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.

Some of the gender and transgender-related blogs we’re reading today (Super Tuesday - please vote!), all of which may be found here too …

At BEING “T” …

Border Patrol

At Bi Girl Friday …

EQCA to honor transgender and marriage equality leaders

At author interviews …

Jennifer Finney Boylan

At Transsexual Road Map Notes …

Protest vigil outside HRC Annual Dinner 2/9 Philadelphia

At The View From (Ab)Normal Heights …

Sen. Clinton Today Wrote The Words “Fully Inclusive” With Regards To ENDA

At ATRANS.PT (a video from The Center in NYC) …

Transgender Basics

At Crossing the T …

Transgender Religious Summit themes … part 2

At Bilerico Project …

Sex(ism) and gender and everything that comes next

Lambda Legal released a press release of a new lawsuit, filed in the Northern District Court of Indiana regarding West Side High School (Gary, Indiana) violated Kevin “K.K.” Logan’s First Amendment rights when it barred him from his prom for wearing a dress.

From the press release:

K.K. Logan attended West Side High during his junior and senior year and expressed a deeply rooted femininity in his appearance and demeanor. Both classmates and teachers at the school supported him in his daily attendance dressed in clothes typically associated with girls his age.

However, on May 19, 2006, Principal Diane Rouse stretched her arms across the door of the Senior Prom, blocking Logan’s entrance. His classmates and friends rallied to his defense to no avail — even though a female student was allowed entrance dressed in a tuxedo.

The message here is that being a male-bodied person in a dress — a Jane-Girl — is as bad as using drugs. That’s right — according to school policy, one can’t wear clothing that “advertises” drugs or sexual orientation. And let’s be clear, that means a female-bodied person wearing a tux isn’t advertising sexual orientation, but a male-bodied person wearing a prom dress is advertising sexual orientation. The policy is excerpted in the press release:

Principal Rouse has stood by a school policy that deems inappropriate any “clothing/ accessories that advertise sexual orientation, sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, profanity, negative social or negative educational statements.”

Lambda Legal’s public response (besides filing the lawsuit):

“The fact that sexual orientation is lumped in with drugs and profanity in the school’s dress code is just plain offensive, but even more troublesome is that the whole policy is in violation of students’ First Amendment rights,” said James P. Madigan, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. “There are ways to write policies that both create rules for student behavior and also respect their rights — but this isn’t one of them.”

Lambda Legal argues that Logan’s First Amendment rights were violated, including the freedoms of speech, symbolic action, and expressive conduct. The school district also engaged in unlawful discrimination on the basis of sex and gender.

K.K. Logan ended the press release with a significant statement:

I dress this way because it’s who I am and how I feel on the inside. Gay and trans students have rights, and they should be treated fairly.

For late Friday …

#1 - Another Black Friday’s here — and I hope that the start of this Christmas shopping season includes more than just Wii and flat panels. So, please consider this purchase …

In Ethan St.Pierre’s Thanksgiving Day interview on TransFM with TYFA’s Kim Pearson (sorry, no link), Kim expressed a hope and a wish, if I’m not mistaken, that the Amethyst Ribbon might become a broader symbol/icon for the entire trans community.

#2 - More on Michelle Bruce … ANONYMOUS LOBBYIST at Wonkette comments on gender, genitalia, small towns and small minds in Riverdale (what a world away from the place of the same name I grew up by in NYC), Georgia …

Michelle, you see, was born intersexed (i.e., with ambiguous genitalia) but has lived her entire life as a woman. She self-identifies as transgendered and is pretty open about it (in a city of 15,000 people, it’s hard to hide certain things) though she refuses to discuss the specifics of her medical records — and good for her. She’s been a City Council member for almost 4 years, has been mocked on a local radio program and if anyone doesn’t know her backstory, well, it ain’t because she’s been in any kind of closet.

However, Georgia “I Only Ran to Get the Queer Out of Office” Fuller and her lawyer, Michael King, may have climbed out from under a rock. Miz Georgia lost the election, garnering only 171 votes out of the 685 cast earlier this month but she damn well thinks she should have won against that “person.” In court papers, she and her scum-sucking lawyer refer to Michelle as “Michael” and are demanding another general election in which Michelle would be forced to run as Michael (a name she’s never used and an identity she’s never claimed) to be more “accurate” about herself. The lawyer told the press that women have an “unfair” advantage in elections, ignoring every single thing that most people know about female politicians.

#3 - This athlete’s now attempting to cross over a new bar …

A former European pole vault medallist has decided to quit the sport, possibly to pursue a sex change operation.

Yvonne Buschbaum said that a persistent achilles tendon injury and a feeling that she was “emotionally in the wrong body” have contributed to her decision to end her career.

The 27-year-old said on her website: “For many years, I have had the feeling I am in the wrong body.

“Those who know me have seen a clear fault. I feel like a man and yet must live my life in the body of a woman.

“I would not like to be misjudged any longer.

