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 Lose Weight Exercise 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?

No, I’m not making a comment there about the overwhelming majority of Americans who no longer support President Bush or his chosen course of action regarding Iraq. (But, with relatively so few Americans serving in this military “mission,” with no pay-as-you-go tax increases to pay for it, and with the — until recently — feel-good, housing-boom economy … I suppose that it was easy to give Bush and company a free ride … kind of like Tony Blair here … but us commoners’ indignation can swell when things go sour, no doubt, as evidenced by those polls.)

No, what I was referring to was this item in Variety today …

Economists are citing some dire portents of a recession these days, but they’ve missed one indicator I find especially disturbing: The porn business has suddenly gone flaccid.

…

At a time when “gonzo” is fading, “limp” is in. What does that say about the mood of the country?

It means (for a while at least … as those poll numbers suggest) the country’s ready to take a new (with no comment about the remaining U.S. presidential aspirants intended), “limp” direction.

Darnit, I never should have shorted that stuff … …

This is from Randall Forsyth’s UP AND DOWN WALL STREET DAILY column (“No Market For Young Men“) in Barron’s yesterday …

ALAN GREENSPAN IS OFF THE HOOK. The biggest bubble in history was not inflated by the Federal Reserve pushing interest rates too low for too long, science has proven conclusively.

No, the boom can be traced to raging testosterone levels of traders on Wall Street and the City of London, according to the results of a new study. And the current bust may be the result of swings in another hormone, cortisol, which is associated with stress.

Those are the findings of a study of hormone levels of City traders by John Coates and Joe Herman of Cambridge University and published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday. Coates also has additional insight in the matter, having previously run a trading desk for Deutsche Bank, according to the Financial Times, which reported on the research Tuesday.

“Steroids such as testosterone and cortisol affect our moods, memories and behavior,” Coates wrote in the FT. Testosterone levels rise when males prepare to compete, and increase further in the winner, but fall in the loseWeight Exerciser. Higher testosterone levels are associated with greater risk-taking and confidence; winners experience a positive feedback loop of higher testosterone begetting more confidence, Coates explains.

The Cambridge researchers monitored hormone levels in 17 London traders and found those with the higher testosterone levels in the morning made more money that day. Indeed, testosterone “is likely to rise in a bubble and, by increasing risk-taking, exaggerate the market’s upward movement,” they posit.

But, not surprisingly, that can go too far, as the last year or so has amply demonstrated. “Effective risk taking turns into dangerous behavior,” other studies show, they add.

When the markets go against these Big Swinging Dicks — as Michael Lewis called them in “Liar’s Poker,” his classic recounting of the trading floor culture of what was perhaps the most macho firm at the time, Salomon Brothers — they experience a hormone swing.

Cortisol, which has the opposite effect, increases with stress and lowers confidence. “Cortisol is likely to rise in a market crash and, by increasing risk aversion, to exaggerate the market’s downswing,” the Cambridge researchers say.

“In the present credit crisis, traders may feel the noxious effects of chronic cortisol exposure and end up in a psychological state known as ‘learned helplessness’,” they contend. “If this happens, central banks may lower interest rates only to find that traders still refuse to buy risky assets.” In other words, they may be pushing on rather limp string.

All this squares with experience of a top woman portfolio manager, who says her research in brain chemistry finds that men are more prone to hormonal mood swings than women. Men go through testosterone cycles every two weeks, making their swings twice as frequent as a woman’s, she points out. Incredibly, she relates, questions about dealing with her monthly cycle were a big deal for some prospective investors when she was launching her fund.

The real difference between male and female traders, she continues, is that men react to every economic number or report to play a short-term swing. “It’s almost like video games,” she says, breeding an addictive behavior.

Her experience finds women tend to be more contemplative and less eager to jump on every number for a play. Yet, despite the advances made by women in other fields, her impression is that there are fewer female traders and portfolio managers than, say, in 1980, though she adds there are more women in institutional sales on Wall Street.

