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

It seems I’m always posting “bathroom news” at Transgender News, most recently various news and commentary on the flap involving the women-only gym in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Well, we should be seeing quite a bit more “bathroom news” shortly.

Coming up on March 24th, voters in Gainesville, Florida will decide whether “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” remain protected in the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

A while back, as a means to convince (flimflam) the citizens of Gainesville that they should strip gay and transgender citizens of their civil rights, Citizens for Good Public Policy chose to turn this into a “Keep Men out of Women’s Restrooms” fight and aired their now infamous television commercial, “The Pervert.”

“The Pervert” is longer available on YouTube (you can see that if you try to play it here).  The other day though a reader of Transgender News pointed out to me a “commercial” (by Ed) that is available on YouTube, one which seems timely and topical …

I personally believe some of the quiet mistakes of LGBT civil rights movement make are in not knowing our enemy what our enemy believes out of our collective earshot, and not thinking clearly about how to counter what they say/what they do.

Well, below is some text and a link to some readily available reading from the Concerned Women for America…They talk about the perceived evils of the upcoming Obama Administration.

So, from the Concerned Women For America’s Spellbound by Obama: What it Means for America, discussing The Good and the Bad about Obama (bolded emphasis added to text below):

The Bad

The bad news about an Obama Administration far outweighs the good news. We can count on it: Obama may wait awhile, but he will do the things that will assure his second term, and he is definitely a Marxist “true believer” who will not deviate from his socialist goals, even when the current financial or political climate means their implementation has to be delayed. He chose Rahm Emanuel, a member in good standing of the down-and-dirty Chicago political scene, for the White House Chief of Staff position—which means the president can count on strong-arm tactics for any opponents who have to be “persuaded” to come into alignment with the president’s goals.

Even before his inauguration, Mr. Obama has revealed plans for an enormous domestic spending package–the largest public construction program since the 1950s, including roads, bridges, schools and technological development. It is also essential for his reelection that he establish national health care, a Democratic priority, by 2012; he will do so by implementing its various aspects incrementally–an “under the radar” scheme that will achieve his goal without raising public objections. He will likely try the same strategy with abortion, the feminists’ top priority. He has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a measure that would turn back all prolife gains and remove all regulations and restrictions on abortion. He probably won’t use all his political chits to fulfill that promise immediately, as he said he would, but ultimately he will give the feminists that victory and he will give the homosexual activists their two priorities, federalizing same-sex “marriage” and revoking the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans open homosexuality in the U.S. military services. Though he campaigned as a candidate opposed to same-sex “marriage,” he fully intends to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)–legislation that has been enacted in 44 states to protect husband-wife, traditional marriage at the state level.

Obama will support the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and indicates his support for expanding the bill to cover “gender identity.” Further, he favors adoption rights for same-sex couples as well as condom distribution throughout the world as an AIDS prevention measure. He has also said that he will strengthen and expand dangerous federal “hate crimes” legislation…

The CWA goes on to state that “the greatest threat” of the upcoming Obama Administration (their words: “of the Obama agenda”) will be his left-leaning judicial appointments.

(Frankly, I’m more worried that all Obama will lean too far to the center with his appointments. I want civil rights protected; I want to see judges who consider how the fundamental rights of minority individuals and groups need to be protected from governmental or corporate abuse.)

As we all can see, the Concerned Women For America (CWA) is thinking about the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in relationship to America’s current Democratic Congress and America’s soon Democratic President.

And hey, the CWA — their founder and chairman in particular — has a lot to say about a woman’s right to choose too. Mainly, they don’t want women to have a right to choose, and they’re motivated to push back against that fundamental right.

Know your enemy. We don’t always know enough about what they believe considering how well they have been mobilized in the past. When you think about it, it usually takes identifying clear enemies to get people motivated enough to create a movement — think about what the removal of fundamental civil rights of LGBT Californians has done recently for the LGBT civil rights movement. We have identifiable enemies that did wonders to mobilize the broader, LGBT community when they took away LGBT Californian’s fundamental right to marry.

The CWA trying to manufacture an enemy in President-elect Obama to mobilize their concerned women troops. They haven’t succeeded as yet, but you can bet the Concerned Women For America going to keep trying. We need to be ready if they and their peer “Christian” organizations again succeed in mobilizing their troops against the fundamental civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

Besides having our own, positive, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender messages about civil rights and equality, we need to be ready to counter their arguments…their movement to crush equality, liberty, and justice for all.

I’m referring here to the news coverage of the City of Gainesville, Florida’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which City Commissioners passed just about one year ago.

The Associated Press news story, “Fla. conservatives fight transgender restroom rule” (and there are headline variations) is getting a great deal of attention.  (I follow transgender-related news every day — have for many years — and that’s a lot of attention.)

With the economy going down the toilet, I don’t find it very surprising that many of the folks who cheerleaded for those who brought it on — are ramping up diversionary societal acrimony.

It’s been going on in Montgomery County (Maryland) too, among other places, and I expect it will become (even more so) staple fare for the LaBarberas, the Barbers, the Sheldons and the like.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A blond girl heads from a playground into a women’s restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. ”Your City Commission Made This Legal,” the words on the TV screen read.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city’s roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they’re most comfortable using.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.

The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

”You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in,” one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as ”Keep Men out of Women’s Restrooms and vice versa.”

Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force notes 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections. An attempt to repeal an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., failed when a court ruled opponents did not collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

Citizens for Good Public Policy, the group behind the commercial that aired last summer in Gainesville, collected more than 6,000 signatures last summer to win a referendum. If approved, the repeal measure would also prevent the commission from adding protections beyond what the state requires: race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability and marital status.

Cain Davis, chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, said the issue is about regulating a ”government gone wild” and ensuring public safety, charging that sexual predators could now simply enter a women’s restroom claiming to be a transgender individual.

