatever reason, aren’t afforded the opportunity to take that same path of least resistance.

In my recent behind the scenes case that’s still playing out, I was presented with the choice of doing what’s in my personal best interest or doing what is in the best interest of my community peers. Well, civil rights aren’t about me, and knowing what I’m for has ended up testing my personal value of working and sacrificing for what I believe in.

This hasn’t been an easy choice at all. I’ve wept over the decision to press ahead behind the scenes on this because of the personal cost of this decision — no one would fault me if I just gave up on this fight. I finding that in this particular instance I really, really just want to take the path of least resistance. I’m finding that doing what I believe is the right thing in this instance has turned out to be more personally painful than I thought it would be — hell, it was easier choice to go to jail over repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell than it’s been to live with the consequences of this recent choice.

And believe me, this isn’t me trying being to say how wonderful I am for just pressing forward; this is me just expressing frustrating feelings of dejection and hurt. It’s because working and sacrificing in this instance feels unbearable: I just want to just give the f*** up. If you asked me today if being an activist and living up to my own words is worth it, I’d be hard pressed to answer “yes.”

Well, I’m always quoting civil rights activists of past civil rights movements because those folk remind me that choosing more difficult paths for the civil rights of the collective us is the right choice. And, I often quote these personal heroes of mine to bolster my spirits when my spirits are down. This is one of those kind of times where bolstering is the reason I’m quoting one of my civil rights activist heroes.

So, here are a few quotes from Cesar Chavez that I’m remembering as I’m writing this piece…the quotes I’m trying to cling to while feeling personal despair:

• “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”
• “When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit that our lives are all that really belong to us. So, it’s how we use our lives that determines what kind of [people] we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life.”

And this one especially:

• “We draw our strength from the very despair in which we have been forced to live. We shall endure.”

I don’t feel especially strong today; I’m honestly not drawing any strength today from the despair I’m feeling. Maybe tomorrow…maybe tomorrow.

Jennie Hodgers, a native of Ireland, took the name of Albert Cashier, and not only served through the entire war—she posed as a man her entire life, and was only discovered near the end of her life.

All of these women took masculine names. They cut their hair short, wore pants, bound their breasts, and learned to swear and walk like men. Their gender was often not discovered unless they were severely wounded. Some were killed in battle, and only then was their sex revealed.

Female Soldiers of the Civil War

On the occasion of this Memorial Day, Linda Paul reports on “Jennie’s Secret” …

I don’t remember how I first encountered the story of Civil War veteran Jennie Hodgers (aka Albert Cashier), but I was smitten from the start. I was amazed that hundreds of women had posed as men during the Civil War. I couldn’t imagine how she (or they) pulled it off. And I was positively gob-smacked when I found out that Hodgers went on to spend most of her adult life – as a man – in the tiny town of Saunemin, Illinois. That’s just 12 miles down the road from Pontiac in Livingston County. And Pontiac is where my family comes from.

…

Look at the picture of Cashier in 1913 (on the right) and you can see that late in life her sartorial tastes still ran to high collars around the neck. Maybe because she didn’t want people to notice that she didn’t have much of an Adam’s apple.

Cashier/Hodgers would have been 69 in that picture. She looks so calm and unassuming. Who could imagine that she led the life she did?

Today in 2009, I have the feeling everybody wants a little piece of Jennie Hodgers. Civil war buffs, the Irish, the transgender community.. each wants to claim her.. and now, after many years – for the most part, even the town of Saunemin wants to claim her too.

You can listen to Paul’s report at Transom, WBEZ or NPR …

Albert D.J. Cashier was the shortest soldier in the 95th Illinois Infantry. In one of the few existing photographs of Cashier during the war, you can faintly detect the outline of breasts under her uniform. But that’s if you’re looking for it. And the military apparently was not:

DAVIS: Uh, they didn’t conduct physical exams in those days the way the military does now.. What they were looking for was warm bodies.. people who could stand up straight.. who obviously could see.. and could hear.. and hopefully could speak English so they could follow orders.

Rodney Davis is a retired professor of history at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. He taught American history, including the Civil War, and knows all about the exceptional story of Albert Cashier. And in one of those real life twists, that seems too lucky to be true, years ago Davis found some papers in an old family trunk that belonged to his great grandfather, CW Ives. To his astonishment he discovered that his own great grandfather was the commanding officer to Albert DJ Cashier.