“I am conscious of the fact that transsexuality is a difficult topic, but I don’t want to be involved in a game of hide-and-seek with the truth.

“I appeal to the public’s understanding, to respect my decision and not draw any wrong conclusions.”

Champion athlete may have gender reassignment surgery

#4 - Five years here is 4.99 years too many …

[<< The Abuser] A DRAG queen has told how he suffered months of abuse from a `neighbour from hell’ …

Mr Prescott urged other people suffering homophobic abuse or anti-social behaviour not to feel that they have to suffer in silence.

He said: “She is THE neighbour from hell. I have lived here for five years and the abuse started the day I moved in. She asked me if I was married and I told her I was gay.

“She immediately started shouting abuse at me and it has gone on ever since.”

… Mr Prescott called police. Jones was arrested after each incident, but each time she was interviewed by police she claimed she could not remember what she had said or done because she had been drunk.

[<< The Abused] Mr Prescott had described how he had put up with similar abuse for years but the situation got worse in recent months …

Mr Craig Parkinson, defending, said Jones had difficulties looking after herself and this was exacerbated by her drinking. She had been intoxicated when she committed each offence.

Sentencing was adjourned until December 6 - and Jones was remanded on conditional bail.

Mr Prescott, who has been a professional female impersonator at clubs for 20 years, said: “I ignored her at first, but she has been relentless.”

Neigbour made life a drag

#5 - Well, forget pulchritude, but, first gender dysphoria, now I have to worry about gender dysmorphia …

[<< Victoria Beckham] The Diana inquest drags on and drags up all sorts of questions. Among them: what on earth has happened to women’s bodies since the Queen of Hearts died in that tunnel?

… When I look at these women I think of car commercials: leaner, zingier, and now with better suspension. Never curvy, God help us. These martyrs to weight-loss hate curves. Jolie complained recently that her part in the film Beowulftook the edge off her angular frame – she risked looking too sexual in front of her children. Are they women at all, I sometimes ask myself, peering more closely at my copy of Grazia. Will there come a day when it will be revealed to the world that this is a huge practical joke? Will the world’s most supposedly enviable women turn out to be escapees from a Pat Pong transsexual club?

The body of evidence

Ten years ago Diana was the female figure all women aspired to. Why are our role models now ‘boys with breasts’

After that, and having already mentioned (my) “flat panels,” I can’t help but consider this question …

The lifelong Democrat in me says, “Laura,” but this seems like a non-partisan election to me …

… then you sit. Now, personally, I can go for that. (Always the bathroom … ) Be that as it may, Patrick Metzger writing in the Torontoist had this comment today on gender equality and politics in Canada …

Equal Voice, a group which advocates for more women in government, reports that there are 22% more women running in this year’s provincial election than in 2003. However, they also note that because many women are competing in ridings where they have no hope of winning, the numbers may not translate into more female legislators. You know, rather than spending time and money trying to elect more women, the whole inequity thing could be solved through a program of gender reassignment surgery on sitting MPPs.

Sunday edition …

#1 - The Boston Globe carried Part I today of its feature on Deborah Bershel’s “Journey From Man to Woman” (click on the pic below for a short video) …

On May 22, 2006, Mike Foster was sitting on the padded exam table in his doctor’s office, undergoing his annual physical. It was a familiar place. For 14 years, he’d been coming to see the same doctor in the same Somerville office a few blocks from the same two-family home that had been in Foster’s family for four generations. And it was a comfortable place. Despite having to wear a hospital johnny that stretched to cover his 6-foot-7 frame, Foster felt at ease, because of the doctor sitting across from him. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton, a soft-spoken, bald, middle-aged family physician a foot shorter than Foster, always managed to convey competence and caring at the same time.

Foster, who managed truck sales for a local Chevy dealership, looked younger than his 52 years, with his full head of light-brown hair just beginning to admit some gray. But his body, which had served him well during his days playing basketball for Somerville High School, was definitely showing its miles. Bad knees, bone spurs in his heels, a blood clot in his leg, and a back so bad it required triple fusion spinal surgery. Throughout it all, Dr. Berkowitz-Shelton had been his source of stability, coordinating care with other specialists.

There was something else that made his doctor special. During visits, he always reserved ample time to talk about Foster’s personal life, about his children, his marriage, his work, his level of happiness. They found that despite their different backgrounds, they had a lot in common: Both were 52-year-old, hard-working men devoted to their wives of 25 years and their college-age kids.

“He was a friend, a confidant,” Foster says. “I felt I could talk to him about anything.”

But as this exam was winding down, it was the doctor who chose to do the confiding. Peering over the glasses resting on the tip of his nose, he told Foster there was going to be a major change in the practice in about a month. A letter would soon be going out to all his patients, but he wanted to give Foster advance notice.

…

A Family Doctor’s Journey From Man to Woman

Catching up on some news from the past couple of days …

#2 - New York did not become the 14th state to bar discrimination on basis of “gender identity and
expression” …

Members of the New York State Senate and Assembly always go on a wild ride in the last few weeks of the session, passing bills by the bucketful, and ignoring others in the rush to adjourn. This year was no different, and when the dust settled – and the legislators had gone home – 2007 turned out to be at best a mixed year for advocates of greater civil rights and liberties.

Consider three bills before the legislature: one on gay marriage, one on the rights of accused rapists (and, not incidentally, the health of rape survivors) and one on transgender rights.

…

When the legislature finally passed a bill adding “sexual orientation” to the human rights law in 2002, it became the 13th state to do so. (The first was Wisconsin in 1981.)

New York balked, however, at including transgender rights in the human rights law 2002, and the Empire State Pride Agenda did not insist on it at the time. Today, discrimination on basis of “gender identity and expression” is illegal in 13 states — including New Jersey, which acted this year — and the District of Columbia. New York, though, still has no state law on the issue.

To remedy that, advocates have proposed a stand-alone bill called the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, GENDA for short. Transgender activists such as Donna Cartwright argue that the push for this measure has not been nearly as intense as the advocacy work for the marriage bill. It did not even get a vote in the Assembly, let alone the Senate. “GENDA needs extra emphasis to have a real chance of passage. And [the Pride Agenda]… has a real responsibility to give it that boost,” she wrote.

Alan Van Capelle, the Pride Agenda’s executive director, said that the group pushed hard on transgender rights this year and managed to get 95 sponsors in the Assembly, more than enough votes for passage – and 10 more than the number of members who voted for the marriage act. “One piece missing is that GENDA doesn’t have a Danny O’Donnell [chief sponsor of the marriage bill] who is going to work it every day,” he said.

Van Capelle also said that the marriage issue benefited from being in the papers and the public consciousness. “Legislators aren’t as educated about transgender issues,” he said.

…

The Legislature Acts, Doesn’t Act and Reacts

#3 - In Massachusetts, a transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes bill (House Bill No. 1722) will soon face a hearing before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), which has been helping to advance passage of the bill, is seeking to lobby members of that committee over the next couple of weeks …

In preparation for an expected hearing before the legislature’s Judiciary Committee this fall, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is urging its members to spend the next 17 days lobbying the 17 lawmakers on the committee in person to support the transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes bill, House Bill 1722. The committee has not yet scheduled a hearing for H.B. 1722.

“Our goal is to get people to reach out to those 17 legislators before September,” said Gunner Scott, co-chair of MTPC. He said MTPC hopes to find constituents in each of the districts represented by the 17 committee members and help them set up meetings with the lawmakers in person.

…

Scott said MTPC is uncertain how much support exists on the committee for H.B. 1722, the first transgender civil rights legislation filed in the legislature. One committee member, Rep. Marty Walz (D-Boston), is an original co-sponsor of the legislation, but MTPC does not know how strong support will be from the committee as a whole. Following a hearing on the legislation the committee will determine whether or not the legislation gets sent to the floor of the House.

MTPC targets 17 lawmakers in 17 days

#4 - Speaking of hate crimes, this should not come as a surprise …

President Bush is committed to vetoing the latest effort to expand federal “hate crimes” laws to include sexual orientation, even if it means sending a defense authorization bill back to Congress, the White House said.

“The qualifications [in the bill] are so broad that virtually any crime involving a homosexual individual has potential to have hate crimes elements,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

“The proposals they’re talking about are not sufficiently narrow.”

The veto threat adds another twist to the high-stakes battle between the Democrat-led Congress and Mr. Bush over the Iraq war.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, attached the crime measure to the defense authorization bill, which Democrats are expected to use as a vehicle to try to alter war policy.

A coalition of religious leaders, many of them black Christian pastors, have lobbied the White House to reject the amendment, saying it could lead to suppression of free speech and religious expression.

“The bill is not about crime prevention or even civil rights. It’s about outlawing peaceful speech — speech that asserts that homosexual behavior is morally wrong,” said Chuck Colson, a former aide to President Nixon who now runs a Christian ministry to prisoners.

The legislation would make it easier for federal law enforcement to become involved in crimes against people based on their “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”

Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Lanham is leading the High Impact Leadership Coalition, a group of Christian pastors lobbying against the bill. The coalition is working with Tim Goeglein, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison.

“He seems very receptive,” Mr. Jackson said.

Mr. Kennedy’s office says the bill “punishes violence, not speech.”

“It covers only violent acts that result in death or bodily injury. It does not prohibit or punish speech, expression or association in any way — even hate speech,” said a Kennedy aide.

“Nothing in the act will prohibit the lawful expression of anyone’s religious or political beliefs. People will always be free to speak their mind about issues.”

Mr. Fratto said the president, who has pushed for quick approval of spending for U.S. troops, would send the defense bill back to Capitol Hill if the hate-crime amendment remains attached.

The White House stopped short of saying it was opposed to the language because of concerns about religious freedom.

Mr. Jackson agreed with the White House’s assessment that the measure’s language is too broad. His coalition ran a full-page ad in USA Today last month that said: “Don’t muzzle our pulpits!”

“We believe prosecutors and anti-Christian groups will use loopholes to muzzle the church from speaking out on biblical standards of morality which are shared by most Americans.”

#5 - Those darn “female handicaps” again …

During the development of General Motors’ new GMT900 SUVs, the team in charge of design was taken out to the company’s Milford Proving Grounds and made to dress in drag as an exercise. They wore high-heels, fake press-on nails and garbage bag skirts to simulate what The Car Connection refers to as “female handicaps” (are we really calling them that?) while operating various features of their new ‘utes. The result was at least three features on GM’s new SUVs that wouldn’t have been there otherwise: retractable running boards for easier entry/exit in a skirt, a larger center console that can hold a purse and an easier to operate rear lift gate.

The idea for this excursion into androgyny came from Mary Sipes, a vehicle line director at GM and a woman with a mission to make her company’s vehicles more user friendly for females. Since women comprise more than 50-percent of the buying public, she realized it would only help the company’s bottom line to consider them more when designing new vehicles. Since the design teams are still very male dominated, Sipes decided to dress her teams in drag to force them to consider their vehicles from a female perspective. Hmmm… perhaps a better solution than playing dress up would be to just hire more women. Regardless, the intent was commendable, but we’re wondering if our female readers can think of any other missing features that might make their lives a little easier.

GM engineers dressed in drag while designing new SUVs

Sunday edition …

#1 - Trans people (metis) don’t have it easy in Nepal …

On the day Nepal’s MPs and rights activists were to interact with the gay community and discuss the inclusion of their rights in a new constitution, the police assaulted and stripped five young men in a park here because they were carrying condoms.

‘Five men, whose ages are between 19 and 25, were sitting in Ratna Park (Saturday) evening when they were accosted by four policemen led by a sub-inspector,’ said Sunil Pant, president of Blue Diamond Society (BDS), Nepal’s only gay rights organisation.

‘Though the men were metis (transgenders who prefer to dress as women), they were not in drag but dressed in jeans and T-shirts,’ Pant said.

‘However, the policemen made them strip naked and searched their bags. When they found condoms in the bags, they first abused the men, accused them of being sex workers and began beating them up with batons,’ he added.

One of the five managed to run out of the park and call a BDS official, who was also roughed up when he tried to intervene.

‘Alex Chamling (an HIV/AIDS educator at BDS) was badly beaten up when he tried to stop the policemen from assaulting the youths,’ Pant said.

Though Chamling dialled 100 for help and two policemen arrived on the spot, Pant said they remained ’silent spectators’.

The incident came on the day BDS, with the help of the Dutch government, was scheduled to hold a meeting between metis and politicians from Nepal’s leading parties as well as human rights activists.

With the multi-party government having pledged to hold an election in November, to be followed by a new constitution, Nepal’s lesbian, gay and transgender community is lobbying to have the new statute protect gay rights.

In Nepal’s feudal society, where sons are preferred to daughters, homosexuality is taboo. Though the gay community supported the pro-democracy movement last year that ended King Gyanendra’s 15-month direct rule, it has not received any support from the new multi-party government.

Policemen regularly harass and assault gays, organisations refuse them jobs and their families disown them.

The Maoist guerrillas, who are now in the government, are anti-gay, terming the community perverts and an aberration.

Saturday’s assault coincided with the Nepal visit of two officials of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

This year, for the first time, the HRW is compiling a report on the state of gay rights in Nepal and the plight of the community.

‘It was shocking,’ said HRW’s Scott Long, who spoke with some of the victims. ‘We also spoke to the police and they admitted that they make a regular practice of beating up metis. It’s a major human rights issue.’

Long also said that the police attitude that carrying condoms was illegal and tantamount to prostitution was ‘a threat to the health of everyone in Nepal’.

‘The constitutional revision process is offering a real opportunity for change to all the marginalised sections,’ he added.

Nepal police assault youths for carrying condoms

#2 - British Army officer Captain Jan Hamilton is battling the MOD …

The first transsexual officer in the Armed Forces is set to sue the Ministry of Defence for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination.

Jan Hamilton, a former male captain in the Parachute Regiment who is now living as a woman, will lodge court papers claiming she was sexually discriminatedagainst and unfairly dismissed in April from a £45,000-a-year post.

Captain Hamilton, 42, had been due to become head of media relations for the British Army in Gibraltar in May.

But after she refused to turn up at a medical examination dressed in a male uniform – which her lawyers argue would have been ‘humiliating and demeaning’ – the job offer was withdrawn.

Her lawyers have, to no avail, repeatedly sought an informal meeting with her Army bosses to settle the issue out of court. Captain Hamilton has now been without a salary for four months and has racked up several thousand pounds in legal bills.

Captain Jan, the transsexual Para, sues the Army for unfair dismissal

The Daily Mail first reported on Capt. Hamilton this past March.

#3 - The July 23rd issue of Newsweek magazine has a feature on men playing women in films …

A white actor wouldn’t dare put on dark makeup to appear black today—Angelina Jolie took a lot of heat for slightly darkening her complexion to play Mariane Pearl in “A Mighty Heart.” A non-Asian actor would never get away with taping his eyes and assuming a silly accent to sound Chinese, as Mickey Rooney did in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” (1961). Even fat activists complain when actors don fat suits for laughs, as Gwyneth Paltrow found out when she artificially bulked up for “Shallow Hal.” So it would seem logical that drag today, especially when the man playing the part is straight, is both misogynistic (notice how the “women” in these movies are always awkward and ugly) and homophobic (notice how they also flutter and flounce like a stereotypical gay man). So why is it still OK for male actors to wear dresses?
…

“Good drag is used knowingly for its transgressive qualities,” says Barrios. “But films like ‘Big Momma’ and ‘Hairspray’ don’t want to be attuned to whatever transgressiveness they may contain. Drag is just an easy way to get laughs without extending themselves beyond putting on some latex.” And when drag becomes more about latex than subtext, it’s not funny at all.

Drag Hags

#4 - The Orlando Sentinel has a feature on Gina Duncan’s long journey …

Former Merritt Island football star Greg Pingston is completing a transgender change to Gina Duncan.

They still talk about the tackle around Merritt Island. Greg Pingston, the baddest player on the baddest team in the state, zeroed in on his victim.

The kid was returning a kick up the sideline in front of the Mustangs’
bench. Pingston locked on to him with his tackling radar.

He angled in at full speed, plunged his helmet into the runner’s chest
and drove upward. The runner’s entire body jolted into reverse.

“His chin just exploded with blood,” receiver Mike Garo recalls. “It
was the perfect tackle they’d always taught us, but it went beyond that.

“All the guys went nuts. It was totally tribal.”

Pingston hopped up and walked away. After the game he showered, went
home and hoped nobody would be around.

He went into his parents’ room and walked to the closet. Then he put
on one of his mother’s dresses.

“I felt like I could breathe,” Pingston says.

He didn’t know why. He just knew a woman’s clothes felt as natural as
any football jersey he’d ever worn.

Three decades later, it’s his old teammates who are gasping for air.

“Oh, my God, that’s Greg’s voice!”

“Can you believe that?”

Those reactions were left on the office voice mail. A couple of guys
had heard the news and called to listen to the greeting. They didn’t
hear the beep and realize their comments were being recorded.

It was a little much to process. The anchor of Merritt Island’s
state-championship team, the homecoming king, the player everybody
measured his manhood against had become . . .

A woman?

“What an ugly woman he’ll make.”

The voice mail ended. The shock waves roll on.

Football player becoming a woman

#5 - What causes heart attacks …

Anger really can trigger a heart attack. But then, so can getting sick, being too hot, being too cold, air pollution, lack of sleep, grief, overeating, natural disasters, exercise and sex.

In fact, simply waking up is the worst thing you can do if you’re trying to avoid a heart attack.

Heart attacks, strokes and cardiac arrests seem to come out of the blue, but actually most occur upon rising in the morning, according to the July 2007 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter.

Before waking, our bodies release stress hormones into the bloodstream to give us the energy to get out of bed, but this also strains the heart slightly. That bump can cause a cardiac event if one’s arteries already are rife with festering cholesterol-rich plaque.

The dehydration that normally occurs after a night of sleep also puts a plaque-plagued circulatory system at risk. Also, heart medications wear off during the night.

A bout of anger can increase the chances of having a heart attack up to 14-fold for two hours following a flare-up, the Letter states.

Sex to Earthquakes: What Causes Heart Attacks

And if you think meditation helps …

There’s no definitive evidence that meditation eases health problems, according to an exhaustive review of the accumulated data by Canadian researchers.

“There is an enormous amount of interest in using meditation as a form of therapy to cope with a variety of modern-day health problems, especially hypertension, stress and chronic pain, but the majority of evidence that seems to support this notion is anecdotal, or it comes from poor quality studies,” concluded researchers Maria Ospina and Kenneth Bond of the University of Alberta/Capital Health Evidence-based Practice Centre, in Edmonton.

They analyzed 813 studies focused on the impact of meditation on various conditions, including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and substance abuse.

No Clear Evidence Meditation Can Boost Health: Study

.

I took one of those non-scientific, blog polls that gives people canned answers of what kind of person the poll’s writer thinks you are. Per the Blogthings poll, I’m 100% feminist.

Funny, I don’t identify as a feminist.  I identify more strongly as an equal opportunity egalitarian and a promoter of diversity than I ever would as a feminist.

Why?