”We know when men go into women’s restrooms, bad things can happen,” Davis said.

City Commissioner Craig Lowe, leader of a group called Equality is Gainesville’s Business, called the ads from Davis’ group a grossly distorted attempt to whip up fears.

Lowe’s group believes anti-discrimination protections for people who change their sexual orientation are good for business and foster diversity. He noted that 433 of the Fortune 500 companies have policies covering sexual orientation and 153 cover gender identity.

Since the ordinance took effect, police have reported no problems in public restrooms stemming from the law.

Retired postal worker Donna Lee, who became a female with surgery in 2001, moved to Gainesville from Ocala last March after hearing about the anti-discrimination ordinance. The 60-year-old is working to save the protections.

”We just want to live our lives with the basic civil rights that everyone else has,” Lee said.

But some are taking no chances.

Computer programmer Clare Holman, who was born male but now lives as a female, said she simply stays away from public toilets.

”I don’t want to run afoul of the law by using the wrong restroom,” Holman said.

——

On the Net:

Equality is Gainesville’s Business: http://equalitygainesville.com

Citizens for Good Public Policy: http://citizensforgoodpublicpolicy.org

~~~~~

Related …

The View From (Ab)Normal Heights

City of Gainesville: Gender Identity Anti-discrimination Ordinance Legislative History (PDF)

City of Gainesville: Meeting Agenda (1/28/08) (PDF) [see pages 40-42]

City Of Gainesville: Ordinance No. 051225 (1/28/08) (PDF)

Transgender ordinance backlash (2/3/08) (St.Petersburg Times)

I get angry reading about the same tactics over and over again against LGBT civil rights legislation - You just can’t sell me that this isn’t about hate when were seeing these same, hateful “Christian” mistruths and fear tactics used over and over again. When do we develop some good answers to his and his “Christian” peers’ lies and fear tactics?

From Pride Source:

KALAMAZOO-Less than one month after the City of Kalamazoo Commission voted 7-0 to adopt an expanded human rights ordinance that makes it illegal to use sexual orientation to discriminate in housing, public accommodations and employment, petitions were filed Dec. 31 to repeal it.

City Clerk Scott Borling said that the circulators of the petition had filed over 1,600 signatures. If at least 1,273 of them are valid city registered voters, it will cause the new ordinance to be suspended immediately.

The city charter states that valid referendum petitions require the commissioners to take up the challenge at the next regular meeting which will be held on Jan. 26. They will either repeal the ordinance or place it on a ballot for city voters to decide. The certification process began Friday and the outcome should be known sometime this week.

The American Family Association of Michigan, led by Gary Glenn and Kalamazoo County Treasurer Mary Balkema, a former City Commissioner, submitted the petitions. Glenn has been quoted in local press claiming that the new ordinance would force some people to base decisions that run counter to their religious convictions, as well as possibly violate the privacy of women and children.

Glenn has led every challenge across the state in the past decade to defeat city ordinances that include sexual orientation and gender identity. A circulated flyer of talking points stated, “This ordinance violates the First Amendment rights of religion and free speech of those who oppose cross-dressing and homosexual behavior.”

Glenn has used scare tactics in other ballot initiatives. For example, the title of one of the petition circulator scripts reads, “IS THERE A MAN IN YOUR DAUGHTER’S BATHROOM?” …

First I rant about a lack of an effective counter argument to the same, tired arguments of the conservative “Christians,” and then I sigh. *Sigh.*

~~~~~
Related:
* A Further Update: Why A Commission Is Investigating The Suspension Of A Trans Student
* MA Haters Using Prop 8 Celebration to Fundraise Against Trans Rights
* The Ambiguous Feelings About Peeing In Public Restrooms
* White Male Privilege & Women’s Fear Of Crime Intersecting With Gender Expression & Public Restrooms
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
* The Predator Argument Doesn’t Work With Transgender Fifth Graders
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

Here in my hometown of San Diego, there’s been a long time effort to remove the Boy Scout Camp from Balboa Park. This is being spearheaded by the ACLU — the long running court case to eject the Boys Scouts from Balboa Park is regarding the Boy Scouts official policy of discriminating against atheist, non-theist, and LGBT leaders, parents, and children, and how these policies regarding religious creed violate state and federal law, as well as how these policies based on sexual orientation and gender identity violate state law. Essentially, the City of San Diego is, and has been subsidizing discrimination by the Boy Scouts on public parkland with below market lease rates. San Diego is no longer defending the below market leases in the ongoing court cases, so it’s only the Boy Scouts at this point that are arguing that they should be allowed to discriminate against leaders, parents, and children because of their religious creed, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity.

As ACLU volunteer attorney Matt Stephens described the situation back in 2004:

The Boy Scouts cannot have it both ways. Having gone to great lengths to establish that discrimination against gays and non-believers is essential to their mission, and therefore protected by the First Amendment, they cannot now turn around and ask the people of San Diego to foot the bill for that discrimination.

The 9th Circuit Court Of Appeals has mad a ruling regarding in the past week regarding Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The state Supreme Court, after a nearly two-year delay, will be asked to determine whether city of San Diego leases of Balboa Park land violate the state constitution’s ban on government preference for religious groups.
The move Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing a lawsuit challenging the leases, is the latest turn in the long-running case.

…The case focuses on a 2003 ruling by U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones in San Diego. Jones struck down two leases that the city had with the Scouts for 16 acres in Balboa Park and on Fiesta Island. Jones concluded the Boy Scouts, which bars openly gay leaders and requires members to take an oath to God, is a religious organization and the leases amounted to government assistance to religion.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple. The Scouts appealed, and in December 2006, the federal appeals court said it wanted the state Supreme Court first to weigh in on three questions of state law: Do the leases amount to aid to religion; if so, does that aid support a sectarian purpose; and do the leases violate the state constitution’s “no preference” ban on government favoring a religious group.

