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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Texas Civil Rights Review has a piece up entitled Jennifer Gale Death Caused by Lack of Shelter for Transgender Homeless, explaining how the perennial candidate for Dallas and Austin public office died this past Wednesday. From the article:

Equality Texas mourns the death of Jennifer Gale, a 47-year-old transgender homeless woman who died yesterday. Jennifer’s body was found Wednesday morning. She was lying in an outdoor walkway at the First English Lutheran Church in Central Austin.

…Jennifer’s voice rang through Austin Council Chamber doors every week, often times in support of the homeless population of which she was a part.

“Let’s give the homeless a place to exercise that need jobs and need help,” said Gale Tuesday night before the city’s Health Services Board.

Her death points to critical problems faced by the homeless, and especially by homeless women and the transgender homeless.

“Jennifer most nights slept outdoors,” said Austin Mayor Will Wynn. “Jennifer, we believe, is the 136th person who has died sleeping on the streets (of Austin) over the last 12 months.”

Marti Bier, policy aide for Austin City Council Member Randi Shade, said the following regarding Ms. Gale’s death:

Something Jennifer would never talk about, but was a reality for her, is that she is a transwoman living in a transphobic society. Homelessness in the trans-community is a really big problem, and one that goes ignored. There are no laws in Texas protecting transgender people, whether from job discrimination, housing discrimination or hate crimes.

There was really nowhere for Jennifer Gale to go to protect herself from the cold last night. The Salvation Army (the only shelter in town that takes in women) would not let her in there unless she was grouped with the men (which includes sleeping with, and showering with, other homeless men). They would make her use her male birth name and completely disregard, and disrespect, her identity as a trans-woman. There is so much to be learned from Jennifer Gale, and so much to be worked on in our community.

I have chills running through my spine over this. Homelessness is a scary reality that many trans people face in every city — they don’t have jobs because they’re discriminated against for being trans (and often in combination with also being a member of a second minority group or protected class, such as regarding race, disability, etc.), and their are often no shelters that will take trans people as they are. If gender expression doesn’t match natal sex, there is often no shelter for them to get out of the cold.

My eyes are already welling over Jennifer Gale, and how she died sleeping on the streets…how she appears to have died from exposure on a cold, cold night.

While we continue to look back and talk about the how fundamental marriage rights were lost in California, Arizona, and Florida this past election, looking forward we need to remember that on a federal level, we don’t have a fully inclusive ENDA either. And, I can tell you that as a result of employment discrimination against LGBT people, many LGBT people — especially minority transgender women like Sharmus Outlaw — are doing sex work as a means of survival. To me, that’s an economic issue that hits my community and me too close to home.

Prostitution in D.C.: A Transgendered Perspective
At a D.C. Council hearing Friday, community leaders, prostitution support groups and law enforcement officials talked about the District’s prostitution problem.

From the Washington Post:

“Sex work is about survival,” [Sharmus] Outlaw said. “It’s not about choosing a neighborhood to go into and to prostitute. We are struggling as transgender women to make ends meet and to survive in today’s world where we are misunderstood.”

But residents of a Northeast neighborhood not far from Union Station told a different story. Jeff King said that when he opens his door in the morning, he often finds condoms on the sidewalk. Joseph McHale said, “The last thing I hear when I go to bed at night is the clicking of their heels.”

D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who chaired the hearing of the Committee on Public Safety, said: “I agree with those who keep in mind that there are human beings involved in this. It is not just about punishing somebody.”

But Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) said “street prostitution is nonnegotiable. There is no level of street prostitution that will be okay.”

As Sharmus Outlaw said in the video, she needs employment opportunities. Survival sex is about not having any employment oportunities.

We all need to start working now for a fully inclusive ENDA in the 111th Congress. If you’re looking to do something for equality and civil rights over the next few months, consider writing letters to and/or meeting with your local congresspeople about a fully inclusive ENDA — one that includes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression — for this coming Congress. And that’s especially true if you’re African-American, Latino or Latina, Asian American, Pacific Islander-American, etc.; a veteran; a disabled person; a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Pagan, etc.; a transgender person…or for that matter just somebody who knows or knows of someone who has an LGBT identity and another identity listed in state or federal law as a protected class.