DAVIS: CW Ives was her first sergeant.. HIS first sergeant… however you wanna do it… His/her first sergeant… And they were together for at least two years.. So, uh, they got to know each other rather well.

Jennie Hodgers, masquerading as Albert Cashier, marched thousands of miles. She was at the Siege of Vicksburg and surrender of Mobile. Her regiment took part in more than 40 skirmishes and battles. Hundreds of her fellow soldiers died from wounds and disease but …

DAVIS: Albert Cashier seems to have been in from the beginning to the end.. She uh, she stuck it out … Commander CW Ives once described Albert Cashier as quote a fearless boy.

~~~~~

Related links …

* Jennie Hodgers [Civil War Women]

* Transman Civil War Hero? [Trans Group Blog]

* My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]

* Also Known As Albert D.J. Cashier: The Jennie Hodgers Story [Compass Rose]

* Civil War house going home [Pantagraph]

* Restoration planned for home of female Civil War soldier [Transgender News]

Vita brevis, ars longa …

A retired history teacher is donating his tattooed body to an art gallery.

Geoff Ostling, 65, is virtally covered in colourful depictions of exotic flowers after a 15 year collaboration with acclaimed cult tattooist, eX de Merci.

Covering every part of his body, save for his face, neck and parts of his forearms, Mr Ostling’s tattoos are on the theme of “all the flowers of a Sydney garden”.

He said: “I wanted something unique so I thought about a garden of plants, of natives and imported flowers, what you would find in a Sydney garden with a distant view of the city from Heartbreak Hill.”

Mr Ostling has pledged to donate his skin to Canberra’s National Gallery after his death.

“To donate skin is not the most amazing thing in the world but the tattoos are revolutionary,” he said.

Tattooed man donates skin to art

Well, since this Australia-related, it of course brought to mind this old song.

~~~

By the way, Autumn shared some of her tattoo experience on these pages here, here, here and here.

And, no, this is not the Bilerico Project.  But, this (New Riders Of The Purple Sage) is dedicated to Facebook, which sent me (Stephanie Stevens) that queer e-mail today which suggested I “might know Stephanie Stevens” … ’cause, frankly, no, I really don’t …

Actually, this has more to do with the comics than the funnies and with irony than funny.  The career of the comic book artist and co-creator of the Superman character, Joe Shuster, took a turn back in the ’50s, as described by Carolyn Kellogg in the Los Angeles Times recently …

Joe Shuster drew Superman in the 1930s, which should have made him invincible. But after he and writer Jerry Siegel got into a legal tie-up with DC Comics over rights to the character in the 1940s (DC won), he moved on to other things.

One of those things, which he kept quiet, was a magazine called Nights of Horror. The salacious fictional crime booklet launched in 1954 and ran for 16 issues — with illustrations by Joe Shuster. These are now collected in the book “Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman’s Co-Creator Joe Shuster” by Craig Yoe.

[...] Shuster drew beautiful women who were impossibly stacked and handsome men with impossibly broad shoulders. Once he drew them as heroes; later, he drew them stripped, vulnerable and twisted off into another world.

Apropos “secret identities,” my comic book “heroes” when I was growing up in the ’50s were usually not the men of steel but rather those impossibly stacked, beautiful women. I didn’t know anything about terms like GID or transgender, I just knew what I had.

More …

My Brand Spanking New Book

The Sexy ‘Secret Identity’ Of Superman’s Creator

Fetish Art Of Superman’s Co-Creator

It’s been a bit of a while since we heard any news on Jan Hamilton.  Hamilton, whose doings frequently appeared on this blog when I was posting on a regular basis, is famous for being tagged Britain’s “sex-swap paratrooper” and for her lawsuit against the Ministry of Defence.  Today, the Daily Mail is reporting that Hamilton, who is now calling herself Abigail Austin, will become Scotland’s first trans police officer …

A paratrooper who underwent a sex-change operation has been accepted by the police as a trainee woman constable.

Jan Hamilton, formerly Captain Ian Hamilton, quit the Army in 2007 after 20 years’ decorated service and embarked on a full gender reassignment programme.

Now living in Glasgow, she has been accepted by Strathclyde Police to begin two years’ probationary training, making her Scotland’s first transgender police officer.