Federal courts on occasion will ask state high courts to issue opinions on unique questions of state law that arise in cases before federal judges.

Back in December of 2006, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America, according to a December, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article, that:

[Below the fold, some history of Barnes-Wallace v. Boy Scouts of America.]

Read the rest of this entry »

In the piece Commission to investigate suspension of transgender student, I made a reasonable assumption that a transgender student was harassed for using a female restroom based on operative status. Apparently, she was discriminated against relating to whether or not she had genital reconstruction surgery (GRS), but it apparently was for being post-operative, and not pre-operative. From the New York Daily Record:

Jamie Nicole Anderson says she just wants to be treated like everyone else. The York woman is a 42-year-old ex-Marine who takes her 11-year-old son to school and never misses his football, baseball or hockey games.

…In May, she got a sex change operation, from male to female, and, she says, that’s when the trouble started.

…Anderson said she was banned from using a women’s rest room and was repeatedly referred to as “he” and “his” by her [Harrisburg Area Community College (HAAC)] clinical instructors.

Further:

Anderson said she was suspended for three days Oct. 2 by HACC for “insubordination,” using the women’s rest room after being told not to because some operating room employees said they were “uncomfortable” with her being there.

Anderson said she was dismissed from her program Oct. 30 for her violation of a dress code that forbids more than two earrings in an ear.

“I forgot to take (one) out that day,” she said.

Anderson said she filed the complaint because she wants the situation corrected for her and other transgendered people like her.

If one is born with a penis, I tend to believe the arguments against fully inclusive anti-discrimination language will always revolve around the bathroom, whether or not a trans person/a person of trans history currently has a penis or not. Some transsexuals (and people of trans history) see a difference between pre-operative and post-operative folk where anti-discrimination rules should only be applied to the post-operative folk. In the real world where discrimination is often based on fear and/or hate, discrimination is often based on what the genitals looked like at birth, not what one’s genitals look like now, or not what gender one is between the ears. It’s based on societal gender norms associated with natal genitalia shape — just as it is for effeminate gay and straight men, and masculine lesbian and straight women.

Anti-discrimination laws that give legal recourse for sexual orientation and gender identity and expression based discrimination are what keeps businesses and government from behaving badly against those perceived to be gender variant people.