Coates and Herman suggest that more women on trading desks would temper the irrational exuberance and inevitable crashes. Older men might also help dampen the swings. As pilots are wont to say, “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. But there are no old, bold pilots.”

Diversity on trading desks would help dampen those testosterone-fueled swings, this female PM says, and it’s something she’s practiced. Gender alone can’t explain her fund’s success, which has produced steady, market-beating returns, even in the first quarter, when it scored double digits while the markets were sucking wind. The key, she says, is a personality type that can deal with failure and get on with it.

That has nothing to do with a Y-chromosome. As Kipling wrote:

“If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And loseWeight Exercise, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss…

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a Man, my son!”

But there are some really neat inventions (such as the self-making bed … so no one will ever be able to say to you, “You made your own bed, now sleep in it.”) presented at the International Exhibition of Inventions in Switzerland, including …

A wacky invention is also an e-mail analyzer to determine whether the person you meet in the chat room is not a man pretending to be a woman or the other way around.

The computer program developed by a Malaysian university professor analyzes e-mails according to the number of words, exclamation marks, emotions and compliments to determine if the sender is male or female.

Women tend to be more expressive than men, said Dianne Cheong Lee Mei, but she refused to go into detail about how the program unveils the gender of the unseen Internet partner.

I wonder how this compares with the Gender Genie?

I haven’t kept up with figure skating (since wanting to be just like Peggy Fleming … a long, long ways back), so until yesterday I had never heard of Mark Lund. Well, now I know that Lund evidently is not a fashion maven like Dick Button …

Weir’s outfits often sparkle like disco balls; in his short program he pretends to be a seagull. His total package has not only led to assumptions that he is gay — something not as taboo in figure skating as in other sports — but a controversy over his not being the right type of gay. During a figure skating broadcast last year, the announcer Mark Lund, who is openly gay, said, “I don’t think he’s representative of the community I want to be a part of,” and, “I don’t need to see a prima ballerina on the ice,” before praising Lysacek’s masculinity.

Figure Skating Rivalry Pits Athleticism Against Artistry

There must be some of the same something in the water in Ottumwa, Iowa as in Montgomery County, Maryland (JimK at the Vigilance blog today describes the most recent doings there)…

Listen, reconsider and amend. That’s what the City Council did Tuesday concerning the sexual orientation ordinance.

The ordinance was on Tuesday’s agenda for its second reading. At least 50 people packed council chambers and several spoke, for or against, the proposed city law, which was the last item on the agenda.

Those who favored the ordinance said it’s needed to prevent discrimination in housing and employment.

Citizens who spoke against it said the ordinance would enable a man to put on a dress, enter a women’s restroom and molest or kidnap a female youngster.

Ed Ball of the Ottumwa Human Rights Commission said the people doing that are pedophiles, not gays.

“These crimes are done by ‘normal’ people,” Ball said.

After public comment, Councilman Gordon Aistrope said he was also concerned about who would enter the restroom because the proposed ordinance includes “gender identity” as part of the protected classification.

“This does bother me. Sexual orientation, OK. Gender identity, no,” Aistrope said.

He moved to delete “gender identity” and Councilman Mitch Niner seconded the motion.

Councilwoman Shannon Addison said current medical journals and psychology publications have “clearly stated” it’s “not transgenders, not cross-dressers” who would molest youngsters in restrooms.

“A pedophile is a pedophile,” she said.

Police Chief Jim Clark also told the council that pedophiles and sexual predators are a “kind of their own.”

Clark said he hoped the council would delete either “gender identity” or “public accommodations” from the proposed city law.

Then the question was what happens next to a proposed ordinance that was just amended.

City Attorney Tom Kintigh said if the amendment passes, then the ordinance would move back to the first reading.

Addison said pulling “gender identity” out of the ordinance “won’t hurt.”

“If we do have an issue with gender identity, they can handle it at the state level,” she added.

The council voted unanimously to remove “gender identity” from the proposed ordinance.

On the first reading of the amended ordinance, Aistrope, Addison and Niner voted for it and Meyers and Councilman Keith Caviness voted against it.