A source said that Miss Hamilton, 44, had ‘sailed through’ the initial six-month selection process: ‘Jan Hamilton scored highly in the written tests and had no problem with the fitness tests.

‘She completed the mile-and-a-half run in about 11 minutes, even though women are allowed to take up to 16.’

The source added that senior officers had given their full backing to her application.

The fact that Miss Hamilton was born a man will have no bearing on the way that she is expected to operate because she is legally recognised as a woman.

For example, she will only be able to search other women, in line with police guidelines.

She will also wear the uniform of a Strathclyde Police woman constable, including the reinforced bowler hat.

It is understood that Miss Hamilton will be working in Maryhill, one of Glasgow’s most dangerous areas and the setting for gritty television detective programme Taggart.

Over the next two years Miss Hamilton, who will earn the standard starting salary of £21,000, will study and train at Strathclyde Police’s Training and Recruitment Centre at Jackton, East Kilbride, and at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, Fife, as well as working as a beat officer in Glasgow.

In 2007 Miss Hamilton, as Britain’s first transsexual paratrooper, took the Army to an industrial tribunal on grounds of sex discrimination for its refusal to acknowledge her legally enforced female status.

She won her case and later received a written apology. Since then she has undergone a remarkable physical transformation.

As Captain Ian Hamilton she weighed 16 stone, boasted of having 14in biceps and was deployed on long-term engagements with the elite Parachute Regiment in Kenya, Oman, Kuwait, Cyprus, Germany and Bosnia.

As Jan Hamilton she still stands at a manly 6ft but says she is five stone lighter, has a feminine figure thanks to hormone therapy, and says she is a size 12.

Miss Hamilton is not the first transgender police officer in the UK. In 2001 North Yorkshire Police said that, after 26 years in the force, Sergeant Chris Lamb had decided to live as a woman and would henceforth be known as Sergeant Nicola Lamb.

A spokesman for Strathclyde Police said: ‘We cannot confirm or deny any information that constitutes personal information. The Force actively promotes itself as an employer to all sections of the public.’

Sex change Army hero Jan to become Scotland’s first ‘transgender’ police officer

The latest issue of National Geographic just arrived in the mail today … Holy Hatshepsut!

The article is available on the National Geographic website.

You know, those of you in Gainesville, Florida or Montgomery County, Maryland or elsewhere, you lost.  Here’s a new crusade (remember $4 gasoline?) you can embark on (leave, go, and just let transgender people pee in peace) …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Before her wedding last year, Huda Batterjee went abroad to buy her bridal lingerie — she just couldn’t bear the humiliation of discussing her most intimate apparel with a man.

She had little choice: there are almost no saleswomen in Saudi Arabia.

Now a group of Saudi women — sick of having to deal with male sales staff when buying bras or panties, not to mention frilly negligees or thongs — have launched a campaign this week to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women.

It’s an irony of the kingdom’s strict segregation of the sexes. Only men are employed as sales staff to keep women from having to deal with male customers or work around men.

But in lingerie stores, that means men are talking to women about bras or thongs, looking them up and down to determine their cup sizes, even rubbing the underwear to show how stains can be washed out.

The result is mortifying for everyone involved — shoppers, salesmen, even the male relatives who accompany the women.

“When I buy underwear in Saudi, some salesmen say, ‘This is not the right size for you,’” said Batterjee. “You feel almost taken advantage of. Why is he looking at me in this way?”

So for her wedding trousseau, the 26-year-old went to neighboring Dubai to shop. She now lives in Virginia with her husband.

Heba al-Akki, a businesswoman who supports the boycott, said when she shops for underwear, “I go to a store, pick this, this and that and leave quickly. It’s as if I’m buying illegal stuff.”

It’s not easy on the salesmen either.

At one lingerie boutique in a Riyadh mall Wednesday, salesmen blushed when asked about their jobs. All said they back the campaign to hire female sales staff.

“Even in such open regions as the U.S. and Europe, men do not sell underwear to women,” said store manager Husam al-Mutayim, a 27-year-old Egyptian. “I don’t let any of my female relatives buy underwear from men. It’s just too embarrassing.”

Mannequins — headless in keeping with a ban on realistic depictions of women — were displayed in the shop window dressed in modest pajamas. Inside, racks held an array of colorful bras, lacy panties and sexy nighties — along with more day-to-day undergarments.