We have a more Democratic Congress than we’ve had in decades; in this time of economic downturn, LGBT people need broader employment rights and protections, and we should have the support in a Democratic Congress to get those civil rights and protections. Let’s make sure our congresspeople know what we want, and hold feet to fire if we don’t get it soon.

… for trans people (real and fictional) was the topic of a number of items in the news this morning.

First, there’s the respect that a trans or gender-variant person hopes he or she will receive when they face a medical or emergency situation (Autumn, a couple of days before her recent surgery, mentioned the case of Tyra Hunter in D.C.). A letter-writer today in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review thought that Rebecca Hare at least received that paramount respect …

I wish to thank Chief James Holman and the City of Pittsburgh’s Emergency Medical Services, River Rescue Unit, for the professionalism and respect they showed Rebecca Hare as they rescued her from the cold river on Feb. 7 (“Divers pluck woman from flooded Downtown basement,” Feb. 8 and PghTrib.com).

It makes me proud to live in Pittsburgh.

This is a stark contrast to other cities, where the treatment of transgender people has been horrendous. This is another sign of the support the city has toward its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.

But …

However, I was disappointed with the news media’s reporting of this incident. Their reference to Ms. Hare as a man was a blatant form of disrespect to her and to the transgender men and women living in Pittsburgh.

The only reporting agency that showed some respect was the Trib, and for that I do thank you.

(The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in their article on the rescue, did not refer to Hare as a “man.”)

I don’t know if we’re making progress here, yesterday it was “garbage,” today’s it’s “slop” …

It looks like The Telegraph has reached a new low. The Sunday front-page, lead story could be a story found in any underground paper. (Part 2 of our series on New Hampshire’s transgender community.)

The Telegraph chose to put this slop on the front page. Isn’t this the type of story that can be found while waiting in checkout lines at the food store?

When is the editor going to understand that not everything that can be printed is worth printing?

When is the editor going to choose to stop downgrading the paper, or is this the type of “reporting” that we have waiting in store for us?

On a more positive note, as quoted today in the The Times (Munster, Indiana), Olympia Dukakis on Mrs. Madrigal …

Viva life!

Olympia Dukakis won best supporting actress for playing Cher’s sarcastic ma in “Moonstruck,” but her heart belongs to another character. Her favorite role to date: Anna Madrigal, the pot-smoking landlady in the 1993 miniseries “Tales of the City.”

The quirky transsexual “was extraordinary,” praised Dukakis, in town directing “Botanic Garden” at the Victory Garden Greenhouse Theater. “She was a woman who survived herself, who dared to say ‘Yes’ to life and look at the obstacles. It’s incredible how brave some people are — and have to be — to say ‘Yes.’ “

Just before Christmas a year ago, Carmen’s Place, a shelter for homeless LGBT youth in New York City, appeared to be on the verge of becoming “homeless” itself (”Church haven for transgenders may lose home“) on January 1st.

But thanks to contributions large and small from near and far away the shelter found a new home (”Displaced Shelter Finds New Astoria Digs“), but still faced challenges …

The $40,000 the shelter has raised will cover rent for the year, Braxton estimates, but not much else. “We don’t have money for food or equipment or beds or dressers or any of the things we needed before,” he conceded.

A more steady funding stream may be in teh shelter’s future, however. Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office has offered to help Braxton seek discretionary funding in the next budget cycle, should he decide he wants it.

For Braxton, who served as the pastor at St. Andrew’s for the last eight years, another challenge remains.

He is now without a parish or a home, and his newly bestowed position as chaplain of Carmen’s Place, doesn’t actually carry a salary.

Braxton is nonplussed by this problem, seemingly bolstered in his beliefs by the events of the last month. “Right now I’m a man of faith and I’m seeing and learning and believing,” he said.

The New York Times published a feature story (”After Working the Streets, Bunk Beds and a Mass” and an accompanying video, “A Place for Transgender Youth“) on Carmen’s Place last May; and the Queens Chronicle wrote a follow-up story (”Astoria Youth Shelter Carmen’s Place Settling Into New Home“) in July, which presented a hopeful picture and Braxton’s vision of the shelter’s future …

It’s been just seven months since the Rev. Louis Braxton moved his homeless shelter for gay and transgendered teens from a church basement to a modest apartment in Astoria.