Ottumwa City Council amends proposed ordinance — ‘gender identity’ deleted; law moves back to first reading

Speaking of water …

It’s in the Water: We’re All Transsexuals Now

Some photographs from the Los Angeles Times‘ coverage of yesterday’s memorial service for gender-nonconforming teenager Larry King …

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

Some of the gender and transgender-related writings we’re reading today …

At Towleroad …

Hillary Clinton on ENDA, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, McCain, and Coulter

At (Ab)Normal Heights …

Donna Rose Comments On The LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee

At Gender and Life’s Paths …

Transgender: Why Don’t We Matter

At Phred’s Blog …

Human hatred on display in Gainesville

At Bilerico Project …

The Gender Anarchist

What Man and What Woman?

And at Intersex Pride …

Elizabeth Reis defames and trivializes intersex people

DSD: North American Medical fascism and manufacturing consent

Turning from small persons to small minds, there’s this snippet from the Contra Costa Times this morning …

Word of boys being told to dress as girls for a day, and girls as boys, touched a nerve with some parents at Valley View Elementary School in Pleasanton last week..

Parents were concerned that the supposed “Cross Gender Day” was meant to promote tolerance of transgender people.

“I think it’s absolutely appalling,” said one mother, who had heard about the event the night before from her first-grader. Then she heard it briefly explained as “gender day” by a school staff member that morning. “They should promote academics, and let morals to the family.”

Principal Michelle Brynjulson told The Eye she had gotten calls, too but was able to quell fears.

Every Friday is “Spirit Day,” when Valley View students are asked to wear clothing with the school logo or blue school color. Once in a while, there’s a different theme — like pajama day, or funny hair day.

Brynjulson said the student council got the idea for a day for girls to dress like boys, and vice-versa, after a boy student came to school on Halloween dressed as a girl.

“It’s pure fun,” she said.

Even the Rev. Albert Mohler can be right about some things, such as calling …

“the gift of gender … part of the goodness of God’s creation.”

So, be thankful and proud of your gift of gender.

Of course, it would have been nicer if that was all Mohler had to say, but … as you can read for yourself in this “under the radar” news story, it wasn’t.

In the last week or so there has been some interesting commentary coming from the religious right, as well as an editorial in this morning’s Los Angeles Times, regarding transgender folk. There’s been a few interesting stories too. So, instead of writing up a bevy of individual posts on a variety of transgender stories, here’s a “This And That” post to catch y’all up on the news and commentary relating to gender identity and expression.

~~~~~~~~~~

○ The Phoenix Arizona LGBT publication Echo Magazine picked their woman of the year: Regina Gazelle.

Almira Enos had used meth since she was 13 years old. To get drugs, she would often prostitute herself. She was born a man, but always knew she was supposed to be a woman. Her own mother told her so. Her confused gender state fueled the chronic drug use. She often felt lost and suicidal. Enter Regina Gazelle, Echo’s Woman of the Year.

In April, Enos met Gazelle, who helped the now 26-year-old clean up and learn how to live in her own skin. Enos enrolled in Gazelle’s halfway house for transgender girls, “This Is H.O.W. (Honesty, Openmindedness, Willingness),” and today is sober and even has a job.

She credits Gazelle with her remarkable transformation.

Editor Patrick Roland wrote in his commentary on the article:

So it is with great pride I announce Echo’s first transgender woman of the year, the fabulous Regina Gazelle.

We know there may be some controversy in making this decision. We thought about having “people of the year” because Regina’s accomplishments were so amazing we knew she had to get the much-needed recognition she’s earned.

But at the end of the day, Regina is a woman, period. And she’s been through a hell of a lot more and created so much with what little she had to work with, she’s made our community a far better place for having her in it.