Under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are required to cover themselves head-to-toe in black robes in public. But in the privacy of their own homes — and bedrooms — they can wear whatever they want, and sexy undergarments are popular.

But buying them is another story. Fitting rooms are banned in the kingdom — the idea of a woman undressing in a public place with men just outside is unthinkable. So a woman is never sure she has chosen the right size until she gets it home.

“I have bras with sizes ranging from 32 to 38 because I can’t get to try them on,” said Modie Batterjee, Huda’s sister and one of the boycott organizers.

Even male relatives get dragged into the embarrassment. Women are allowed to shop without a male relative, but husbands or brothers sometimes insist on coming along — or the women want them there — to ensure salesmen stay respectful.

Modie Batterjee recalls how her husband fled a lingerie store because he could not bear to hear her explain to a salesman that she wanted high-waisted underwear to hold in her tummy after their daughter’s birth.

The boycott was launched on Tuesday by about 50 women who gathered in the Red Sea port of Jiddah at the Al-Bidaya Breast-feeding Resource and Women’s Awareness Center, which is run by Modie Batterjee.

The aim is to push for implementation of a law that has been on the books since 2006 which says only female staff can be employed in women’s apparel stores.

The law has never been put into effect, partly due to hard-liners in the religious establishment who oppose employing women in mixed environments like malls, where religious police are always on the lookout to keep men and women from interacting.

Hiring women would also deprive men of jobs in a country where more than 10 percent of men are unemployed.

“We are raising awareness and calling for the implementation of the law,” said Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women’s College in Jiddah, who supports the boycott.

The campaign calls on women to shop at the country’s few women-only lingerie stores. Usually stand-alone boutiques or located in malls that have women-only sections, these shops have no windows to ensure passing men cannot look in — and giving women the freedom to actually try things on.

How much impact the boycott call will have is unclear. Almost 1,700 people signed an online petition posted by Asaad on the social networking Web site Facebook. A few Saudi papers have written about it, but the campaign depends mostly on word of mouth.

Not all women support the idea. At the Riyadh lingerie shop on Wednesday, one woman — only her eyes visible through the black veil covering her face — said she is suspicious of women-only lingerie shops.

“Bad things happen there,” she said.

What might that be?

Women can sneak a picture of you changing with their mobile phones, she replied and refused to give her name.

Saudi woman launch lingerie shop boycott

An interesting story in the news today from Uganda via All.Africa.com.  It sounds like transgender Georgina has been re-educated, and it reads like a parody propaganda piece.

Sadly, whenever some progress regarding GLBT rights is glimpsed on the civil level (not just in Uganda), you can generally count on a response like this from fundamentalist religionists.  Kampala today, Gainesville (ought to be some wicked sermons next Sunday) tomorrow?

A man shocked parents on Sunday when he confessed to recruiting school children into homosexuality as part of a programme to promote the practice in Ugandan schools.

George Oundo said funders gave them “much money” and training abroad and that he would target mostly the needy children who had problems of tuition and pocket money and “others who like outings.”

Oundo warned parents to know their children’s friends. Homosexuals, he added, were targeting mostly children “because they are easy to initiate and they like easy things”.

Oundo said he got seriously involved in promoting homosexuality in 2003. “I was taken to Nairobi for training,” he said. “I used to supply pornographic materials in form of books and compact discs showing homosexuality to young boys in many schools,” he explained.

The training, he said, was facilitated by Gay and Lesbian Coalition. “I also got the pupils’ telephone contacts. We used to meet with both girls and boys in schools during ceremonial parties,” he asserted.

He said he only stopped his activities after becoming a Born-again Christian. He told all this to about 50 parents attending a seminar at Hotel Triangle, Kampala on Sunday. It was organised by Family Life Network, a local charity which promotes family values.

Oundo said he got saved at Pastor Martin Sempa’s church, the Inter-Faith Rainbow Coalition against Homosexuality, based at Makerere University Kampala.

Oundo asserted that he had been a renown gay and lesbian activist for five years and had operated under the umbrella group, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG). He said he had taken on the female role and his name was Georgina.

“Praise God. Recently I realised that I have been victimising young people into devilish ways,” Oundo said. “I confess before the parents of the victimised children and they should forgive me.”

He hoped to go back to his former school, Muyenga High (Jinja), where he recruited many students and repent.