Well, feminist philosophy has its roots in the belief in male oppression of females. It’s kind of in the same vein of caucasian oppression of racial minorites, but not exactly the same because racial oppression is seen within the framework of race as a constant.

A significant number of feminists believe being female is a lifetime constant too — the oppression of females relates to being natally female — even more specifically being oppressed durning one’s girlhood has a lot to do with why one becomes an adult feminist. This, of course, separates out male-to-female transsexuals as not being capable of being true feminists because — and now I shift to the use of “we” because I’m a transwoman — we had male privilege as children born with penises and raised as boys.

I’m not welcome as a female attendee at events like the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) because I had a boyhood instead of a girlhood, or something to that effect.  Actually, instead of paraphrasing, let me quote Lisa Vogel, director of the MWMF:

“I deeply desire healing in our communities, and I can see and feel that you want that too. I would love for you and the other organizers of Camp Trans to find the place in your hearts and politics to support and honor space for womyn who have had the experience of being born and living their life as womyn. I ask that you respect that womon born womon is a valid and honorable gender identity. I also ask that you respect that womyn born womyn deeply need our space — as do all communities who create space to gather, whether that be womyn of color, trans womyn or trans men … I wish you well, I want healing, and I believe this is possible between our communities, but not at the expense of deeply needed space for womyn born womyn.”

So you see, I’m not eligible to be a womon because I’m not a womon-born-womon, and the womyn-born-womyn want their “space” away from women like me because I’m really not one of them.  I’m different enough from other women that I need to be segragated out from other womyn/women at womyn’s/women’s events. 

This sounds to me a lot like the unconscionable justifications for what racial segragation was to southern blacks back before the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60’s — but I guess I’m considered a transwoman trying to assert male privilege to get into the feminist womyn’s club for even suggesting gender/transsexual segregation is the same as racial segregation.

The womyn-born-womyn faith in oppression and transsexual’s male privilege seems to close to me to the same sort of mind-numbing faith in philosophy as fudamentalist, socially conservative Christians.  The discriminiation against LGBT people that socially conservative Christians do in the name of Christ is main reason I have a hard time identifyining as a “Big C” christian; the segregation flavored discrimination against transwomen that womyn-born-womyn do in the name of feminism is the main reason I have a hard time identifying as a feminist.

If feminism can be twisted into a justification for segregation based on natal (or any other) physical characteristics of a given woman/womon, I don’t want any part of it.  So, call me someone who believes in equal opportunity and diversity, but whatever you do just don’t call me a feminist – 100% or otherwise.

–
H/t: Shakesville

There’s a post over at Women’s Space/The Margins entitled The Colonizing of Lesbian and Women’s Community: Bitch Performance at Boston Dyke March Canceled by Transgender Activists. The performer named Bitch has been pulled from the performing line-up of the Boston Dyke March because Bitch has performed at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF), and she hasn’t denounced the “womyn-born-womyn (WBW) only” of the MWMF. As one can guess, folk who identify as WBW are upset, and folk who identify as transgender or trans-affirming are happy as hell.

Let me explain the situation as neutrally as a transwoman can describe this situation:

To begin with (for those not aware), Bayard Rustin was a gay, black man who worked with MLK Jr. on civil rights. He’s probably most famously known for being the primary organizer for the March on Washington where MLK Jr. spoke to thousands.

There is a Bayard Rustin book out of his collected writings entitled Time On Two Crosses. In the piece in the book entitled From Montgomery to Stonewall, Rustin wrote:

[T]he job of the gay community is not to deal with extremists who would castigate us or put us on an island and drop an H-bomb on us. The fact of the matter is that there is a small percentage of people in America who understand the true nature of the homosexual community. There is another small percentage who will never understand us. Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate. That’s our job today: to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest antigay sentiment.

There is also a sociological “definition of a situation,” which states:

If a situation is perceived as real, it is real in its consequences.

Given the circumstances of the “WBW only” policy of the MWMF, transpeople can successfully argue that a pro-womyn event is an anti-transgender event because the concept of segregation can be applied as a consequence of having pro-WBW events — and segregation is a civil rights buzz word. And, segregation can easily be parried into the concept of discrimination and inequality — the concept of “separate-but-equal” is a non-starter for most people these days.

What’s happened to Bitch may be functional censorship. It may be particularly unfair as Bitch’s partner is Daniela Sea [who played Max, a female-to-male transgendered person on the L Word, and uses the pronoun "ze" to refer to gender-ambiguous persons (like hirself)].

That said, transpeople are using what tools they have to to control the extent to which people can publicly manifest [perceived anti-trans] sentiment.

What tools would lesbians and other self-identified womyn use to deal with perceived segregation and discrimination against lesbians and other self-identified womyn? My guess would be the tools would be similar to the ones the transcommunity is using against Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival indirectly in their inflicting of consequences against Bitch and other performers who’ve played that festival.

Right or wrong, WBW have a hard sell ahead. The transcommunity has the narrative that’s easy to understand, and is an easier sell to the broader, trans-positive, LGBT community.

… from the Sunday news that caught my eye …

“tranny” — I’m a bit disappointed that the editor of the Belfast Telegraph chose to use that headline term to describe the civil servant in a story (Tranny civil servant wins privacy case) about a “landmark” case. Particularly since the article itself was much more proper and circumspect (”gender change civil servant”, “male to female transsexual”, “her name”, “the woman”).

“forced transgenderism” — I got a bit of a chuckle from a writer’s use (Movie review: Day Watch) of that term in reviewing the Russian film (a “refreshing movie-going experience”), Day Watch. I can’t help but think he must have borrowed the term from the likes of Peter “Porno Pete” LaBarbera.

BlogHer: Pres. Bush signs order granting himself emergency powers
Excerpt: Earlier this month, Pres. Bush signed an National Security Directive centralizing power in the executive branch in the event of a national emergency. Although the directive has attracted relatively little press attention, it’s an extraordinary development when WorldNetDaily and The Progressive Magazine agree that the new directive seems to give the president unprecedented powers without Congressional oversight.

Pam’s House Blend: Alabama Dept. of Homeland Security: gay rights advocates = potential terrorists
Excerpt: The Alabama Department of Homeland Security had to take down a Web page that cast a broad net in naming potential vectors of terrorism. For some reason, it published a list that included gay rights and anti-war organizations, calling the following groups “single-issue extremists.”

Box Turtle Bulletin: Another Gay Brain Study
Excerpt: It has long been known that men and women, collectively, do not perform mental tasks identically. And previous research has suggested that gay men and women perform mental tasks in a manner closer to that of the opposite sex. … An article in the April 2007 Archives of Sexual Behavior discusses a study by University of Warwick researchers of 109,612 men and 88,509 women which confirmed these observations.

the blog at the end of reason: The Land of the Lost
Excerpt: The Creation Museum, conveniently located near the airport and the interstate system, opens its doors today. There, a visitor will see a literal six day creation of the earth, learn that this planet is only 6,000 years old and see dinosaurs co-exist with humans. (ADD: Related article, but from a religious right perspective: OneNewsNow: Museum opens to defend biblical creation account)

Pantagraph.com: Community responds to party for Pluto
That distant, icy ball called Pluto may be a “dwarf planet” now, but it’s still a big deal in Streator, birthplace of its discoverer.

joe.my.god.: Transmen Controversies
Excerpt: Transmen, female-to-male transexuals, continue to be barred from membership in Chicago’s Hellfire BD/SM club, the largest of some 400 such clubs in the nation. Despite some internal dissent, including the resignation of the club’s newletter editor, the membership recently voted to maintain their 10-year policy that “there must be a penal [sic] attachment.” Hellfire is one of the few BD/SM clubs in country to have an active policy against FTMs.
(H/t: Nexy)

The Aussie Abadees: The view from my window and other Autumn updates…

Woman in Progress: Sports talk
Excerpt: My AWSM membership packet arrived in the mail the other day. That’s AWSM as in the Association for Women in Sports Media, a congregation of some of the most talented journalists and smartest sportswriters I know. I am very happy to have been welcomed into the group……Scanning the material in the packet reminded me of an exchange I had during a recent in-studio interview I did with John Ireland and Steve Mason of ESPN Radio. Near the end of a lively discussion, we were all in a pretty good mood, and Mason jokingly asked me, “So now that you’re a woman, do you know less about sports?……I laughed at that line then, and still do. It was a send-up of an age-old stereotype that AWSM did much to dispel, and female sports fans since have picked up the gauntlet in a big way…

SFGate: The Honeymoon’s Over
Police find a newlywed lying in a street with his ear partially bitten off — allegedly by his mother-in-law.

This is the kind of story that leaves me between teary and angry.

Many know the story of 1995 death of Tyra Hunter, a transgendered woman left to die by EMS personnel after it was discovered she had a penis.

As part of the settlement, the District of Columbia firefighters were required to go to sensitivity training.

Well, a D.C. judge said the firefighters harassed the teacher of the required sensitivity course.

Judge Geoffrey Alprin reversed the D.C. Office of Human Rights’ decision and ruled in favor of Kenda Kirby, who accused D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services officials of belittling her because of her sexual orientation and androgynous appearance.

The four-year-old case now goes back to the Human Rights office for a conciliatory hearing.

In a strongly worded ruling, Alprin found probable cause that EMS management also sought to punish Kirby after she complained about harassing comments that were placed into her mailbox.

“The record reflects that this constant stream of hostility manifested itself in a number of ways . . .,” Alprin wrote. “The sum total of this evidence supports findings of a history and culture of homophobia and sexism in the D.C. FEMS.”

This morning I think I’ll cry for Tyra Hunter and Kenda Kirby. This afternoon I think I’ll feel pissed at D.C.’s firefighters of the late nineties and early 2000’s. This evening my thoughts will be for those future victims that will need help from the D.C. Fire and Emergency Management System.

——
Crossposted to Pam’s House Blend.

I’ve been the victim of sexual harassment.

Near the end of my 20-year, U.S. Navy career, a subordinate of mine decided I was gay and didn’t want me in his Navy - he talked to my last four division officers trying to get an investigation into my alleged homosexuality started on me.

My subordinate finally found a sympathetic ear in a new Executive Officer (XO). I got called in front of the XO twice. I’d stayed within the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) rules, but he asked me if I were gay anyway.

I wrote up my subordinate and my XO for male-on-male sexual harassment — they violated the DADT rules in a way that met the Navy’s three criteria for sexual harassment:

1. The attention was unwelcome.
2. The harassment was sexual in nature.
3. The harassment involved the workplace.

Unfortunately for my harassers, for seven years of my military career I’d been a Naval Equal Opportunity and Sexual Harassment instructor. Both of my harassers were found at the end of investigation to have committed male-on-male sexual harassment. The Navy didn’t take male-on-male sexual harassment seriously, so my subordinate’s punishment was a verbal reprimand, and my XO got a “fiche 5″ service record entry.

I knew the rules and criteria for sexual harassment. (One can read more of my DADT story on the SLDN’s or HRC’s website.)

Why mention my story of harassment here? Matt Barber of the Concerned Women For America’s Culture And Family Institute recently announced what he believes a sexually harassing, hostile work environment is created when a transwoman uses a female designated bathroom.

Read the rest of this entry »

Southern Voice: Healing our wounds
Monica Helms writes: In my 10 years living as Monica, I have had three close friends commit suicide and one who was murdered. . .

Pam’s House Blend: Gallup: public favors expansion of hate crime law, despite the bleatings of the fringe

ShakesVille: Rape is Not Only Hilarious; It’s No Big Deal

Concerned Women For America: ENDA Would Dismantle First Amendment Liberties
Excerpt: Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), warned, “This bill would force Christian, Jewish or Muslim business owners to hire people who openly choose to engage in homosexual or cross-dressing behaviors despite a sincerely held religious belief that those behaviors are dangerous, sinful and not in keeping with basic morality. ENDA would essentially force employers to check their First Amendment protected rights to freedom of religion, speech and association at the workplace door. It’s absurd! For instance, female employees would have to endure both systematic sexual harassment and a hostile work environment by being forced to share bathroom facilities with male employees who get their jollies from wearing a dress, high heels and lipstick. (Opposition Piece)

Ex-Gay Watch: We Interrupt for a Special Report from James Dobson

San Francisco Chronicle: Laddies In The Ladies Room
Excerpt: The men’s room sign has large print that reads “Ladies” and smaller text clarifying women shouldn’t go in there because it’s the men’s room. The women’s room has a similar sign. . .The signs have been up for 10 years in Destin and 30 years in Pensacola.

In their article Kings and Queens: A “Sexual Orientation” Primer, the Concerned Women for America (CWA or CWfA) take talking points from the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC).  The CWfA states in it’s piece:

With the introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA) and the most recent incarnation of “hate crimes” legislation now coming before Members of Congress, it’s time to remind everyone that these two bills constitute a shell game in which the liberals always win and you ultimately lose your freedom of speech.

ENDA loosely defines “sexual orientation” as “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality,” and also includes “gender identity,” defined as “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.”

H.R. 1592, the “hate crimes” bill just passed by the House, defines “gender identity” vaguely as “actual or perceived gender-related characteristics.” The bill, however, does not offer a definition for “sexual orientation.” In one ironic way, that makes it the more honest of the two bills. While ENDA covers three “sexual orientations,” 23 “sexual orientations” actually exist.

Would they be covered under ENDA and “hate crimes” legislation? Ostensibly, yes. The left has been trying to pass ENDA and “hate crimes” legislation for years, but only in recent response to the growing political clout of the transgender movement has “gender identity” been added to these bills - a term that would cover #22 in the list below, and by extension #4, #6, #7 and #8.

WARNING: Some of the descriptions in the list below may be offensive to readers’ sensibilities. [Page numbers are from "Paraphilias," Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (Washington: American Psychiatric Association, 2000), pp. 566-582.]. . .

The CWfA article then lists twenty-three of the thirty listed conditions that the TVC listed in their article ‘Sexual Orientation’ And ‘Gender Identity” Protection Is A Slippery Slope (that I posted an entry on here).  The text of the TVC article before the list of thirty conditions:

Congress is making a serious mistake by providing federal protection for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” These terms include a wide variety of sexual orientations outside of normal heterosexuality. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, lists a whole range of sexual orientations that may end up being “protected” by passage of ENDA or H.R. 1592.

The list below is from the 2000 edition of the DSM. . .

It seems odd for the CWfA to be taking talking points from the TVC — an organization listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “general hate” organization.