~~~~~~~~~~

○ And, the first thing you should know is you should be afraid of me and my kind because we are a bunch of bullies — so says the Catholic Online in their editorial Beware of the ‘Gender Identity’ Bullies. The article begins by framing San Francisco’s plan to begin issuing some municipal identification cards without gender markers for undocumented workers and transgender people. Some choice excerpts from the piece:

● Rather than seeing our gender as a gift and a given, this movement is a part of a growing effort to place some perceived power over sexual identity in the hands of individuals so that they can make their own decision as to whether they are men or women; or to change their mind regularly.

These new municipal identification cards will contain birthdates and photos. However, they will not indicate whether the holder is male or female. Why? Because the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco have determined that to do so is somehow “discriminatory’.

So called “transgender” activists added this provision to the ordinance.

● In the USA TODAY article, Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council was quoted as the only voice which even questioned the ordinance. He told the paper that he was concerned that the use of such cards would encourage the idea that gender identity is flexible. “It gives support to the philosophy that says gender is a social construct,” Sprigg said “I think that philosophy is harmful to society at large.”

● No longer content to keep their lifestyle choices private, these activists have decided that the police power of the State must now enforce their vision of a brave new world on everyone else. They have also decided that anyone who sees things differently is “intolerant” or bigoted, and must be stopped.

Oh, I know some may consider that my even commenting on this issue is somehow “insensitive”. Well, when a group goes beyond the pale by forcing a change in the law to accommodate their own lifestyle choice, and, in so doing, risks the safety of others, I will not remain silent.

They are the ‘Gender Identity Bullies’ and they may be coming to a City or town near you.

So apparently, since San Francisco is going to issue ID’s without gender markers, the terrorists win. I probably should tell the Department of Defense that, since my Military Retiree ID card is sans a gender marker.

~~~~~~~~~~

○ Keeping with the Catholic Church, a Catholic hospital has denied a post-operative, transsexual woman breast enlargement surgery because was born male. (The California Catholic Daily has a piece up on the story too in their piece God made you a man.) Quoting from the PinkNews‘ article on the story:

A trans woman is suing a Catholic hospital, claiming medical officials blocked her from getting breast enlargement surgery there because she had a sex-change operation.

Charlene Hastings, 57, told The [San Jose] Mercury News that when she called Seton Medical Centre, a Catholic hospital in Daly City, California, to inquire about breast enlargement surgery, an official told her it wasn’t “God’s will” for her to have such a treatment, because “God made you a man.”

The Catholic League’s Bill Donahue has commented on this story:

…Significantly, the IRS ruled in 2005 that a woman’s transsexual sex reassignment surgery is not allowed as a deductible medical expense. Moreover, consider what Johns Hopkins professor of psychiatry Paul McHugh has concluded: ‘I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment.’ In other words, the government sees the requested surgery as elective in nature and experts like McHugh see it as destructive. Why, then, should Catholic hospitals be forced to cooperate with this objectionable venture?

○ One of my hero’s, Monica Roberts, has a piece up (from November) entitled Why Is The Catholic Church Hatin’ On Transpeople? It’s a pretty good summary piece on the history of the Catholic Church with transsexuals.

~~~~~~~~~~

[Articles not related to Catholics on Gender Identity And Expression after the fold]
Read the rest of this entry »

Every now and then I get a wild hair up my ass and send a letter to an editor off. I sent this one off today to the Providence Journal (Rhode Island), regarding David Carlin’s Bathrooms for the transgendered. Summing up the article, he stated that providing gender-neutal restrooms that would benefit transgender students is a “lethal cocktail of compassion-plus-stupidity,” and:

…Let me get back to the compassionate New England colleges. They have solved the bathroom problem by doing away with men’s rooms and women’s rooms. Now everybody will use a gender-neutral bathroom. That is to say, men, women and transgender people will all use the same restrooms.

What a splendid institutional improvement! They have improved the bathroom lot of a small (and mentally ill) fraction of the student population, and they have inflicted embarrassment and discomfort on everybody else. Well, not quite everybody else. The politically correct administrators who run many of our colleges will feel a glow of moral superiority every time they relieve themselves in a gender-neutral rest-room.

The French philosopher Jacques Maritain felt that we should be both compassionate and intelligent. One without the other would not do. He summed this up in a memorable phrase that we should all remember: “We must have tough minds and tender hearts.”

America today suffers from what may eventually prove to be a lethal cocktail of compassion-plus-stupidity. We solve little problems that tug at our heartstrings by creating immense future problems. Hard cases make bad law.

Anywho, below is my letter to the editor. It’s probably too long for them to actually post in their hard copy publication, so I thought I’d share it here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear editor,

David Carlin doesn’t seem to comprehend that the “difficulty [transgender] students face when choosing a bathroom” isn’t superfluous, it’s serious mistreatment and violence. The Transgender Law Center published the document Peeing In Peace, which stated:

For many transgender people, finding a safe place to use the bathroom is a daily struggle. Even in cities or towns that are generally considered good places to be transgender (like San Francisco or Los Angeles), many transgender people are harassed, beaten, and questioned by authorities in both women’s and men’s rooms. In a 2002 survey conducted by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, nearly 50% of respondents reported having been harassed or assaulted in a public bathroom. Because of this, many transgender people avoid public bathrooms altogether and can develop health problems as a result. This not only affects people who think of themselves as transgender, but also many others who express their gender in a non-stereotypical way but who may not identify as transgender (for instance, a masculine women or an effeminate man).

[More of the letter to the editor after the break]

Read the rest of this entry »

The Whittier Daily News reported in its article Transgender student elected king that Andrew Gomez was elected Homecoming King at Pasadena City College. No big deal you say? Well, Andrew is a transman.

Andrew’s candidacy was challenged…

PCC’s homecoming committee initially ruled Gomez ineligible because of his pierced ear.

But after students complained, lodging charges of discrimination, the committee relented and reversed its decision. Gomez said his election earlier this month as Homecoming King surprised him, even though he initially ran hoping to become a source of inspiration for other gay, lesbian and transgender students.

“I wanted them to feel like they could do something like this, instead of having them feel, `I am not straight so I can’t do this,”‘ Gomez said.

When Tony Covarrubias ran for prom king in Fresno earlier this year and didn’t win the title, Focus On The Family’s CitizenLink titled an article Girl Who Sought to Be Prom King Loses, and the Freepers ran an article with the title “Shemale Runs For Prom King.

When three weeks later a Fresno trans girl wins prom crown — when Chrystal Vera won the Prom Queen title at Fresno’s Roosevelt High School — (Jack T.) Chick Publications wrote a piece entitled Court: Women’s Restroom Okay for ‘Transgendered’ Men, where they wrote:

The sodomite indoctrination in our schools and work places is having some “unintended consequences.” A Pennsylvania court has “opened the door for men, who believe they are women, to come to work in a dress and use the women’s restroom and shower facilities,” according to The Wanderer, a conservative Catholic weekly.

In a Fresno, California high school, a female “transgender” student ran for prom king and lost, but a male “trans” ran for prom queen and won. He is also on the cheerleader squad and stands 6 foot 4 inches in his high heels.

…Our only defense, and the only hope for America, is a revival of Bible-based morality. For that to happen, the rebel hearts must be changed, one at a time.

Soul winners, we need to step up our witnessing. We need to counter the lies of Satan with Gospel Truth. If we haven’t time to speak to someone about the Lord, we can always give him a tract, or leave one where someone will find it.

Apparently, identifying as transgender equates to identifying as a deceiver… a sodomite. And, “we” have to tie the deceit to the bathroom — of course. It’s always the bathroom when it comes to transgender people, isn’t it?

Can’t wait to see what’s written about Andrew Gomez. Well, actually, I can wait — my heart is with him, as I’m sure they’ll be some vitriol.

And as a final side note, please don’t send me any gospel tracts, especially if it should come from Chick Publications. Somehow I won’t feel the love of God when I’m lambasted as a sodomite and one of Satan’s liars.

~~~~~
Related:
* Is It Deceit?
* Is It Deceit? — A Second Look

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 Lose Weight Exercise-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 …

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.