Two interesting features worth a look in tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday Magazine (6.29.2008) …

Genes, money, drive … if you have’em, you might have a chance of looking and performing like Dara Torres at 41 years of age …

NEAR THE WARM-UP POOL AT THE Missouri Grand Prix swim meet, in Columbia, a crop of Olympic hopefuls lolled around in practice suits and towels on a Saturday morning in February. Fully clothed among them stood some relics of Olympics past: Scott Goldblatt, who won a gold medal in the 2004 Games, wore an aqua sport coat and a striped tie and was doing on-air commentary for Swimnetwork.com; Mel Stewart, who won two golds and a bronze in 1992, wore the same goofy get-up, working as Goldblatt’s sidekick. Meanwhile, Dara Torres, who won the first of her nine Olympic medals in 1984, a year before Michael Phelps was born, stripped off her baggy T-shirt and sweat pants, revealing a breathtaking body in a magenta Speedo. She pulled on a cap marked with her initials and prepared to swim. Torres is now 41 and the mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Tessa Grace. She broke her first of three world records in 1982, at 14, and she has retired from swimming and come back three times, her latest effort built on an obsessive attention to her aging body.

Torres’s retinue includes a head coach, a sprint coach, a strength coach, two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny, at the cost of at least $100,000 per year. At the Olympic trials, this week, in Omaha, Neb., she’s expected to swim fast enough to make her fifth Olympic team. If she does, she’ll be the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics (despite sitting out 1996 and 2004). She’ll also be oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games.

…

The rest of “A Swimmer of a Certain Age” may be read here.

And Times fashion writer Guy Trebay has a feature on filmmaker and “fashionista” Daphne Guinness …

Because the archetypal women in Daphne Guinness’s short film, ‘‘The Phenomenology of Body,’’ revolve on turntables, it is somehow easier to think of her as a D.J. than as a director. Because the chic images she assembled appear in some sense random, it seems appropriate to think of her as more a sampler than any kind of auteur. And because the story depicting women through the ages is, as its creator points out, not exactly linear and only accidentally feminist, it is easy to see in it hints of autobiography, the personal history of a slightly anachronistic sort of being, less actor than spectator, a woman upon whom the events of life impress themselves.

While few outside the style world are likely to have heard of Guinness, she exercises considerable fascination in fashionable circles and the tabloid press. The daughter of the Guinness brewery heir Jonathan Guinness, formally known as Lord Moyne, Guinness is also the step-granddaughter of Sir Oswald Mosley, the British fascist; the ex-wife of Spyros Niarchos, of Greek shipping fame (she married him at 19; he settled a reputed $40 million dollars on her when they divorced in 1999); and lately the subject of tabloid rumors related to her friendship with Bernard-Henri Lévy, the wealthy, and married, French writer whose intellect is almost as celebrated as his luxuriant head of hair.

…

The rest of “Her Feminine Mystique” may be read here, and her film’s below …

Many of you know about San Diego’s Third District City Council race because James Hartline is running for the seat. It’s obvious that I wouldn’t vote for Mr. Hartline, but it hasn’t been obvious who I’m for in the race.

So, who I’m for is Stephen Whitburn.

I became aware of Mr. Whitburn a long time ago specifically because of his support of transgender civil rights issues. Mr. Whitburn, as a member of the San Diego Democratic Club, was there supporting the adding of gender identity protections to San Diego’s Human Dignity Ordinance in 2003.

Since the passage of the HDO amendment, I’m aware he’s attended every major transgender event members have put on at The Center. Let me tell you, it’s not because my community has a lot of resources to dole out to his campaign, or have a large population of volunteers that will rush to his electoral assistance, but just because he genuinely embraces civil rights and human equality as values.

His stands on issues — and his priorities related to those issues — pretty much matches my own. Top among his and my concerns are open government — in line with the spirit of California’s Brown Act — and honest budgeting:

Excerpt:

…My name is Stephen Whitburn. I live in North Park, in council district three, and participate in several community groups.

I’m here to ask you to vote in favor of this item.

We — the citizens — have a right to know about plans to change the city services we receive. We also have a right to participate in the decision-making process.

The right to know is at the core of our state’s Brown Act. It requires that deliberations and actions be conducted openly.