He said he was initiated into the vice at 12 by friends like Victor Mukasa, a gay activist, after his parents separated and he was being raised by a single mother.

“I was brought up in a poor family. Lack of parental care, love and the loneliness may have led me to join gay activities,” he added.

Oundo said he experienced a transgender transition because he “wanted to be a woman”. “Just go to the Internet and Google the name Georgina and you will see how I have been defending gay activism,” he explained.

Oundo said homosexuality was spread by international human rights organisations. He said after he denounced the gay activities, he received threats from a gay activist who accused him of betrayal.

George ‘Georgina’ Oundo and another gay activist, “Brenda” Kiiza, were arrested on September 10, 2008, for “recruiting homosexuals”. But they were released on September 18, 2008 after their lawyer and the international human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, protested.

In July 2005, local government officers raided the home of Juliet Victor Mukasa, the former chairperson of SMUG. They seized documents and arrested another lesbian activist. Mukasa sued for torture and court awarded her damages.

Gay rights activists have become more vocal in their campaign for recognition and have featured prominently at international conferences, particularly relating to HIV/AIDS.

Last year, education minister Namirembe Bitamazire announced an investigation into homosexuality in schools following complaints by MPs that the illegal activity was rampant in schools.

The Uganda AIDS Commission chief, Kihumuro Apuuli, also noted at the time that schools had become a breeding ground for the vice, which targets youth aged between 15 and 24. He said parents and guardians had a big responsibility to inculcate African values into their children.

Sodomy is a crime under the penal code and the Constitution prohibits “marriage between persons of the same sex”.

Pastors of Pentecostal churches last week called for a commission of inquiry into allegations of sodomy and homosexuality in churches.

Other pastors yesterday told journalists in Kampala the war against sodomy would be long and challenging but must be fought.

Uganda: Homosexual Admits Recruiting Students

You do not have to be a transgender person to be considered for this position (you do have to be willing to live and work in DC) , but I personally think it would be terrific opportunity for a qualified trans person.  Details are as follows …

NCTE Job Opening: Policy Analyst

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is seeking a
Policy Analyst who will work to end discrimination against transgender
people at the Federal level. NCTE is a strong voice for transgender
people in our nation’s capital and fills a unique niche in the overall
movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. We are a
respected leader in working for the rights of transgender people and
are known to approach our work with enthusiasm, optimism and good
humor.

Job Description:

The Policy Analyst will work closely with NCTE’s Executive Director to
advocate on federal issues affecting transgender people; monitor
federal and state policy; and educate decision-makers, the media, our
members and the general public. The Policy Analyst will work to ensure
that the lives and needs of transgender people are reflected in our
federal laws and policies by addressing issues such as employment
non-discrimination, hate crimes legislation, health care reform,
privacy & documentation and many others.

Responsibilities:

Use research and analysis to create
recommendations for transgender-inclusive policies and practices.

Manage relationships with lawmakers and other
policy-makers to shape policies and government practices.

Cultivate sufficient knowledge to act as a
subject matter expert for community members, allies, lawmakers, and
the media.

Write policy reports, fact sheets, and columns.

Conduct presentations and workshops for
members and allies at conferences and public venues.

Skills & Experience:

Demonstrated ability to research and analyze
policy. Federal level policy a plus.

Excellent writing, verbal communications, and
interpersonal skills.

Clear grasp of federal government structure,
operation, and function.

Collaborative spirit and the ability to work
well within a team of fun-loving, hard-working professionals.

Commitment to full social justice and
understanding of issues affecting transgender people.

Preferred candidates will have either 2-3
years of experience working on progressive issues at the Federal level
or an advanced degree, but neither are required.

We are committed to building an organization that reflects the
diversity of our community. We strongly encourage people of color to
apply.

Salary and Benefits:

Salary range for the Transgender Policy Analyst is $40,000 – $55,000,
depending upon candidate’s existing skill set. We offer, a robust and
growing benefits package that includes fully-paid medical insurance,
transit benefits and flexible health spending account, federal
holidays and ten paid vacation days in first year. We are currently
considering adding additional benefits.