Jamie is never going to be perceived as a woman by those who discriminated against her. I’m with Jamie — to correct the situation for her and other transgender people like her, sometimes one has to fight against unacceptable behavior.

~~~~~
Related:
* MA Haters Using Prop 8 Celebration to Fundraise Against Trans Rights
* The Ambiguous Feelings About Peeing In Public Restrooms
* White Male Privilege & Women’s Fear Of Crime Intersecting With Gender Expression & Public Restrooms
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
* The Predator Argument Doesn’t Work With Transgender Fifth Graders
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”
* I’m Going To Colorado In August With PHB; I’m Going To Make Use Of Public Accommodations
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

News and views for Sunday, December 21st through Tuesday, December 23rd …

[CA, USA] Transgender art student Micha Cardenas recently spent 15 days in a virtual world: ” … the bigger surprise is how well Cardenas says she’s adapted to living almost entirely in a virtual world. Reality and unreality occasionally blur. Online interactions feel as immediate as those in the lab. This is a revelation since one of Cardenas’ project goals is answering the question of whether the requirement that transgender people spend one year living as the opposite sex before gender reassignment surgery could be supplanted with living for a year in a virtual world … The answer, though, isn’t quite so clear-cut. “The real life requirement is about dealing with the hardships, rejections and bias that transgender people experience.” In Second Life, Cardenas says social mores tend to be more tolerant: Everybody can be anybody.” — Online-world immersion probes ‘possibilities of transformation’

[MD, USA] Montgomery County’s transgender rights law barely avoided a ballot challenge last month: “Just one vote on the state’s highest court kept a challenge to Montgomery County’s new ban on discriminating against transgender individuals off the ballot on Election Day. Explaining its Sept. 9 order blocking the referendum attempt, the Court of Appeals on Friday revealed its vote had been 4 to 3. The majority said the law’s opponents had not gathered enough valid signatures to force a popular vote. The court also held the law’s backers had not waited too long to contest the Montgomery County Board of Elections’ decision to permit the referendum.  “It would have been nice [to have had it] 4-3 the other way,” said Kevin Karpinski, a partner at Karpinski, Colaresi & Karp P.A. in Baltimore, who represented the elections board before the court. The controversial law, which went into effect shortly after the court’s order, bans discrimination against the transgendered in employment, public accommodations, housing, cable television and taxicab service.” — Top court explains why it kept transgender-law challenge off ballot

[NV, USA] “It has been a bizarre year in golf … At the recent RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship here at Mesquite Regional Park, the year grew even stranger … it is odd but true that the new women’s world champion is a 55-year-old bartender who used to be a man. Although golf is a sport largely without controversy, the reign of long-drive queen Lana Lawless, who lives in Palm Springs, Calif., is expected to be neither tranquil nor uneventful. For starters, there is her startling honesty. “This is who I am. This is my life,” she said firmly. “That other person, that 245-pound SWAT cop I used to be, he’s gone. He’s not coming back.” — Long-drive champ shares her secret

[TX, USA] Jennifer Gale was honored at a memorial service Sunday in Austin: “A homeless advocate, perennial mayoral candidate and vivacious character to Austin was remembered Sunday. Jennifer Gale was found dead early Wednesday morning on an Austin street. Her cause of death has not yet been determined, but homeless advocates hope her death sheds light on those shivering in the shadows.” — Austin community remembers Jennifer Gale (Video), Memorial Service honors Austin original Jennifer Gale

[USA] “The Bush administration, in its final days, issued a federal rule Thursday, Dec. 18, reinforcing protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures because of religious or moral objections … Transgender advocates say the new rule could have a huge impact on health care for transgender men and women. “Transgender people already experience tremendous hostility and discrimination in the health care setting,” said Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Executive Director Michael Silverman said. “We oppose HHS’ new regulation and call upon President-elect Obama and the new administration to rescind this policy as soon as they take office.”” — Trans advocates protest Bush’s 11th-hour HHS rule change

[USA] “The vast majority of brutality against gays is carried out by young men, usually acting in groups, said Riki Wilchins, executive director of Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, a Washington nonprofit that works in schools to address discrimination. Their victims most often are other young men with feminine demeanors or transgender women, said Wilchins. “These assailants are looking to eradicate and exterminate something that enrages them, and that is what makes them hate crimes,” he said … Many of the incidents that have captured headlines this year — from the February shooting death of a gay teenager at his Southern California middle school to this month’s slaying of a Brooklyn man who was fatally beaten while walking arm-and-arm with his brother — fit Wilchins’ profile. Larry King, the 15-year-old shot by a classmate, wore feminine clothing and makeup. Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, was beaten with a baseball bat in Brooklyn and kicked by three men who jumped out of a car yelling anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs.” — Many suffered from anti-gay violence in 2008

[Netherlands] “A new investigation into the tangled sex lives of deep-sea squid has uncovered a range of bizarre mating techniques … The study also identified the first known transgender squid: Ancistrocheirus lesueurii. Some males of this species studied for the survey not only resembled the opposite sex in size and appearance but were found to have developed female sex glands. One possible explanation is that the males impersonate females to sneak undetected among potential mates, Hoving said. Alternatively, it may be that waterborne residues from human contraceptive pills or other “gender-bending” pollutants known to be affecting fish and amphibians are also harming the squid, Hoving said. Previous studies have suggested “contaminating chemicals are slowly getting into the deep-sea food web,” Hoving noted.” — Bizarre Squid Sex Techniques Revealed

[Netherlands] “Amsterdam hosted a Christmas celebration for its gay community on Sunday featuring a nativity tableau with a male Mary in drag that church organizations denounced as an affront to traditional values. Organizers said the event was meant to raise Amsterdam’s profile as a gay capital at a time when homosexuals feel threatened. Christians for Truth, an independent religious group, had asked the city council to cancel the “Pink Christmas,” event, saying it made a mockery of Christian tenets. The city did not comment. A male entertainer known as Wendy Mills posed as Mary in a blonde wig and high-heeled black boots and holding a plastic doll. Another man played Joseph in black leather trunks and a silver shawl … “By portraying Joseph and Mary as homosexuals, a twisted human fantasy is being added to the history of the Bible,” Christians for Truth said in a statement ahead of the event.” — Amsterdam’s gay Christmas features Mary in drag

[Vatican City] From Time, “”The celebration of the birth of the Lord is at our doorstep …” Thus began Pope Benedict XVI in his annual pre-Christmas address to top Vatican officials. But rather than a pro forma holiday wish of good tidings, the pontiff delivered his latest heavy-hitting discourse on everything from ecology to ecumenism, with carefully chosen citations from past Popes and even Friedrich Nietzsche. The topic that most grabbed press attention came about halfway through the 30-minute long address: transsexuals. Without actually using the word, Benedict took a subtle swipe at those who might undergo sex-change operations or otherwise attempt to alter their God-given gender. Defend “the nature of man against its manipulation,” Benedict told the priests, bishops and cardinals gathered Monday in the ornate Clementine hall. “The Church speaks of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this order is respected.” The Pope again denounced the contemporary idea that gender is a malleable definition. That path, he said, leads to a “self-emancipation of man from creation and the Creator.”" — The Pope’s Christmas Condemnation of Transsexuals

[UK] “Now … there is no word in the English language, that I am aware of, for the smegma-like mixture of dead skin cells, gynaecological lube, stale urine (gives it its distinctive smell) and sweat that is sometimes present as a white residue on the end of a dilation stent when a post-operative trans woman withdraws the stent after dilating her neovagina. I propose rectifying this linguistic oversight. I propose naming this mixture, “bindel”. All those in favour, say “Aye” (and better still, link to this post so that Google finds it).” — Coining Petty Neologisms for the Sisterhood

[South Africa] “South Africa hosted the first ever African Strategy Workshop for transgender activists last week … There is only one transgender organisation, Gender DynamiX, on the whole continent. The African Strategy Workshop was designed to help activists, “document human rights abuses against transgender people, derive best practices for human rights advocacy, and share information on gender identity, reassignment surgery and hormone treatment.” … Activists focused on the case of South African Daisy Dube, who was murdered in Johannesburg after requesting that she not be called istabane (a derogatory Zulu slang word, similar to faggot).” — Trans activists attend first pan-African meeting

News and views for Friday, December 19th and Saturday, December 20th …

[MO, USA] Writing in Camp this week, Jamie Tyroler notes that “As everyone knows, the economy has been horrible the last several months. Stores have closed, as have restaurants and bars. Many companies, including large multinational corporations, have laid people off.  The futures of giants General Motors and Chrysler are in question. According to the History Channel’s recent program Crash: The Next Great Depression?, “the stock market has dropped a third since 2007, hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, home foreclosures doubled between 2007 and 2008, venerable financial institutions have shut their doors, and the auto industry found itself on the verge of bankruptcy.” Unfortunately, for many transgender people, this is not much different from day-to-day living. Many of us are unemployed or underemployed.” — For 2009, the Economy Matters Most to the Transgender Community

[OH, USA] From Gay People’s Chronicle, led by a group of influential, mostly black ministers, opponents of Cleveland’s recently-passed domestic partner registry legislation will seek a public vote on the bill: “A domestic partner registry passed by city council last week appears to be headed for the ballot box … a group of conservative ministers say they will try to stop it with a citywide vote … “It is our aim to put it back in front of council,” [Rev. C. Jay] Matthews said of the registry. Matthews said he was not sure how it would be done, but talked about putting the measure on the ballot for the public to decide … Cleveland’s charter gives two ways [referendum or initiative] to put a matter before the voters.” — Referendum looms over partner registry

Interestingly, Council member Zack Reed, who voted against the registry, said “he would vote for an ordinance to add gender identity to the city’s non-discrimination codes. Said Reed, “I have been a friend to the LGBT community and I will continue to be.”

[OH, USA] Also from the Chronicle, what happened to Cleveland’s transgender rights bill, which the City Council was expected to approve at the same meeting at which it passed the partner registry bill: “A measure to add transgender people to the city’s non-discrimination code was delayed this month for more legal review, says its sponsor, not because of strong opposition to an unrelated domestic partner registry … [the bill's sponsor, Council member Joe] Santiago said the protection of transgender people is different from the partner registry, and he is not expecting the same kind of backlash. “This has to do with equal rights,” he said. “Nothing else.” … The TG bill’s delay produced speculation that it might somehow be related to the registry opposition. But the measure was held back because the city law department isn’t finished with it yet, said city spokesperson Andrea Taylor, and it shouldn’t be interpreted as anything other than that. “They are just doing a thorough review,” Taylor said, “It’s an internal review” which has taken a little longer than expected. Santiago says he expects the ordinance to be ready to be voted on when council returns from its holiday recess in January.” — Cleveland TG bill will move in January, says sponsor

[OH, USA] And Chronicle coverage of Columbus’ passage of its transgender rights bill: “Ohio’s capital city became its fifth to protect transgender people from discrimination with passage of an ordinance on December 15. City council passed the measure unanimously before a packed chamber, with many people wearing rainbow stickers. The move came after last week’s hearings and public comment that revealed little opposition. The ordinance updates sections of the city code to bar discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and “ethnic intimidation,” which is Ohio’s term for hate crime … Shane Morgan, who is transgender, told the committee some of his personal story of transitioning. “I just want to see all people have the same opportunity to succeed in life,” Morgan said, “and no more violence.” Karen Patrick, who is also transgender and a Cincinnati native, also emphasized that Columbus is behind the times now. Mental health professional Michelle Crane testified “in support of the whole package” and told the committee that with discriminating conditions against transgender people going largely unaddressed, 50 percent attempt suicide by age 30. McCauley testified that 12 percent of hate crimes are committed on the basis of gender identity and expression.” — Columbus TG equality law passes with few opponents

[TX, USA] Austin, Texas’ non-discrimination ordinance was not much help for Jennifer Gale. From Zoe Brain, “Why was she, a well-known character and perennial mayoral candidate homeless? Well, those who are Transgendered are often so. But why could she not at least sometimes avail herself of a homeless shelter, the one run in Austin by the Salvation Army? Because they would have put her amongst men, many of them of less than upstanding moral character. Austin has laws in place that prohibit discrimination in many ways - but religious organisations are exempt. They are allowed to be.. selective.. in their charity. They are allowed to pass by the wayside, when others are not.” — Two Point Eight Degrees

[PA, USA] Some more on Jamie Nicole Anderson’s trans bias case against Harrisburg Area Community College (the putative reason for her dismissal from the HACC nursing program): “Anderson said she was suspended for three days Oct. 2 by HACC for “insubordination,” using the women’s rest room after being told not to because some operating room employees said they were “uncomfortable” with her being there. Anderson said she was dismissed from her program on Oct. 30 for her violation of a dress code that forbids more than two earrings in an ear. “I forgot to take (one) out that day,” she said. Anderson said she filed the complaint because she wants the situation corrected for her and other transgendered people like her. “There are thousands of others with stories exactly like mine,” she said. But she said she didn’t want to be the poster child for transgenders or victims of discrimination. “This is not something I asked for,” she said.” — Ex-student claims transgender bias by HACC

[India] From the Times of India, it seems (to me anyway) that this “first-of-its-kind” surgery, which cost 2,000,000 Rupees ($42,480.98), must involve more than “nerves”: “What eunuchs inflicted on Chandrashekar was undone after a first-of-its-kind 36-hour surgery by doctors at Apollo Hospital here [Bangalore] … Chandrashekar was kidnapped by Mangala alias Basavaraju of Nelamangala and was forced to undergo a sex-change operation in Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh … Pai told TOI it wasn’t plastic surgery, but that nerves removed from the hand and skin were used to recreate his sex organ. The surgery, which usually cost Rs 20 lakh in the US, was done for free.” — Doctors reverse eunuchs’ damage to boy

[NY, USA] From the New York Times, a boy from Brownsville, Brooklyn, brushed off teasing and bullying to make the cut at the usually for girls Holiday Classic Double Dutch Competition at the Apollo Theater: “Like many pioneers before him, ZeAndre has discovered that stepping across traditional boundaries can make you a target. When he told his mother, Crystal Orr, about joining the Jazzy Jumpers, her first response was, “Oh, no, Double Dutch is for girls!” But compared with the boys in his school, his mother was an easy sell. He was mocked, he had his masculinity called into question, and once, ZeAndre was even shoved down the stairs at school. The teasing regularly reduced him to tears and made him want to quit.”  — A Fifth-Grade Pioneer in Double Dutch [VIDEO]

News and views for Tuesday, December 16th …

[OH, USA] As expected the Columbus City Council last night passed a transgender anti-discrimination law. News report and video from NBC 4 in Columbus: “At Monday night’s Columbus City Council meeting, council had a plateful, voting on … whether or not to extend employment protection benefits to people who consider themselves to be transgendered. It was a packed house in council chambers as people listened in to hear which way council would vote…and they said yes to extending protections when it comes to discrimination because of age, disability, pregnancy or gender identity and expression.” — Citizens Pack In To Hear Council’s Decisions

(More on the new ordinance in Columbus can be found at the TransOhio blog.)

[USA] The “Earthlings Welcome Here” episode of Terminator, which aired Monday evening on Fox (and which can be viewed online here), featured a transgender character. Some reactions to the episode from Kate Bornstein and GLAAD. — Kate Bornstein Weighs in on Last Night’s Trannytastic Terminator, Terminator Terminates Transgender TV Cliches

[USA] The Boston University student paper, BU Today, has a video feature today on transgender student, Emeri Burks: “But as a young boy growing up in Jefferson City, Mo., Emeri Burks wished only to be a girl. “I prayed every day for the body that would fix things, that would make everything right,” recalls Burks (CAS’08). “More than anything, I wanted to be anatomically and biologically female.” It wasn’t until sophomore year of high school that Burks learned of a word that explained the feelings he had wrestled with for years: transsexual. “A transsexual is someone who identifies with the opposite gender of his or her born sex,” Burks says. “For me, it means that in spite of what my body, my doctors, my teachers, and society have told me, I am — and always have been — female.”  Last summer, Burks underwent sexual reassignment surgery, and today she has the body she wished for as a child. In the video above, she describes her transition from a deeply depressed boy to a much happier young woman.  “At last,” she says, “I am whole.”” — “I Like That About Me.”

[Canada] Jillian Page, who’s chronicling her transition at Patent Pending and Jillian Page: Transgender Journey, is a 23.58/7 woman. — Repentance

News and views for Sunday, December 14th and Monday, December 15th …

[NY, USA] Two news reports on the Binghamton, New York city council’s passage this evening of a transgender anti-discrimination bill: “In a move that was hailed by state civil rights groups, the city council on Monday passed a law that would outlaw discrimination against transgender individuals … Council member Sean Massey, D-5th District, who proposed the local law, said it was a “sad fact” that its protections were necessary … The director of the Central New York Civil Liberties Union, Barrie H. Gewanter, said the city was sending a strong message to state lawmakers who have not yet passed laws protecting those people … Galen D. Kirkland, Commissioner of the New York State Division of Human Rights, wrote to council members last week to express that agency’s support for the bill.” — Council approves anti-discrimination law, City council passes anti-discrimination bill

[OH, USA] In Columbus, Ohio, the city council was expected to pass a transgender anti-discrimination bill on Monday evening: “Tansgender residents of Columbus — men who consider themselves women and women who consider themselves men — would gain legal protection under legislation going before the City Council tonight. The Columbus Community Relations Commission has recommended that the city add gender identity to the list of categories in local anti-discrimination ordinances. The move would put Columbus another step beyond Ohio law and on par with dozens of other big cities and college towns … Columbus has protected gays in its civil-rights ordinances for about 20 years. Backers of the new legislation say the term sexual orientation once was thought to include people who live or dress as the opposite gender. People still refer to the “LGBT community,” which represents lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, but advocates say one’s gender identity is different from one’s sexual orientation. And acceptance of transgender people often lags, they say … Gender identity and other new categories added to the anti-discrimination ordinances also would be added to the city’s hate-crimes ordinance.” — Gender identity on city’s agenda: Anti-discrimination proposal would add transgender people

[USA] From columnist Deb Price in The Detroit News today, “But the [Schroer v. Billington] ruling, while a groundbreaking warning to other employers that they might be sued and held liable for similar discrimination, doesn’t automatically protect anyone beyond Schroer. In fact, federal judges disagree over whether federal sex discrimination laws cover transgender Americans … The ACLU is heartened, though, that President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, in an historic first, includes “gender identity” in its nondiscrimination policy for appointment-level jobs in the next administration. The legal group hopes, as president, Obama will take the next step — signing an executive order formally banning job discrimination based on gender identity within the federal civilian work force. President Bill Clinton signed a similar order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in civil service jobs.” — Activists pin hopes on Obama banning transgender bias

[USA] From today’s Washington Times, two transgender persons figure in the Young America’s Foundation’s list of “top 10″ examples in 2008 of political correctness “running amok” on college campuses: “The roster includes … West Point, the veritable bastion of military tradition, recently hosted Allyson Robinson, a transgendered speaker and one-time graduate of the Army academy … [and] the University of St. Thomas for censoring pro-life speaker Star Parker while showcasing liberal comedian-turned-Senate candidate Al Franken and Debra Davis, another transgendered activist.” — Critics of PC decry ‘top 10 abuses’ of ‘08

(Allyson Robinson currently serves as Associate Director of Diversity at the Human Rights Campaign. A report on her return to West Point — well worth the read — can be found at Trans Universe. Debra Davis recently spoke at the University of Kansas.)

[USA] A sign of the times: “Activity on TJobBank has all but stopped as far as new job postings, even from the non-profits and advocacy organizations.  Funding for non-profits has become scarce as the economy slides deeper into recession.” — Jobs - Trans-employment in a Recession

[USA] From Radha Smith, “I have argued that the gate-keeping process hampers the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist and I believe it does. I also believe that transitioners very much should have a therapist who can work with them, guide them, follow them and hold and hear their inmost yearnings, doubts and struggles … Opposition is not always a bad thing. It can help us to see cracks and fissures in our plans and timelines. It can show us areas we still require working in before we’re absolutely ready to move to the next transitional stage. Better, it seems to me, have that before one’s surgery than after. That much less work to do later on. Because, later on, we’ll still have problems. It’s inevitable. However, the impulse remains, quite naturally, among some transitioners to “game the system,” to get what I want when I want it and caution or discovery be damned. OK, I understand the impetus; but, I still maintain that sometimes the transitioner should be slowed in her headlong rush. Self-discovery and self-acceptance are always worthy attainments. The therapist who cares enough, is skilled enough, to demand that I do that for him or her should be held by me to be a “good therapist” not as one who “wants to derail me.”” — Gaming Therapists, Gaming Ourselves

News and views for Thursday, December 11th through Saturday, December 13th …

[AL, USA] “A federal judge on Friday sentenced convicted transgender bank robber Jimmy Maurice Lewis II to a term of four years in prison. Lewis, 26, is a transgender individual who was dressed as woman when she robbed the Alabama Credit Union on Alabama 67 in Decatur on Nov. 9, 2007. Lewis has artificial breast implants but still possesses male genitalia, and police and prosecutors say her plan was to rob banks to finance a sex-change operation” — Bank robber gets 4 years: Cash was wanted for sex-change surgery, police say

[CA, USA] A judgment has been reached in Juan (”Auntie Juan”) Valera’s sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit against Costco (”the Anti-Wal-Mart“): “The panel of eight men and four women deliberated for two and a half days before finding that 45-year-old Valera had suffered under a hostile work environment. However, the jury rejected a claim in the October 2006 lawsuit that Valera was a victim of sexual orientation discrimination, that Costco failed to provide accommodations for his needs, and that the company acted with malice.” — Judgment in warehouse store discrimination case: $420,000

[ID, USA] Apparently, it’s been a difficult and trying past 28 years for trans woman Catherine Carlson, and a traffic ticket dispute involving the use of her former male name was “the last straw”: “For nearly a year, Catherine Carlson refused to pay the fine for driving with a suspended license because it was issued to both her and the man she used to be. She went to jail four times over the ticket that includes both her legal name and the one she was born with, Daniel Carlson. She had surgery 28 years ago to become a woman, the gender she believes should have been assigned her at birth … Her struggle for acceptance since the sex-change operation on Thanksgiving Day 1980 has gone on much longer. She chose a life of solitude at a trailer park near the Payette city limits, rejecting a society she feels has rejected her … Dressed in black pants, a plaid shirt and hiking shoes, Carlson is rail thin with long blond hair. Fine lines map her face, she hand-rolls her cigarettes, eats little and survives on nine travel-sized mugs of coffee a day. She lives on a $1,000-a-month Social Security check, suffers from depression, emphysema and a heart condition. “Changing your gender is not going to solve all your problems,” Carlson said … She worked three jobs, saved up about $15,000 to castrate Daniel and get saline breast implants for Catherine. She took estrogen until it became too expensive … Carlson views her struggle against the local justice system as a fight for rights granted to everyone else under the U.S. Constitution, acceptance in the society she has secluded herself from for all these years. “You’re going to have to make me one of ‘We the People,’” Carlson said.” — S. Idaho transgender woman fights use of male name

[MI, USA] The recent, successful repeal of a sexual orientation/gender identity anti-discrimination ordinance by voters in Hamtramck, Michigan appears to have set the stage for a similar effort against a recently adopted anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo : “Petitions aimed at rescinding a new city ordinance banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals in housing, public accommodations and employment began circulating in Kalamazoo churches last weekend. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said Thursday that his organization is supporting the efforts of unnamed local activists toward a 2009 ballot measure to rescind the ordinance … Glenn confirmed that AFAM has a supporting role in the local petition drive. But he declined to name local organizers, saying “determining who their spokesman is is up to them.”“There is a petition being circulated to allow the citizens of Kalamazoo to make the decision on this ordinance, not the politicians,” Glenn said. “Experience proves that in other jurisdictions, ordinances like this have been used to discriminate against and penalize people who believe homosexual behavior is wrong.” — Petitions target new ordinance

[NH, USA] Brianna Cook is suing the PC Connection, accusing the company of gender discrimination in violation of state and federal law after that company declined to hire her:  “Cook is a post-operative transsexual with experience in marketing communications and sales, both as a man and as a woman, her suit states. She claims PC Connection officials implied that her hiring was assured, and that a company recruiter later told her she was eventually rejected because she hadn’t disclosed that she had previously applied to the company as a man.” — Transsexual sues over discrimination

[OR, USA] What were members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church really doing in Silverton a couple of weeks back protesting the election of its new transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen? Well, one person evidently thinks it’s all part a devious and subversive transgender agenda and he sets the record straight: “Could this whole affair of protesting Silverton’s new transgender (a man dressing as a woman) mayor be a well-organized set-up to foster and make acceptable transgendering? The Westboro church may be a front organization to make sensational news through “hate messages” under the guise of Christianity, thus undermining true Christianity. … The infinite wisdom of God makes no mistakes. Men are men, women are women. That is the reality now and forever no matter how they dress or alter their bodies.” — Church’s protest could be a setup to make sensational news

[WA, USA] The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is a trailblazer when it comes to the formulation and implementation of policy governing the participation of trans persons in organized athletics: “Before the 2006-07 school year, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association had never fielded a question about transgender athletes. That year, they received four inquiries about whether teenagers with non-traditional gender identities could compete for their schools. Trans issues were no longer out of bounds. “No one had ever asked, so we had no policy” … the 2007 policy talked about “transgender” issues, the revised version referred to “gender identity or expression.” It says: “Fundamental fairness, as well as most local, state and federal rules and regulations, requires schools to provide intersex and transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in athletics. This policy creates a framework in which this participation may occur in a safe and healthy manner that is fair to all competitors.” The policy says that if questions arise whether “a student’s request to participate in a sex-segregated activity consistent with his or her gender identity is bona fide,” the student may seek review of eligibility through a confidential process, beginning with his or her school administrators. A hearing would then be scheduled before a WIAA committee specifically established to consider gender identity appeals. The committee is to include at least one person from the medical or mental health field who is familiar with gender identity issues … ” — Washington embraces trans athletes