Our city is in financial trouble partly because of discussions and decisions that we – the citizens – weren’t aware of. Now, more than ever, our city leaders should embrace our right to know what’s going on…

He’s also taken a pretty stong stand for marriage equality:

His commitment to equality in general, and marriage equality in specific, isn’t just mere words. He and I both worked on the same shift a few Saturdays ago in the Decline To Sign campaign, which was an attempt to keep the marriage initiative off California’s November ballot.

Well, I’ve even donated money to Stephen Whitburn’s campaign too — I’d only donated to the campaigns of transgender candidates prior to Mr. Whitburn’s run for City Council. And, now that I’m pretty much recovered from my gastric bypass, I’m sure I’ll be volunteering some time to his campaign as well.

Thanks Stephen, for giving me a candidate besides James Hartline to focus on in San Diego’s 3rd City Council District.

Hills in the hometown, a Guy on dresses and … whatever …

We have hills in Asheville.

I was out running today. Most days I run. I’m no spring chicken anymore though. Weather’s getting warmer, I got out later in the day today, pushed the mileage. The motor’s still working. I’m not complaining. But …

We have Hills in Asheville …

I have enough years on the odometer that, as I commented here not long ago, I’m not particularly keen on any of the Presidential candidates remaining in this contest. But, Hills was here the other day, wooing and maybe wowing some folks in what has been a generally conservative CD (and first-term Democrat, Rep. Heath Shuler is a Republican in Dem drag, for what it’s worth) …

Sen. Hillary Clinton told a raucous and inspired Asheville crowd Thursday that as commander in chief she would end the war in Iraq while enacting universal health care and reviving a faltering economy.

This is not a comment about isolationism, global disengagement or any of that serious stuff, but, apropos of the setting (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium), America needs an Angel (whatever gender) to Look Homeward now.

Not leaving Hillary entirely behind as you’ll see, but off to the subject of fashion (There used to be, some years back, by the way, a group of local women from Asheville performing musically as “Crimes of Fashion.”) … where I’ll leave it to you, dear readers, to make your own political and fashion sense out of this …

Borrowing from the male wardrobe is hardly new …

the prevalence of mannish jackets represents a real shift from the girly dresses dominating runways in recent seasons - and may be a sartorial signal of something more. Judging from fashion history, masculine styles often signal a moment when women are looking for clothes that assert authority.

Designer Peter Som says he was thinking of Hillary Clinton …

The ‘boyfriend jacket’ comes on strong

… and …

Just look, Hil. All those pants.

It’s not exactly a state secret — the U.S. senator and presidential hopeful is pro-trouser. And why not? She looks good in them. (Better than those drab dresses …

Who’s wearing the pants here?

… and from a Guy’s perspective …

“The eye is looking for something new, and so is the psyche,” Anne Slowey, the fashion news director of Elle magazine, said last week from the set of “Fashionista,” a new fashion reality show in which she will play herself, a fashion editor, only meaner. “The dress has been done to death,” Ms. Slowey added, “not to sound really cliché.”

…

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

“The first hint of chill in the air, and the full-legged, pleated high- and low-waisted legions will be out in the urban jungle,” said Ms. Slowey, already so adapted to her new television role that she speaks in thought bubbles. The expiration date for the dress, she claimed, “is end of August.”

This prediction will come as a surprise, perhaps, to retail analysts like the folks at NPD Group, who not long ago termed 2007 the year of the dress, pointing to sales of more than $5 billion in the 12 months that ended last April, and a rate of growth in dress sales fully 30 percent higher than the year before.

It may also come as unwelcome news to the female members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose wildly anachronistic Laura Ingalls Wilder frocks, Skechers and wave-pool hairdos have become as much an obsession in certain Manhattan circles as their polygamist habits and 416 children.

It is also, for what it’s worth, unwelcome news to me.

That is because, unlike Ms. Slowey, I am not eager for women to become “a little more hard-core, a little more androgynous, a little more butch.” Yes, gender play is fun, and trousers are a useful wardrobe default for the woman in business. But unless you are Thomas McGuane and find nothing sexier than a woman with crow’s feet, tight Wranglers and suede chaps, you will have to concede that, for flattering a woman’s body, nothing is quite like a dress.

Irwin Shaw covered all this is in his classic story “The Girls in Their Summer Dresses,” the tale that secured him a permanent place in anthologies if not exactly a perch on literary Olympus. And for all the creakiness of this warhorse about the fragile dynamics of love and desire, there remains in Shaw’s descriptions of the women on the streets of Manhattan, in their ripe young multitudes, something unexpectedly fresh and also recognizable.

Shaw wrote the story decades ago, in the era that directly preceded the feminist one that first killed off the dress, a time when women wore them all the time and not with irony …

Long Live the Dress (for Now)

… and then this comment on Guy’s piece …

Might as well throw some heterosexism in there too. And women wearing pants is “gender play”? I didn’t realize trousers were still a “man’s” piece of clothing.

…

The sad thing about this piece is that it won’t do anything but discourage women from wearing dresses this summer, despite some women’s love to wear them. (Ahem.) I guess they didn’t get the message that women wear their clothes for comfort and fashion, not someone else’s fancy.

NYT makes me never want to wear a dress again

(Before Vanessa’s time this. And though we probably should Goethe off this subject, there’s more … )

… and …

In today’s “Styles” section, Guy Trebay devotes a whole article to proving why Elle’s fashion-news director, Anne Slowey, could be wrong about the dress going out of style come September. Wishful thinking, he says, gathering quotes from trend forecasters, the fashion director of Barneys, and random dress-clad women on the street to make his case for the dress. And we must say he did so as compellingly as one can when covering such a topic, though it was kind of unfair he didn’t quote anyone who agreed with Slowey. Anyway, it felt like the perfect opportunity for the Cut’s first-ever point-counterpoint debate!

…

Is Anne Slowey Right About the Fate of Dresses?

And, not to neglect the guys, there’s this …

A few weeks ago, we told you about “Booty Pop Panties,” the padded underwear that makes your ass look bigger. Well, Kelly Ripa went nuts over them on Live With Regis and Kelly the other day so, not to be out-assed, Regis found a version of the undergarment for men called “Bottoms Up” and bandied them about on air today. Unlike the Booty Pop Panties, these appear to come with a padded back and a padded front. Here’s a product description:

• A defining centre back seam separates our butt pads creating an anatomically correct bottom for a more natural look.
• Our contoured front pouch, allows for comfort, style and support from the double layer of fabric…
• For first time optimum effect we suggest you put your jeans or pants on BEFORE you look in the mirror.
• The weight and fit of your pants compresses the pads — the most natural look is achieved with you pants on.

You can even purchase extra pads in “Quarterback,” “Halfback,” and “Fullback” sizes. Is this supposed to appeal to women? Because we think a nice cologne is a better route than sub-pant bulges.

Men Can Pad Their Nether Regions, Too

Moving on … from the Washington Blade today …

Equality Maryland is intensifying its efforts to protect a transgender rights law that may be in jeopardy.

Dan Furmansky, the organization’s executive director, said a review of signatures collected to overturn the Montgomery County law has been hastened so it can be completed by month’s end.

…

Legal battle over trans law intensifies in Montgomery Co.

… and, finally, from the Southern Voice …

On Friday, students at 6,000 schools around the country, including 130 here in Georgia, took part in the National Day of Silence — keeping quiet for all or part of the school day to protest the silence forced on gay people every day. One of those schools was my alma mater, Columbus High School.

Not too long ago, whenever someone asked me where my hometown of Columbus, Ga., is located, I would answer that it is “about 100 miles and 100 years south of Atlanta.”

It’s exciting to know that through the efforts of brave young people like those who joined in the Day of Silence, even towns like Columbus are changing for the better. And it’s amazing to think that some of the Columbus High students participating in the protest today were not even born in 1991, the year I graduated.

…

Would you have joined the Day of Silence?

Egads. Junior Ryan Haecker of the University Of Texas At Austin wrote a commentary for the Daily Texan. He believes “dresses epitomize womanhood in the Western world,” and…

What’s not sexy is feminism (not to be confused with femininity), which is directly responsible for the disappearance of our beloved dresses and the adoption of pants by the “new woman.” Like all fashions, pants are symbolic of something - in this case masculinity - through their allowance of physical activity. Dresses, the antithesis of pants, symbolize femininity through grace and elegance. Men find elegance in women to be attractive, and dresses are a physical manifestation of femininity. The wearing of pants by women represents the masculinization of the fairer sex, which is not at all attractive.

In advocating the wearing of dresses, I must distinguish between the flowing elegant dresses of tradition and the more degenerate and immodest dresses of our present culture. The miniskirt, a dress of sorts that doesn’t extend below the knees, is both lacking in modesty and elegance. Elegance is essential to femininity, and the lack thereof implies a sort of masculinization. Modesty is essential to feminine virtue, and the lack thereof implies a state of whorification. Immodest, inelegant dresses constitute a degeneration and androgynization of true dresses.

The androgynous masculinization of the modern woman, through the donning of pants, suits, uncovered shoulders and unveiled hair, has in a sense led to the slow whorification of ladyhood. In discarding feminine dress, women seem to have symbolically discarded femininity and modesty (the virtues of women) in favor of sexual virility, promiscuity and immodesty (the vices of men). The ideal form of a true lady is a constant, immutable aspect of humanity, and this strange new development can only represent a bizarre aberration of a perverse and ignoble culture.

My biggest gasp was at his concluding line:

Dresses are an essential part of any true lady’s attire, and they should be worn.

What? No obligatory reference of Deuteronomy 22:5? I’m disappointed. ;)  Unbeliveable that someone would hold this viewpoint in this day and age, but more than that – I’m amazed he expressed this thought in such a public forum.

Well, I still wear pants. And trust me when I say I’ve been called a man and “Mr. Sandeen” by the Americans For Truth Against Homosexuality, but even they didn’t call me masculine.

So, for San Diego’s TDoR tonight I’m going to wear a simple, dark gray, jumper style dress over a black feminine tee. The skirt on my jumper will be long enough to cover the top of the black, nearly knee high boots. Very modest attire. I’m sooooo glad I have a chance satisfy Mr. Haecker’s idea of feminity — of course, I probably wouldn’t satisfy his definition of lady.

~~~~~
Feel free to rail away at the backwardness of Mr. Haecker’s thoughts on female clothing, but please remember today is a day the transgender community, their friends, families, and their allies are memorializing those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Tooday, we in the LGBT community don’t need to hear objections to Mr. Haecker’s viewpoints expressed with hateful words.

Some authorities are more authoritative than others. Some have wandered outside their area of expertise. Some were speaking about a specific topic, not in general, and perhaps the context has been garbled. Some authorities have retracted or repudiated statements - that has happened. And, there’s the fact that science moves on, and quotes can become out-of-date.In short, a quote may be worth looking into. It may not be what you think.
–Don Linsey

(Ab)Normal Heights reader Michelle forwarded me an article by Julie Bindel entitled My trans mission. It was an article about how Ms. Bindel argued against transgender surgeries on the UK’s Channel Four.  She made some interesting statements in her article:

Feminists want to rid the world of gender rules and regulations, so how is it possible to support a theory which has at its centre the notion that there is something essential and biological about the way boys and girls behave?

… 

My concerns about the increasing acceptance of “transsexuality” as a diagnosis are based upon my feminist belief that it arises from the strong stereotyping of girls and boys into strict gender roles.

…

During the debate I argued that sex change surgery is modern-day aversion therapy treatment for homosexuals. The highest number of sex change operations take place in Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death. Sex change surgery, therefore, renders gays and lesbians “heterosexual”.

Reading her article, I was struck by how unqualified Bindel was to speak as an authority on transgenderism and/or transsexualism. She’s not a doctor of any sort, a therapist, or herself a transgender person. Her news profile for the UK’s Guardian describes her as follows:

Julie Bindel is a freelance journalist. She writes for the Guardian newspaper and Weekend magazine, and various other British and European newspapers and magazines. She is the co-editor of The Map of My Life: The Story of Emma Humphreys (Astraia Press, 2003) and several book chapters and research papers on sexual violence and the criminal justice system. A founder member of the feminist law reform campaign Justice for Women, Julie believes that doing paid work, however ethically and responsibly, is not enough, and remains a committed political activist. Julie has written investigative features on international prostitution, sex tourism in Jamaica, stalking and harassment, transsexualism, being a lesbian schoolgirl, the beauty industry and serial killers. For a bit of light relief she has written on the death of the hostess trolley, female orchestra conductors, fancying Camilla Parker Bowles and hating vegetarians.

In other words, Bindel is an old school “radical” feminist with an opinion similar to Janice Raymond’s, as espoused in Raymond’s 1979 book The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male.

Being an old school “radical” feminist journalist doesn’t qualify one to speak as an expert who, with authority, can say “sex change surgery is modern-day aversion therapy treatment for homosexuals.”  She just doesn’t seem to have the qualifications to argue with authority and/or expertise on the subject of transsexuality, no matter what her postion on the issue is.  However, for her to express an opinion in a debate forum, contrary to the current consensous views of the medical and pychological communities — well, she needs different credentials than the journalistic ones she has.

Pat Boone … I don’t know currently what to make of this lackluster film and music star of the fifties.  He’s writing for WorldNetDaily now as a conservative Christian columnist.  His latest piece is entitled Leave it to the ladies.  Some excerpts:

…I’m tempted to call this treatise “Weak Men Make Strong Women.”

Consider the women, in our day, who have become the heads of state in India, Pakistan, Israel and Great Britain. Question: Is it likely that these very accomplished and brilliant women would have attained these positions if there had been men in evidence who seemed equally or perhaps even better qualified? Or was the ascendance of these women made possible by the public perception that there weren’t men of sufficient stature, integrity and experience available?

Don’t get all defensive, ladies; hear me out. I’m praising and complimenting you here. Thank God for you!

As we look at the current political situation, we see Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House, women senators and representatives, and a certain lady senator from New York state actually considered to be the front-runner for the Democrat nomination for president of the United States. We’re getting used to seeing women as chief executives of huge international companies from Hewlett Packard to Xerox, Lucent and eBay.

These women have not only occupied positions of power, they’ve been doing man-sized jobs.

A personal note: I grew up with two capable sisters, fathered four remarkable and exceptional daughters, and now have 10 terrific granddaughters to go with the five talented grandsons God gave Shirley and me. And my wife, Shirley, herself has proven so capable, so wise, so energetic and perceptive, that I’ve said honestly many times, “If somehow Shirley were made president, she’d have this country humming like never before, in a matter of weeks! She’s just that amazing!”

But my question, again: Is it likely that women would be chosen for our leaders in politics and government and business, if men assumed their traditional, time-honored and expected responsibilities of leadership and direction? Or is the phenomenon largely explained by the growing wimpiness, indecision, compromise and laxness of character among our men?

Pat Boone’s conclusion:

…As men, who are the obvious candidates for leadership, abdicate their responsibilities and sell their birthrights for personal gain, strong and dedicated women will – please, God – step into the gap, rally their fellow citizens, and point us back toward the prize of the high calling.

Toward the dream of a moral, strong and truly caring America.

So should I feel – pleased? satisfied? warmed? — he’s disparaging over the lack of leadership of his fellow Christian men while giving a faint praise to women (most specifically to the “moral,” Christian women)?

Boone’s praise of women seems too back-handed to mean much.  Seems he to have pretty much slammed everyone but intersexuals in his article, while not really saying anything significant at all.

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Saturday, July 28th …

GLAD wraps up the week in the Rhiannon O’Donnabhain trial …

Yesterday was the final day of trial (for a while) in GLAD’s case representing Rhiannon O’Donnabhain in U.S. Tax Court. And that has meant that for the first time ever in tax court there was a rich and full discussion about transgender identities.

At the heart of the case is the question of whether one transgender woman will be guaranteed equal treatment by the Internal Revenue Service. But this case goes beyond Rhiannon as an individual. Having a court consider the experience of one trans woman has been an important opportunity to show the pervasive discrimination that transgender people face every day.

…

One of the striking things about the trial was the level of discussion about trans identities, and about how trans people live in and experience the world. People in the courtroom seemed moved by the discussion. It’s hard to imagine that anyone left without a richer understanding of transgender people’s lives.

The trial will continue August 23, with testimony from the government’s second and final expert witness, followed by closing statements from both parties.

O’Donnabhain Trial Wrap Up

Zoe asks where in the universe could you conceivably find …

Tax Accountants questioning the evaluation of medics who specialise in the area, even arguing that the disease itself is imaginary, and doesn’t exist.

Well, in this Universe…

…

On the second day of the trial Mikalchus continued the tactic of questioning O’Donnabhain’s GID diagnosis, this time through his cross-examination of Brown. He asked Brown if people seeking treatment for GID might instead have autogynephilia, a concept promoted by controversial sexologist Ray Blanchard that suggests some transwomen may be men who are aroused by the thought of having a vagina. Brown said he did not subscribe to Blanchard’s theories, which have been widely rejected by the transgender community.

Mikalchus also posited that O’Donnabhain’s therapists misdiagnosed her and that she may suffer from transvestic fetishism, a disorder in which men are sexually aroused by dressing in women’s clothes.

Brown countered by saying, “People who are transvestic fetishists don’t want their penises cut off … It’s very important to them.”

The trial is expected to run through the end of this week. After that the trial will resume later next month to allow one more witness to testify.

Some more about the man whose theories the IRS finds so convincing:

Dr. Ray Blanchard resigned from the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) in protest to the ethics investigation of his protégé, J. Michael Bailey. Blanchard, a psychiatrist, member of a eugenics think tank, and vocal proponent of repathologizing homosexuality as a mental illness, still runs Toronto’s Clarke Institute as a maximum security processing facility, using the same procedures, locked rooms and shared space areas for pedophiles, rapists, homosexuals, and transsexuals.

Bailey admitted later that there were bits of his book that he just made up.

…

In a Unverse Next Door … #2

Marti Abernathey with a “one picture is worth … ” …

Some folks don’t like to see their own reflection, or refuse to believe it and react violently when they do.

This Says It Better Than I Ever Could

(”Does this mean we can’t be friends?” … Priceless.)

Pam sums up my present feelings regarding hate crimes legislation …

No, there’s no need for hate crimes legislation…none at all. Tell that to the family of Kenneth Cummings Jr., a Southwest flight attendant, who was killed by a man who believed he was doing God’s work. (Houston Chronicle)

…

Cummings was stabbed with a six-inch blade, and his charred body was found near San Antonio on property owned by Mangum’s grandfather.

While not everyone can agree on whether there should be hate crime laws, the fact is that if it’s on the books, why shouldn’t sexual orientation and gender identity be added to the list, which includes religion — protection you won’t see fundies ready to give up any time soon.

…

As far as the status of the hate crimes bill on the Hill is concerned, the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was recently attached as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. The latter was subsequently pulled from the floor in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). It’s unlikely to be reconsidered until September or October, according to the Washington Blade.

…

Ah yes, we put those Dems in office and they are ready to stab us in the back. Thanks very much.

Pay no attention to the hate crime behind the curtain

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.

Rape…is a masculinist violation of bodily integrity. All transsexuals rape women’s bodies by reducing the female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves…Rape, although it is usually done by force, can also be accomplished by deception.
–Janice Raymond in her book The Transsexual Empire: The Making Of The She-Male (1979)

I was challenged by Liza in Boston Dyke March Yanks Musical Performer Bitch From Line-Up’s comment section to…

…read as much as you can about Lesbian Separatism. Not just secondary sources, but primary documents as well. Separatism was a complex issue in its heyday, well worth the investigation.

I read Janice Raymond. She also said:

Masculine behavior is notably obtrusive. It is significant that transsexually constructed lesbian-feminists have inserted themselves into the positions of importance and/or performance in the feminist community. Sandy Stone, the transsexual engineer with Olivia Records, an ‘all-women’ recording company, illustrates this well. Stone is not only crucial to the Olivia enterprise but plays a very dominant role there. The… visibility he achieved in the aftermath of the Olivia controversy…only serves to enhance his previously dominant role and to divide women, as men frequently do, when they make their presence necessary and vital to women. As one woman wrote: “I feel raped when Olivia passes off Sandy… as a real woman. After all his male privilege, is he going to cash in on lesbian feminist culture too?”

I read enough to know that the roots of radical feminist separation from transwomen isn’t to save womyn-born-womyn space as some are trying to state these days, but instead because transwomen aren’t considered women. It doesn’t take much time reading the comments found in radical feminist blogs and forums to see hate speech regarding transwomen.

I’m not looking through the looking glass to see hate. It’s in the roots of Raymond’s work; it’s in the present words of adherents to feminist separatism who say they wish to preserve womyn-born-womyn spaces — they use derogatory commentary and pejoratives to describe transsexuals.

Heck, just from just the original article The Colonizing of Lesbian and Women’s Community: Bitch Performance at Boston Dyke March Canceled by Transgender Activists’s that started this discussion comes comments in the tone of Janice Raymond:

Kiuku: I’m sorry but in my Dworkinized opinion they are still very much men enthralled with the -male- idea of what it means to be a woman and what they -think- they would want to do/can do/can express as a woman.

womenspace: And then the discussion is diverted from a discussion of a misogynist, sexist, or racist, or classist, or speciesist or otherwise destructive incident we are analyzing, bringing to light, or critiquing, to a discussion of how wrong we are to omit this theoretically overriding, more important discussion, which is something like that not “all” members of whatever group would have approved. Before anyone realizes it, it’s not about the destructive act, it’s about how mean and wrong and “bigoted” we are — even if the “all” happens to be men — not to focus on those who did NOT approve the destructive act … And there have been issues over male persons on the land, i.e., “transwomen,” (male-born persons who present as women).

Womanspace, in the The Colonizing of Lesbian and Women’s Community: Bitch Performance at Boston Dyke March Canceled by Transgender Activists article she wrote indicates she believes that being pro-womyn isn’t being anti-trans, but then in the comments of the article she puts the term transwomen within quotation marks as if to say transwomen don’t really exist as women. This is in tune with the historicly anti-trans, Janice Raymond stlye language of the radical feminist movement.

And, this indicates to me that that the two terms of pro-womyn and anti-trans, if not the same concept, are very closely related concepts. And, pardon me if I draw the reasonable conclusion that pro-womyn and anti-trans are related terms, much like pro-white and racism are related terms.

So yeah, I have done some reading Liza. I don’t buy the pro-womon soft soap you’re selling as anything but a defense of harsh, segregationist discrimination, rooted in an historic, philisophical point of hating demonizing transsexuals.

———
Note: I did not understand this issue until I started reading up on it during the past few days. I understuood about MWMF having a belief in womyn’s space, but I really didn’t understand the history of it. I do now. I’m angry about radical, old school feminists when I felt neutral — really uncaring about 1st and 2nd wave feminism — about a week ago.

I’ll be happier when 3rd wave feminism more completely overtakes 1st and 2nd wave feminism in the years to come. Call me bitter.

Dallas Voice: Where Do They Stand?
Excerpt: Democratic candidates across the board support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but Clinton told The Washington Blade she is not sure it should include protection for transgenders.

Monstrous Regiment: “inclusion fascists”
Excerpt: Transfascism (n) (related to BiFascism; both being subsets of QueerFascism)(def) hysterical whining tantrums accompanied by maniacal shouts of ‘Oppressors’ or ‘Hitler” while calling for the banning/shunning/hitting/hating of any gay man or lesbian (LG) who does NOT embrace forced “inclusivity” of everything BTQ. (Source)

The Feminist Pulse: Girlistic’s Blog: Transfeminism - Joelle Ruby Ryan (Interview)
Excerpt: I think the most important founding paper in transfeminist discourse is Sandy Stone’s “The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto,” first published in 1991. Written in response to Janice Raymond’s anti-transgender “radical” feminist diatribe The Transsexual Empire, Sandy Stone lays out a brilliant interrogation of Raymond’s faulty ideas as also exposes the conservative logics behind early, traditional transsexual treatment clinics and how we must work to liberate transpeople from these gate-keepers and allow for greater flexibility of sex, gender and sexuality diversity and expression.

Box Turtle Bulletin: The Death Rattle of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Excerpt: This past Sunday, Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had some comments about the military’s anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy put in place during his term of service.

Gay City News: Transgender Health Fair Draws 150
Excerpt: More than 150 people turned out Monday evening, June 6, for a first of its kind transgender health fair at the LGBT Community Center on West 13th Street. The event was initiated by the Transgender Health Initiative of New York, a joint project of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), and the Center’s Gender Identity Project.

PlanetOut: Baptists’ gender point man tries soft sell
Bob Stith, who advocates a softer approach on LGBTs in the church, is named Southern Baptists’ national strategist for gender issues.

San Francisco Chronicle: The TSA Hates Your Vibrator
How to safely fly with your sex toys

Jamaicans.com: Reggae stars renounce homophobia - Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton sign deal
Excerpt: Three of the world’s top reggae/dancehall singers have renounced homophobia and condemned violence against lesbians and gay men. … Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton had previously released anti-gay hate songs, including incitements to murder lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. … They have now signed up to the Reggae Compassionate Act in a deal brokered with top reggae promoters and Stop Murder Music activists.

Shakesville: Privilege: In One Story (with Pictures!)
Mr. Carol Broussard, mayor of a Louisiana town called Delcambre, is set to sign into law a new ordinance unanimously passed by the Delcambre town council which will make it a crime to wear trousers that show underwear, punishable by a $500 fine and up to six months in jail. When some residents complained that the ordinance was racially-motivated, targeting blacks who wear the baggy trousers “fashionable among hip hop fans,” Broussard dismissed them with the inevitable: “White people wear sagging pants, too.” … he told the AP that people who wear low-slung trousers would be “better off taking the pants off and just wearing a dress.” And something tells me Broussard isn’t directing that recommendation at teh boyz.