… once the news became public, the donations started coming in. In about a month, the group raised $40,000 through word-of-mouth and publicity over the Internet. The donations initially provided enough money to sign a year-long lease. Since the group moved into the apartment on Jan. 1, they’ve raised nearly $100,000 …

Although Braxton said the shelter has enough money to shelter, feed and clothe its residents for at least the next two years, there are still things on his wish list. Linens are always needed, as are food items, cleaning supplies, towels, and other clothing items.

With the influx of donations to keep the shelter open, there came more inquiries from individuals and groups looking for a safehaven. Braxton said he’d like to find a place to house an expanded version of the shelter — one that could accommodate youth in the transitional phase for a couple of months, as well as include an emergency drop-in shelter for kids looking for a place to sleep for a night or two. As it is now, the shelter has limited space. Although at times there are more people living there, Braxton said it’s ideally suited for six. Still, it’s hard to turn away others seeking shelter.

“I was naive about what it means to be transgendered before I started the shelter,” said Braxton. Now, he’s more aware of the need for places like his to house troubled youths …

While he waits hopefully for his request for discretionary funding to come through, Braxton is also mapping out the future of the shelter. In the fall, a New York City schoolteacher on maternity leave will start teaching classes to residents. Braxton also wants to set up a medical clinic and psychiatric services for the kids — but he needs more money and professionals who are willing to regularly commit their time to the shelter.

The latest on Carmen’s Place comes from this story (”A shelter in search of a home“) last week in the Flushing Times Ledger, which makes it appear quite possible that the shelter will have to find a new home again …

In the next room Carolina stirs the dinner and more kids pour inside. It is difficult to imagine that many of these young residents have only known each other for a few weeks or even a few days. But what’s more difficult is the familiar feeling that they all might be put back out in the cold when the shelter’s lease expires Jan. 1 since Braxton still has no housing prospects in sight.

“I’m a priest of the altar. I didn’t go out and look for anybody. They just came. Suddenly we had six people sleeping in the church basement,” says Braxton, who had been the priest at St. Andrews Church in Astoria from 1999 right up until it was closed down last year. Instead of abandoning Carmen’s Place, which was operating out of the church basement, Braxton found the residents a new home. “We have no resources. This city is not helping us,” he says.

The shelter signed a lease on a small apartment in Astoria with funding received through private donations a year ago. When Braxton talked to the landlord about renewing the lease, the landlord wanted Braxton to take in only four people at a time. The shelter currently houses 10.

“So we’re up against a wall now. We’re looking for a house,” Braxton says. “We’re moving on faith. The space is just too small. The office is in the kitchen. The plumbing is inadequate. There’s no room to counsel someone privately without everyone in the shelter knowing, because many of these kids have serious problems. But the real reason is, I turn away so many kids.”

Here’s hoping this Christmas story has a happy ending.

~~~~~

“The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.” — W.C. Jones

The Washington Post has two articles up on how veterans charities are raising money for wounded vets, but aren’t spending sizable percentages on the vets (Study Faults Charities for Veterans and Panel Probes Spending Of Veterans Charities; Low Amount Going to Troops Called ‘Sickening). The Navy Times and others have stories up as well.

The Washington Post reported on December 13th that:

Eight veterans charities, including some of the nation’s largest, gave less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far below the recommended standard, the American Institute of Philanthropy says in a report. One group passed along 1 cent for every dollar raised, the report says. Another [Autumn note: Help Hospitalized Veterans] paid its founder and his wife a combined $540,000 in compensation and benefits last year, a Washington Post analysis of tax filings showed.

There are no laws regulating the amount of money charities spend on overhead, fundraising or giving. But the institute’s report suggests that 20 of the 29 military charities studied were managing their resources poorly, paying high overhead costs and direct-mail fundraising fees and, in some cases, providing their leaders with six-figure salaries.

The 12 charities rated as failing by the institute — including the Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, the AMVETS National Service Foundation and the Freedom Alliance — collected at least $266 million in the past fiscal year.

The Navy Times lists out the12 charities receiving failing ratings from the American Institute of Philanthropy:

- American Ex-Prisoners of War Service Foundation

- American Veterans Coalition

- American Veterans Relief Foundation

- AMVETS National Service Foundation

- Disabled Veterans Association

- Freedom Alliance

- Military Order of the Purple Heart Service Foundation

- National Veterans Services Fund, NCOA National Defense Foundation

- