Let me begin by saying that I believe it’s unlikely that ex-gay, Christian right, City Council candidate James Hartline is really a pedophile. But, it certainly is strange that Hartline, in slamming an LGBT friendly teacher I know, pulled out the pedophilia card in the process of railing against the “radicalized pro-homosexual teacher”. Here’s what Hartline wrote:

For pedophiles who are looking to improve their dark techniques for accessing the minds of small children, [Voice of San Diego reporter Emily] Alpert’s article and [the third grade teacher]‘s classroom propaganda will certainly add to the arsenals of every child molester’s instructional manual. Take for example, the twisted response that [the teacher] gives to another question by Emily Alpert in her Voice of San Diego article:

Q: How do you see those issues playing out in the classroom? Do you see them on a daily basis?

[Teacher]: “They come up often, even in third grade. It takes innocent forms … Like, ‘How can you be using a pink crayon?’ Something stupid like that. I always use that opportunity to tell them my favorite color is pink. It’s not. It’s blue. But the eyebrows go up. … If you do like pink, what does that say about you? I bring up gay and lesbian. I’ll mention those words in the third grade.”

Pardon me, but Hartline lived a gay man for most of his life.   Since he lived the majority of his life as a gay man, should we now consider him a potential danger to children? He’s tied pedophilia to being gay … does that mean he molested kids when he lived the “homosexual lifestyle?”

No, it doesn’t. Being gay doesn’t equate to being a child molester. In his heart, I’m about sure he knows that gay doesn’t equate to pedophilia, otherwise he would have had to previously say that he shouldn’t considered safe to be left alone around children.

So, this all said, I’m irritated.  Pious hypocrites irritate me, and James Hartline is as self-righteous and irritating as a pious hypocrite can come.

I know it happens, these “stories,” and “gender bliss” may be elusive, ephemeral or simply unattainable for some.

But I would have hoped someone at the Broward New Times would not have gone along with the “tranny” and “sweepstakes” bit, at least … like the Barneys need any help “narrowing” their “stance” …

For the first time since he packed Michelle’s things away, Michael Berke tugs the cord of the attic door above his garage. Surrounding him in the suburban Delray Beach garage are power tools, bicycles, sandpaper, and a lawn mower, though Berke’s prized possession — a Harley — is in the shop at the moment.

Berke, who is 43, looks the biker-dude part. He’s a solid six-footer in a black cutoff T-shirt, Harley jeans, the beginnings of a Fu Manchu, tattoos, and a freckled, clean-shaven head. He climbs the wooden ladder and, in one final, creak-inducing impetus, heaves himself into the attic.

It’s mostly Michelle’s stuff up here, Berke says, looking around reflectively. Just before Michelle disappeared, she gave it away to a friend, Rachael Balentine, who some day will come to claim it. Balentine has apparently hit the accessories jackpot.

“She [Michelle] had so many purses and things,” Berke says, unsealing a blue plastic bin. He lifts out a knee-high black XOXO boot and studies it. “These were Michelle’s favorite pair of shoes,” he says, petting the leather.

He reaches into a white plastic bag and retrieves a magenta alligator purse from Guess. Michelle had Chanel shoes to match, he remembers. There was also the zebra-print jacket, with fake pink blood on it and the pink lining. Michelle loved wearing pink.

Really, she just loved to shop, Berke says. Over the year and a half that she ruled Berke’s life, she bought 45 pairs of strappy high-heels, mostly from DSW. For bras, she always opted for Victoria’s Secret. Everything she bought had to be tight, vibrant, and provocative.

Berke wishes that he had more pictures of her in those stunning outfits. Or a bottle of Michelle’s elegant Incanto perfume. He can almost hear her gravelly voice, making those offbeat jokes. “Hickory, dickery, dock — I got tits and a cock,” she used to say. He’ll even miss her impulsive spending.

“She bankrupted me,” Berke says with a smile.

It’s been two years since those D-sized breasts, beautiful legs, fire-red hair, and killer smile all belonged to him. Literally.

You can read the rest of “Tranny regret” here.

And, no, I don’t suppose Calvary Chapel will have any regrets.

Some trans-related and not-so-trans-related items in the news, Thursday edition …

#1 – Stephanie dedicates this to Lana and Larry …

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/pNk3o6aJepo" width="285" height="235" wmode="transparent" /]

#2 – This is the ENDA, my friends …

House Committee Hears From Gay Victims Of Job Discrimination

Witnesses show support for Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Federal LGBT Rights Bill Gets Hearing

Congress considers protection for LGBT workers

Federal job bias bill gets first hearing in five years

#3 – Vladimir Moran Miller is following closely in the footsteps, as it were, of another transgender teen, Rochelle Evans …

An Ozarks mother says her son is being discriminated against at school and she’s working hard to keep him in class. The mother says the problem lies in the guidelines inside the Springfield Public School’s student handbook.

Fashionable jeans, purses and the latest trend in make-up may not be unusual for many high school girls, but for an Ozarks student, it is causing some controversy.

Vladimir Moran Miller says he’s been fighting to be normal all his life.

“At first, when I go to a new school nobody will know and then they will figure out and then will be shocked for a day or two and then after that they’ll be cool.” says Miller.

Many of Miller’s friends and teachers already know the 15-year-old freshman, who looks like a girl, was actually born male.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/JdlOvl36Uq0" width="285" height="235"/]

“I actually thought it was a girl. I thought she had a cute bag and I told her that she had a cute bag and I noticed it was a guy and it really didn’t bother me and we’ve been friends ever since.” says Jessica Rader, Miller’s Classmate.

Vladimir’s mother, Sheila Miller, is accusing the Springfield School District of violating her transgender son’s civil rights.

…

Dress Guidelines Causing Problems for Ozarks Student

#4 – Crusader James Kennedy passed away yesterday …

Kennedy’s political efforts earned him strong praise from supporters and strong denunciations from his opponents. “Dr. Kennedy’s strong stand on social and moral issues, including the issue of homosexuality, elevated and compelled public debate,” said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, in a statement. Chambers’ group is devoted to helping gays and lesbians “change” their sexual orientation. “[Kennedy] loved Exodus, and his dedication to biblical truth has helped to spread the message of hope and change around the world.”

But the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said Kennedy’s advocacy for groups like Exodus hurt, rather than helped, sexual minorities.

“Through his advocacy of ex-gay ministries, Kennedy called for the ‘transformation’ of [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Americans while ignoring scientific truths about the lack of efficacy and gross mental, physical and spiritual harm caused by so-called ‘conversion therapy’ programs,” said Jason Cianciotto, a senior fellow for the organization’s policy institute, in a press release. “He used his media empire of television and radio programs to spread lies and misinformation to support his opposition to marriage equality, hate crimes legislation and employment nondiscrimination legislation.”

More …

Politically Powerful TV Evangelist D. James Kennedy

Rev. D. James Kennedy, Broadcaster, Dies at 76

#5 – I don’t normally give financial advice, but …

Hemlines Are Dropping. Sell Everything!

Egads. Much to the dismay of construction workers and market bulls, hemlines are dropping again, according to the Heard on the Runway blog, with many skirts and dresses extending to the ankles — or even the knees.

That’s not good for the markets, as Burton Malkiel explained in “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” all those years ago, noting that “there does seem to be a loose tendency for bull markets to be associated with bare knees, and depressed markets to be associated with bear markets for girl watchers.”

After all, the great bull market of the 1920s is associated with the flappers and short skirts, while long skirts were back in vogue during the Depression-era 1930s. The markets were great again in the 1960s, when short skirts were all the rage again (along with very little clothing otherwise). Designer Bill Blass, according to Malkiel, said in 1987 that “short skirts now look ridiculous to me,” even though fashion designers were proferring said designs in the spring of that year.

Of course, it’s difficult to project this kind of thing into the future, or, as Mr. Malkiel put it, “while there is no theoretical ceiling on stock prices, there obviously is a ceiling on dress heights.”

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Tuesday, July 31st …

David Roberts with a “film review” …

This video was released almost two weeks ago by Focus on the Family through their political mouthpiece, CitizenLink, so you may have already seen it or read commentary about it. Regardless of where you might stand on hate crimes laws, this kind of glib, heartless characterization seems unwarranted and cruel. It may also signify a certain amount of desperation. When you watch, pay attention to the last few comments.

We’ve heard gross distortions of this legislation apparently designed to scare people with the idea that, if it passes, free speech will be curtailed, pastors will be jailed, and innocent little grandmothers will be arrested for standing on a lonely street corner doing nothing more than offering tracts to passersby. What you will find at the end of this clip is what I believe is actually at the heart of the matter. Focus, et al, simply can’t allow sexual orientation to be codified into federal statutes as real and fixed, even as a byproduct.

…

The Real Reason Focus On The Family Mocks Hate Crimes

Kate Bornstein waxes poetic on “Neither/Nor” …

Gender As Neither/Nor

Great ending line …

Kiss kiss, and remember: we are everywhere.

Jenny Boylan has put some of the “storm and stress” behind her …

… I also know that I am happy now, and that gender issues are not so much at the center of my life. Like a lot of people, I have found that the long journey brought me to a place where I was free of gender. And by “free of gender” I mean two contradictory things: on the one hand, free like, I understand how random and contructed gender is now; but yes, I also mean free of gender like most other women are– free in the sense that most of the time I DON’T THINK ABOUT IT CAUSE IT’S NOT AN ISSUE.

…

Make Me One With Everything

WESH-TV, FL,USA: Police: Deceased Man Found In Miniskirt
Excerpt: A DeLand man is in jail for fatally shooting another man dressed as a woman outside a Daytona Beach restaurant on North Nova Road.

Related: 365Gay.com: Daytona Killing Not Being Investigated As A Hate Crime
Excerpt: Daytona Beach Police Monday said that the weekend killing of a man in women’s clothing is not being investigated as a hate crime.

Advertiser Adelaide, Australia: Men disguised as women attack checkpoint
Excerpt: INSURGENTS dressed as women have killed at least three soldiers in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint west of the northern oil hub of Kirkuk today, security officials said.

Anchorage Daily News: Co-worker’s sex change is upsetting (Workplace advice column)
Excerpt: Two months ago, the situation changed from odd to surreal. We were told Frank was undergoing surgery to change into a woman. We all left the meeting shaking our heads. I consider this sort of behavior immoral, and I decided I would interact with Frank only when I absolutely had to. … Two weeks ago, Frank returned from surgery. Management informed us by e-mail we were to call him “Frances.” Last week, things got worse. Frances and I got assigned to the same business process improvement committee, and so I have to work with him daily. Yesterday, I was en route to the restroom when I noticed Frank behind me in the hallway. I stopped just short of the restroom door and then he went in. This makes me nauseous.

Pam’s House Blend: My Special Reality
Excerpt: I was not fired because of real or perceived sexual orientation but I was fired specifically based on my gender expression. The Human Resource department was very careful in being explicit as to why I was being fired. My story of anti-transgender discrimination isn’t unique, there are hundreds just like it. So I ask you, where do we go to demand these rights? Where exactly was I supposed to go to demand justice for losing a job where I had spent years working holidays and weekends, sacrificing time that could have been spent with my family?

Trans Group Blog: Trans Partner Advocacy
Excerpt: But to miss the old, worse job, or thinking fondly about the time when you were single or childfree, doesn’t mean you don’t want the new change in your life. You do. But you can’t just tell your mind not to think about how it once was, either. … & Sometimes I think that’s what’s expected of partners, that we never have a time to say, “I did love him as a man.” We can’t admit that we liked the cocky or shy guy we first fell in love with, & the partners of FTMs aren’t supposed to mourn the loss of breasts and smooth cheeks that they loved to touch.

The Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church pamphlet advises on same-sex attraction
Excerpt: The LDS Church has posted the contents of a new pamphlet about same-sex attraction on its Web site. … The piece, titled “God Loveth His Children,” reiterates the church’s long-held distinction between same-sex attractions and actions, suggesting that only the latter are immoral. According to LDS doctrine, sexuality is only appropriate within heterosexual marriage. Everyone else is expected to be chaste.

The Christian Post: The Church, the APA and Homosexuality; Outsourcing God’s Work? (Opposition piece)
Excerpt: The Corinthian church had something most current churches apparently do not have—a “hands-on/no outsourcing” attitude to sin. If we attempt to rationalize “that was then, this is now” we make ourselves to be cessasionists on this issue and in so doing, imply “once a homosexual – always a homosexual.”

Sunday edition …

#1 – EDGE Boston continues its series on “ex-gays” …

Regardless of the genesis of their decision, gays and lesbians who opt to renounce their same-sex attractions find themselves with a variety of options for assistance and support. Websites, ministries, therapists and a virtual library of literature offer knowledge, first-hand accounts, and advice – but for the most part, the paths a would-be ex-gay must navigate to move forward are in many ways more confusing than those they leave behind.

The two proposed root causes of homosexuality, however, serve as a philosophical fork in the road: most transition guides serve one or the other. Essentialists believe that being gay is pre-natal, or part of a person’s natural essence; social constructionists believe that homosexuality is an aberration that occurs after birth due to upbringing and/or other social factors.

Faith-based organizations that label homosexuality as a sin – often grouped into the term “ex-gay ministries” – universally believe that one’s underlying pattern of attractions can change. After all, those who sin, according to these ministries, can repent, seek forgiveness, and change their ways. The oft-argued passages of the Bible that suggest homosexuality is an “abomination” and should result in the participants being “put to death” – Leviticus, as supported by the story of Sodom, Romans 1 and the writings of Paul – have for decades been the underpinnings of the Christian right’s objections to gays and the rights for which they fight; unfortunately, individual interpretations of the contentious passages bears little Lose Weight Exercise when compared to the gravitas of the pulpit – and the argument ultimately bears little actual relevance to the mission of the ministries. As long as people believe that homosexuality is a sin, a percentage of them are naturally likely to seek redemption.

You can read the rest of My Ex-Gay Life :: On the Road to Salvation here.

#2 – Curtis Hinkle of OII translated this Edicion Impresa article on Edinanci Silva …

Edinanci Silva was continually mocked and made fun of at school back in Campiña Grande. With all the cruelty that children sometimes become involved in, she was mocked because of her unsolved problem: she was a hermaphrodite. She had a male sexual organ, but felt like a woman; in fact, her internal reproductive organs were female. She suffered throughout her adolescence because of her situation. And after the Brazilian stepped up to the podium, she still to this day has somewhat painful memories about this after having taken first prize in women’s judo (in the division up to 78 kg).

Edinanci’s story is not new, but it remains touching. And it generates controversy, in spite of the fact she has been competing as a woman for more than a decade now. Which is how she feels about herself. Yesterday she returned to center stage for the gold medal, the same medal she won four years ago in Santo Domingo. Once again, just as the last time, there was one contestant remaining, the Argentine, Lorena Briceño, who lost in the semifinals, taking the bronze medal in the same division.

Edinanci Silva: A champion in a league of her own

#3 – If you have not seen Jenn Burleton’s short film about transgender children, “Out Of The Shadows,” give it a view (click on the pic, below) …

#4 – Daniel Scarpinato, writing yesterday in the Arizona Daily Star about Michele de LaFreniere’s complaint against a Scottsdale nightclub, notes that Equality Arizona would like to see statewide policies on choice of bathroom like …

… [the] one instituted at the University of Arizona by former President Peter Likins. The UA policy reads, “The University allows individuals to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. … The University is committed to designating and maintaining a gender-neutral restroom in as many of its buildings as reasonably feasible.”

#5 – The Sudbury Star of Canada today looks “at the lives of two individuals who have a strong desire to become members of the opposite sex” …

Starr Danyals is in the initial stage of her transition. It’s a process that will take years and could cost more than $20,000, but Danyals hopes it will bring inner peace.

“It’s something I’ve always known, that the inside of me wasn’t exactly reflected on the outside,” Danyals said.

“As a child I always played with girls’ toys, I always related to the female role.

“I remember being two years old and playing with my mother’s clothing, her lipstick and her jewelry.”

Today, Danyals is wearing an East Indian-inspired blouse and skirt with matching bandanna. Her eyes and eyebrows are outlined in black eyeliner, but a faint stubble is visible in the sunlight.

Danyals wishes to “go all the way” and have surgery to become a woman – although emotionally she feels like she’s been a woman for most of her life.

When Danyals started performing in drag about 10 year ago, it was the most comfortable she had felt in a long time.

“When I was in drag, I had a better self-esteem, I had a better self-worth. I felt attractive and that was something I never felt like as a man.”

Starr Danyals, born Daniel Valiquette, is transgendered. According to a 2000 Ontario Human Rights Commission report, Danyals belongs to one of the most “disadvantaged and disenfranchised” groups in society.

Transgendered is a term that describes, but is not limited to, cross dressers, transvestites and transsexuals – a group of people who experience a high level of harassment and discrimination based on their appearance and identification.

The 10th annual Sudbury Pride Festival will come to a close Sunday with a celebration at Market Square and march through the downtown core. The gay community notes progress in the last decade – same-sex couples can marry and adopt children, and policies have been implemented to ensure the gay community is protected from discrimination in the workplace.

Now, Sudbury Pride and other lobby groups are on board the Trans Human Rights campaign and pushing the government to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity. They say doing so would protect transsexual and transgendered people who experience barriers to employment, health care and housing.

You can read the rest of Transgendered; A look at the lives of two individuals who have a strong desire to become members of the opposite sex here.

From the Associated Press …

Holocaust survivors on Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of the Buchenwald concentration camp’s founding by honoring more than 38,000 victims whose identities had previously been unknown.

Buchenwald researchers spent the past decade scouring archives from the United States to Israel and across Germany in an attempt to identify tens of thousands of the estimated 56,000 prisoners who lost their lives at Buchenwald between 1937 and 1945, but had been known only by their camp-assigned numbers.

Archivists at the camp, perched on a hillside overlooking the eastern city of Weimer, were able to identify 38,049 victims and enter their names into a memorial book.

“The Nazis tried to reduce humans to numbers, to rob them of their identity,” said Jens Goebel, culture minister for the state of Thuringia, upon handing copies of the book to representatives of survivor groups. “That should not be the last word.”

About 8,000 Soviet prisoners of war, as well as some 9,000 who died in death marches as the Nazis tried to evacuate the camp late in World War II, remain unknown.

Most of the early inmates at Buchenwald were political prisoners. But following Kristallnacht — Night of the Broken Glass — in 1938, some 10,000 Jews were sent to the camp. Over the course of World War II, criminals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roman and German military deserters were also interned at the main camp and its many sub and labor camps.

Buchenwald marks 70th anniversary

Here are just a few links concerning the “ex-gay movement” at Buchenwald …

The Gay Holocaust – Nazi Criminals

The Nazi Doctor Who Escaped Justice

Aversion Therapy Exposed

Never forget.

Or not … Thursday Edition …

#1 – More on “ex-gay” Michael Glatze, whom we mentioned here yesterday …

It’s not difficult to see the very real origins of Michael’s feelings of revulsion, nor does it take a genius to spot the leaps of illogic that sweep him away to dubious conclusions. Anyone who spends years doing something morally against his inner conscience (as Michael did working for a magazine peddling content he found offensive) is going to have to come to a point where he faces a moral quagmire.
…

As for his stock narrative as a Reformed Gay, including all his terrible misunderstandings and misrepresentations of homosexuality, Michael’s is now a familiar tale. His story, replete with its truly offensive and defamatory attacks on an entire class of human beings and its tone deaf reading of gay culture, is best forgotten and forgiven.

The Reformed Gay: A Spiritual Path of Self-Deception

#2 – The price of sleep …

Ty Wenger, editor of Trader Monthly, a lifestyle magazine for a select segment of the self-made superrich, like hedge fund managers, agreed with this paradigm shift: a good night’s sleep isn’t a sign of weakness, but something to boast about.

“My readers are almost like athletes in the way they perceive themselves and pamper themselves,” Mr. Wenger said. “A good night’s sleep can mean millions for them the next day. How they prepare themselves for their job is the difference between brilliant and wealthy and going completely belly up. They aren’t hedonist playboys like those ’80s guys. They work out like crazy; they eat the finest food. It’s all about honing their instrument.”

Will they spend tens of thousands on mattresses?

“Absolutely,” he said.

…

Now where was the $50,000 bed? We’d discussed it on the phone — its mohair cover, its built-in iPod jacks and television. I was ready.

“It’s not here,” Mr. Ashe said. “It’s in Israel. It will be here in a year. I do have a $35,000 that’s coming next week …”

This is what’s known as the old switch-eroo.

Mr. Ashe said, in a mollifying tone, “You know, I can get you a great night’s sleep on a $17,000 bed.”

The Money’s in the Mattress

#3 – A “how to” from The Stranger …

Normal couples rent the Empathy Belly so that the man can understand what the woman is going through when she’s pregnant.

But I’m not pregnant. We don’t have kids. We’re not even trying. Patrick is wearing this 40-pound taupe vest full of water and steel balls to see what it would be like if he did it.

If he had my baby.

…

it’s basically an ectopic pregnancy. these can be carried out safely in women, although it’s rare. we’d do in vitro fertilization with my egg and your sperm. the fetus would be injected above your intestine into your abdominal cavity. it would hook up to your circulation system by attaching to an organ. (they just need a line, they do most of the rest, and you’d take female hormones, too.) it’s like a cross between IVF and the preparation for a sex change.

wow.

naturally, it’s reversible.

right.

then, you’d deliver by c-section. the delivery wouldn’t be dangerous for the baby but could be for you, because the placenta would be attached to your organs instead of to the inside of a uterus. but even that could be solved, since it’s possible you could have a uterus transplanted to contain the fetus.

Getting Patrick Pregnant
Scientists say it could be done. And my better half is the perfect candidate. All I have to do is convince him.

#4 – Blame it on testosterone …

Research has shown that women are better than men at games involving letters and words such as Scrabble. Women usually have a broader vocabulary than men, and speech development problems usually affect men three times as often.

Charles Lamoureux, soon-to-be PhD graduate of the Department of linguistics and translation, measured for the first time the impact of testosterone levels on linguistic and speech functions. The research was conducted under the supervision of Victor Boucher, and the results were presented at the ACFAS congress last May.

The first Lose Weight Exercise consisted of asking 20 male subjects to list as many words as possible starting with the letter R in 60 seconds. The Lose Weight Exercise was then repeated with the letter L. Testosterone levels were measured using saliva samples. Results indicated that the higher the level of testosterone the lower the number of words listed.

“The individual with the highest level of testosterone listed 18 words, while the one with the lowest level of testosterone listed 31 words,” explains Charles Lamoureux. The proposed explanation is that testosterone reduces the speed of lexical access. “It is possible that men have as broad a vocabulary as women, but that they have a harder time accessing it.”

To support his hypothesis the student cites research, which indicates that transsexuals who went from women to men often had difficulty with language following the testosterone treatments.

Both Lamoureux and Boucher consider an evolution aspect to the theory as well. According to the theory, masculine skills favored by evolution such as hunting required less vocabulary, while women who were left in charge of the children, required stronger communication abilities. In fact, a broad vocabulary could have been to the detriment of males in a hunting context who needed to react quickly and precisely.

Testosterone levels affect linguistic abilities

#5 – Speaking of testosterone …

Male dogs can breathe a sigh of relief. The days of removing their testicles to stop them breeding or to curb aggressive behaviour may be numbered. A contraceptive implant that halts testosterone and sperm production for months at a time is expected to gain European approval within weeks, while steps are being taken to enable the drug to be sold in the US.

Dog contraceptive signals end to castration

Wednesday edition …

#1 – EDGE Boston today begins a four-part series on “ex-gays” …

“It became clear to me, as I really thought about it, – and really prayed about it – that homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within. We cannot see the truth because we’re blinded by homosexuality.” – Michael

Such were the words of Michael Glatze, posted to a conservative Christian website on July 3rd 2007, less than one week after three leaders of an ex-gay ministry called Exodus publicly apologized at Soulforce’s recent Ex-Gay Survivor’s Conference for their roles in creating patterns of “guilt, anxiety and self-loathing” in the individuals who, struggling with their homosexuality, sought their help, indirectly or directly, to be “cured” of it.

There are currently over 150 Exodus ministries in 70 countries worldwide, actively counseling those who seek to no longer be gay or lesbian. Gay advocates deride these ministries, as well as other types of “conversion” programs, as harmful.

The remarkably-timed crossfire is the latest salvo in an ongoing battle over the questionable mutability of the LGBT community’s sexual core, amplified by the fact that Michael Glatze was, a few years ago, a gay activist. He ran, alongside his boyfriend at the time, a magazine called Young Gay America.

The rest of My Ex-Gay Life :: Choosing Heterosexuality can be found here.

#2 – It’s just a jump to the left … And then a step to the right … Let’s do the Time Warp again …

Pope Benedict has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches are defective and that other Christian denominations are not true churches.

Benedict approved a document from his old offices at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that restates church teaching on relations with other Christians.

It was the second time in a week that the Pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church.

On Saturday, Benedict revisited another key aspect of Vatican II by reviving the old Latin mass. Traditional Catholics cheered the move, but more liberal ones called it a step back.

Pope declares primacy of Roman Catholicism

#3 – Meanwhile, no doubt spurred by its concern for intersex … fish, the National Catholic Register pontificates on contraception …

When EPA-funded scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in a pristine mountain stream known as Boulder Creek two years ago, they were shocked. Randomly netting 123 trout and other fish downstream from the city’s sewer plant, they found that 101 were female, 12 were male, and 10 were strange “intersex” fish with male and female features.

It’s “the first thing that I’ve seen as a scientist that really scared me,” said then 59-year-old University of Colorado biologist John Woodling, speaking to the Denver Post in 2005.

They studied the fish and decided the main culprits were estrogens and other steroid hormones from birth control pills and patches, excreted in urine into the city’s sewage system and then into the creek.
…

But Catholics shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for environmentalists to advocate a boycott of contraceptives, said George Harden, a board member of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, based in Steubenville, Ohio.

Contracepting the Environment
Environmentalists Mum on Poisoned Streams

#4 – Speaking of hormones …

Then, in May, Marty came to his mom frantically: “Mommy, feel this lump! You have to do something!”

The other breast had budded.

His parents called Children’s because now, due to the efforts of a small but growing number of doctors around the world, something actually could be done about emerging puberty. The endocrinologist agreed that Mother Nature was revving up, preparing to take Marty the way of trainer bras, Tampax, and, as his parents and doctors predicted, increasing distress as his body developed into a sex that to him seemed a cruel trick of birth. The changes would make living as a boy impossible in the present, and he’d potentially face scarring surgery to remove unwanted breasts down the road. What’s more, the upsurge in estrogen would slow and stop his growth, making it harder for him to ever pass as a male. Of course, that’s if Marty would end up living as a man. As boyish as Marty is, no one could know for sure.

But in the present, nature could be tricked. If they all agreed, Marty would never have to develop into a woman.

It was time to put puberty on hold.

Girl/Boy Interrupted

#5 – Be careful about exposing your goods, some people can be just soooooo critical …

Vincent Chase, keep your pants on! Apparently, the only full frontal male nudity we’ll be seeing on this season of Entourage is that of the “unattractive tranny” persuasion.

Jiblets
Rachel Marsden, bitter?

CNN devotes the day to a “new series of stories that takes a closer look
at America’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community.”

The network’s special coverage about GLBT Americans provides
thought-provoking reports as it explores the morality debate over
homosexuality, investigating the issue of whether homosexuality is
genetic or learned, as well as reporting on related civil rights issues.

Special coverage culminates tomorrow, Wednesday, June 27, with a full
day of special features, on-air and online, on issues related to gay
life in America.

Among the scheduled special features are …

• Special correspondent Thelma Guitierrez’s report from Trinidad,
Colo.–the “Sex-Change Capital of the World”–for Paula Zahn Now.
Guitierrez interviews Dr. Marci Bowers, who every week performs about
five vaginoplasties, an operation to transform men into women. Nine
years ago, Bowers was a man herself, and she provides first-person
insights into the physical and emotional journey that her patients
experience.

and …

• Paula Zahn Now examining the complexities of gay and straight
lifestyles, and whether a gay person can be “turned straight.” As part
of her nightly feature segment Out in the Open, anchor Paula Zahn
speaks with several members of the “ex-gay movement,” which consists
of gay individuals who say they became straight. Paula Zahn Now airs
weekdays from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

and …

• Correspondent Gary Tuchman’s reports on the “ex-gay movement” for
Anderson Cooper 360°. Thousands of Christian conservatives are
convinced that homosexuality is a developed pathology that can be
cured. “Ex-gay ministries” have developed therapy programs that claim
to “turn” gays straight. Tuchman attends Focus on the Family’s “Love
Won Out” conference to hear first-hand from “ex-gays,” speaks to a
former “ex-gay” participant who does not believe these programs work,
and profiles a family with a gay teen who is reluctantly participating
in an ex-gay program. Anderson Cooper 360° airs weekdays from 10 p.m.
to midnight.

How does one communicate about HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission to transgender people? How does one get the attention of transpeople to even get messages about HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission to get the messages to them? These are real questions the Center for Disease Control has to grapple with.

Whatever methodology the CDC uses, there are always going to be a percentage of voters, activists, and legislators who think sending any messages to transpeople, except perhaps “go to conversion therapy and get healed of your sexual confusion,” would be a tax dollars poorly spent.

So with that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the American Family Association’s Donald E. Wildmon sent out an Action Alert to their e-mail list today regarding HIV/AIDS messaging to transgender people (even though his comments on transpeople went no further than the headline and first paragraph of the Action Alert).

In the spirit of Mr. Wildmon’s statement at the beginning of his email which states Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends, I’m forwarding the text of the letter to my blogosphere friends:

(e-letter from Donald E. Wildmon after the flip)

Read the rest of this entry »

Los Angeles Times: New ground in debate on ‘curing’ gays
Christian ministries who see homosexuality as a treatable disorder are starting to think that choice may not be a factor.

Shakesville: More On Irish Transsexuals…
Excerpt: I suspect the news will spread slowly at work, and that some people will treat me differently. Although for the most part, I expect the differences to be subtle. For which I’m eternally grateful.

Washington Post: The War Inside
Troops Are Returning From the Battlefield With Psychological Wounds, But the Mental-Health System That Serves Them Makes Healing Difficult
(As a disabled veteran myself, this was a really painful read. ~~A~~)

What’s Left In The Church: The Church and The Transgendered
Excerpt: As to the question of the place of transgendered in the Church and ministry, all I can say is that, unlike sexual orientation, we have here a horse of a whole different color. Tooley throws in all sorts of non-sequiturs – dwindling numbers (he should come to our church, which is growing by leaps and bounds), the lack of debate, etc. – and he never comes out and argues that Rev. Phoenix should not have been appointed. The reason, it seems, is clear – there is no precedent, no reason in law to deny him appointment.

Queerty: Trans Injustice in Philly
Friends Seek Erika Keels’ Killer

The Nation – Thailand: Transsexual beauty queen buys buffaloes to help poor
Excerpt: [Sararat "Arf" Klinthai] said she spent her prize money – and donations from fellow transvestite contestants – to save 50 buffaloes and cows bound for the slaughterhouse and gave 30 of them to the locals and let them sell the calves.

With all of the changes this year in how various forms of media — including the entertainment media – with how transgender people and issues are covered, I’m going to start documenting how transgender is becoming the new gay.  I mean that in the sense that the transgender civil rights movement is following a similar path to the one the gay civil rights movement has taken over the past 40-years.

Today’s example story is in how transfolk keep coming out younger and more publicly (just like coming out gay age has now dipped to the early to mid-teens from the middle-age coming out age averages of just post-Stonewall) and are fighting for the right to be themselves in hostile environments.

From the Dallas Morning News’s Transgender teen free to be herself:

FORT WORTH – When Rochelle Evans chooses what she’s going to wear to Eastern Hills High School each day, her choices aren’t solely fashion statements. To Rochelle, her flats, makeup and women’s jeans represent a hard-fought right to express herself.

And a subtle declaration about transgender teens everywhere.

The 15-year-old transgender sophomore, who started high school as Rodney Evans, recently fought a public battle against school administrators over wearing women’s clothes and her reaction when confronted by school officials. As part of the deal, Rochelle is addressed as a female and gets to use the nurse’s bathroom to avoid any awkward scenes in the boys’ or girls’ restroom.

“I just felt more comfortable being a girl,” she said. “I’m not asking for any special treatment.”

And in a parallel course of events, there is Religious Right backlash.  The National Association For Research And Therapy Of Homosexuality (NARTH) released the story entitled Gender Confused Teenage Boy Wins Right To Wear Girl’s Clothing To School (subtitled: The mainstream media is apparently conspiring with transgender confused persons by labelling [sic] them ‘girls’ when they’re genetically boys):

Rodney Evans is a 15-year-old boy who attends Eastern Hills High School in Fort Worth, Texas. He has recently won the right to wear girl’s clothing to school and to require others to call him “Rochelle” instead of Rodney…

…The reporter [of the , Debra Dennis, referred to this boy as “she” throughout the article, even though he is genetically a male and has not undergone any sort of hormone or surgical procedure yet.

His attorney is Phyllis Randolph Frye who has been involved in transgender political activities for years. Frye underwent male-to-female sex surgery years ago and is a well-known activist among gay and transgender groups.

NARTH President Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., notes: “No matter how much this boy wants to be a girl–and dresses in a more ‘girly” style than do biological females–he cannot possibly be one, and for the media to conspire with his fantasy is absurd. All his DNA reflects the fact that he is male, and nothing can change that. It’s ironic, though, that the same mainstream media that brackets the term ‘ex-gay’ in scare quotes is willing to call a boy who wears high heels a ‘she.’”

Rochelle is going to have to be strong to be transgender in a hostile school and cultural religious right context.  It looks like Rochelle is up to it, and is going to be powerful example for other transyouth coming out in their schools.

———
Note: Dr. Nicolosi apparently doesn’t know what the Associated Book Stylebook says about transgender people and terms:

transgender : Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

It would be easy to feel sympathy for San Diego City Council canditdate James Hartline, based on this Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) video piece, if one wasn’t aware of the vitriol that often passes from Mr. Hartline’s keyboard to his blog.

Well, it wasn’t an attack, but it was ”something.” 

I guess Sylvia Bertolini finally got around to Googling herself today, and read the post I wrote about Peeing In Peace and Alan Chambers: Transgender Issues Subject Matters Expert? last December.  She responded today:

I happened upon this post with my name and that of Alan Chambers in it. Though I am flattered that A.C.’s arguments back mine, I also want to add (for other future readers of this post), that in the ex-gay movement (or among people who have converted from the sin of homosexuality, trans genderism, pedophilia and/or others are concerned) I am a very “small potatoe”. One cannot really compare me with Alan Chambers, who is the President of Exodus and has changed so much from when he was a homosexual, in regards to his life (personal change), family life, work, etc. I feel very small in this regard, since it is like comparing a small clerk of a company to the CEO of the same company. I nonetheless thank God for His grace of conversion in my life and in the lives of all those He has brought to Himself and will bring to Himself. Amen.

Sylvia Bertolini
(quoted above as being totally off in regards to transgender issues and knowing absolutely nothing)

And…

I also wanted to add, to avoid any future misunderstandings, that the “company” I refer to above, is not an “earthly” company, and should not be thought of as “Exodus International” but as God’s “company,” where many work towards their salvation and that of others, even though, they may have never even met (as per myself and Alan Chambers who really cannot be compared).

Nice, lumping in my trans peers and me to pedophiles.

Of course, as a rule transpeople don’t screw children.  And, it’s impossible to find a New Testament scripture that condemns transgenderism.  But hey, why let any reality confuse the condemnation of transfolk as a matter of faith — I guess I should mention that Sylvia Bertolini’s email address ended with a Catholic.org.

Again, there’s a reason I don’t identify as a “big C” christian — Sylvia Bertolini’s comments comparing LGBT people and pedophiliacs within the blog comments of this blog are an example as to why.