[USA] “The Human Rights Campaign is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to implement numerous non-legislative changes to improve the lives of gay and transgender Americans … The many changes recommended by HRC include expanding President Bill Clinton’s executive order barring discrimination in the federal workplace on the basis of sexual orientation to include gender identity … Other recommendations include … [requiring] that the federal government only hire contractors that have non-discrimination provisions for sexual orientation and gender identity categories … [and] allowing the Internal Revenue Service to provide reimbursements for medical expenses in the gender-transition process through tax-preferred flexible spending accounts. Also, allowing transgender people to change their gender markers on federal documents and records, including passports.” — HRC asks Obama to make pro-gay changes: Requests include expanding non-discrimination protections

[UK/Turkey] “The biology behind the raging-hormone rite of passage known as puberty has long been a mystery. Just as the pimply, mood-swinging teen puzzles parents, the process that sets the teenager off has also stumped scientists. But researchers from Turkey and England say they have discovered one of the master molecules that triggers sexual maturity.” — Research uncovers puberty genes

[UK] “A Guilford woman has revealed how a sex change [over "£60,000 worth of surgery in America, Thailand and Britain"] has helped her conquer the business world. Kate Craig-Wood was a man up until three years ago, but last week she was named one of the main winners at the NatWest Everywoman Awards.” — Sex change Kate has never looked back

[Vietnam] Regrets? The Thanh Nien Daily reports that for some Vietnamese transwomen gender reassignment surgery is “much pain, little gain.” — Transsexuals find new body doesn’t ensure happiness

[Singapore] Three videos from The Straits Times on transgender life in Singapore and Thailand: Transgenders among us (Part 1) (00:15:12), Transgenders among us (Part 2) (00:17:20), Transgenders among us (Part 3) (00:11:47)

[UK] A message from Lucy Parker — who was the subject of the BBC shows “Teen Transsexual” and “Lucy: Teen Transsexual in Thailand” — and who soon will no longer be a teen …

“I have always held the belief that all people, no matter race, religion or sexual orientation, are entitled to equal rights. As many know, I consider myself a devout and faithful Mormon. I prefer to keep the details around my contribution through my church a private matter. But I am profoundly sorry for the negative attention that my actions have drawn to Film Independent and for the hurt and pain that is being experienced in the GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] community.”
–L.A. Film Festival director Richard Raddon

Filling in the background of that public statement, the Los Angeles Times is reporting the following in their article L.A. Film Festival director Richard Raddon resigns:

Richard Raddon, the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival who has been at the center of controversy ever since it was revealed almost two weeks ago that he had contributed $1,500 to the campaign to ban gay marriage in California, resigned from his post over the weekend.

The nonprofit arts organization Film Independent sponsors both the Los Angeles Film Festival, held in May, and the popular Independent Spirit awards. Raddon is a member of the Mormon Church, which actively called on its congregants to work for the passage of Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between a man and a woman.

…After Raddon’s contribution was made public online, Film Independent was swamped with criticism from “No on 8″ supporters both inside and outside the organization. Within days, Raddon offered to step down as festival director, but the board, which includes Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker, Lionsgate President Tom Ortenberg and Fox Searchlight President Peter Rice, gave him a unanimous vote of confidence.

Yet, the anti-Raddon bile continued to bubble in the blogosphere, and according to one Film Independent board member, “No on 8″ supporters also berated Raddon personally via phone calls and e-mails. The recriminations ultimately proved too much, and when Raddon offered to resign again, this time the board accepted.

That $1,500.00 donation to the Yes On Prop 8 campaign has essentially cost him his career; it’s has cost him his ability to make a living in his chosen field.

They’re feeling this same lesson about how LGBT people vote with their wallets in Texas too, of all places. From the Austin American-Statesman’s Prop. 8 backlash reaches to Texas; Austin Web site has ‘blacklist’ for businesses linked to money that supported gay marriage ban:

[Below the fold: Dell, Cinemark, wingnut Michelle Malkin, and reference to a 2001 survey by Harris Interactive/Witeck-Combs Communications.]

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Last July, a JJ In Chicago posted a comment at the Box Turtle Bulletin that included the following statement:

…How much lobbying are transgendered people doing on behalf of gay men and lesbians?

(And no, trans board members on state and national non-profits don’t count. I mean private citizens.)

How many trans folks are lobbying to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell??

How many trans folks are lobbying to end a relic of the Anita Bryant era– Florida’s complete ban on gay men and lesbians to adopt children??

The truth is very few, if any. That’s because it’s not their issue. They can’t have it both ways.

So, while fresh with same-gender marriage/marriage equality being in the spotlight, I’d like to hightlight that trans people have been involved working on marriage equality here in San Diego. Specifically how trans people were involved in San Diego’s Join The Impact event on Saturday, November 15th, if only just to highlight one example of involement as a representative example.

So although one of the reasons why I’m doing a little documentation is to accentuate the positive about working for change, what JJ in Chicago wrote last July reminds me that sometimes it’s also about stemming off negative perceptions that aren’t necessarily reality based; sometimes it’s about pointing out where people we don’t necessarily expect to be working on broad LGBT issues are working on broad issues.

“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.”
–Martin Luther King Jr.

There were trans people marching, and there were trans people in the planning process. At the Marriage Equality/Join The Impact march in San Diego a week ago Saturday, there were at least 20,000 participants. There were trans people marching, and there were trans people in the planning process.

Let me cite just one who was in the planning process as an example of the many.

In San Diego, the “Face Behind FaceBook” for the march was Kelly Moyer. Never heard of Kelly? Well, like so many of the new grassroots leadership, she’s been somewhat quietly working for LGBT and trans-specific issues — she’s a volunteer at the Hillcrest Youth Center an San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Center facilitating trans discussion groups. She’s also very active in San Diego’s lesbian community, working on event planning (such as for Dyke March) and is a member of a key community standing committee. She’s also on Sun Microsystems’ Gays, Lesbians and Friends (GLAF) employee resource group, working with Sun to increase the company’s diversity. Basically, she’s been “behind the scenes” — yet in plain view — for awhile.

After the Join the Impact in San Diego, she gave a speech on staying on a positive message with regards to marriage equality. I don’t have to agree with everything she says to understand that her message is important.

Below the fold is the last few paragraphs from her November 15th speech.

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