Send résumé and letter of interest to:

Stephanie White

1325 Massachusetts Ave NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20005

Fax: 202-393-2241

Email: NCTE@nctequality.org

The National Center for Transgender Equality is an equal opportunity
employer and employs personnel without regard to age, citizenship,
color, creed, physical or mental disability, economic status,
education, ethnicity, family responsibilities, gender identity and
expression, health status including HIV status, height, housing
status, marital status, matriculation, national origin, physical
appearance, race, religion, political affiliation, pregnancy, sex,
sexual orientation, union membership, veteran status or other unlawful
factors, with respect to recruiting, hiring, job assignment,
promotion, discipline, discharge, compensation, training and other
terms, conditions and privileges of employment and contracting. NCTE
is committed to creating a diverse staff made of people who are hard
working, kind, optimistic and committed to social justice from all
segments of transgender and allied communities.

___
NCTE Policy Analyst Job Opening.pdf

View
http://tinyurl.com/c7qh2q

Download
http://tinyurl.com/cobmwl
___

The opening is also posted on NCTE’s website.

From Bankers to Bubbles to Bailouts to Bonuses to … BOHICA …

Last week’s funnies …

… this week’s news …

American International Group is set to pay $450 million of bonuses to employees of the unit that was largely responsible for the New York insurer’s near collapse last fall.

AIG plans bonuses to financial-products employees

More from Melissa on some of her transition experience.  Thanks, Melissa!

Autumn and I received this e-mail from Melissa, commenting on one of our posts (I believe this is the one) back in September 2007.  With Melissa’s permission, I wanted to pass along what changes she has seen occur since then …

Hi Autumn and Stephanie,

It was a pleasure to find your blog at transadvocate.com and I’d like to write in and say hi.

Also, I should provide an update for an article that you wrote in September 2007 that mentioned the legal situation of transpeople in Australia.

At the time, the Howard government had done everything it could to make our lives difficult and uncomfortable.

This included:

* Changing a policy allowing pre-ops to get passports in their new gender when they travel overseas for surgery.

* Trying to overturn a decision of the Australian Family Court allowing transsexuals to marry in their new gender (fortunately, they were unsuccessful)

* Refusing to recognise the gender of transsexuals who were married in their old gender.

* Planning legislation that would prohibit us from marrying anyone in either gender.

* Allowing religious institutions to discriminate against us (for example, granting exemptions to anti discrimination laws for homeless shelters so they could refuse to admit transpeople).

* Removing pre-operative hormone therapy from the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

However, we have since had a change of government and the new Labor government is far more trans-friendly and has reversed most of the above.  One Labor senator actually is married to an FTM and she has helped a lot.

The passport issue has been reversed, and divorce is no longer a condition for gender recognition.

Unfortunately, we still have not been allowed pre-surgery passport changes, and the change to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme has not been reversed yet, but I would expect both problems to be solved within the next 2-3 years.

I should also point out that we have a very pro-trans environment generally.

* Australia’s two largest states (Victoria and New South Wales) both have strong anti-discrimination legislation protecting transgender people in employment, education, and housing. This legislation is effectively enforced, and was upheld even during the time of the Howard Government.

* We formally recognise sex change under Federal law and under the law of each Australian State. All but two of our states will accept partial surgery (e.g. Orchidectomy) as sufficient for recognition and there is a strong move underway to remove the surgery requirement altogether. If successful, this will make Australia the first place in the world (to my knowledge) to recognise pre-ops under law.

* In many places and in many industries, transition is view positively and many people have transitioned on the job without any opposition or difficulties (myself included)

* Australia has national social security which provides enough money (although barely) for someone who is unemployed to have where to live and what to eat. This significantly improves the prospects of transgender youth when they have to leave home.

* Sydney has a full-time gender centre with counselling, support, employment training, and even assistance with accomodation. Importantly, this is run by trans people and not by the medical establishment or other third parties.

* In Melbourne, while we do not have a formal full time gender centre (yet, one is being set up) but there is a strong informal network of “successful” trans people who provide the time and money to help other people going through the process.

Importantly, laws do not tell you about what is happening in society.

In Melbourne and Sydney, it is possible to be openly transsexual and accepted by most people in mainstream circles – especially if you are friendly and have good social skills.

Based on my experience, the experiences of my friends in Australia, and of other friends in Thailand, Israel, and the USA, Australia is definitely the best of these places to be transgendered in…

Anyone thinking of visiting (or relocating to) Australia is welcome to contact me for more information about where is the best place to go…

Regards,

Melissa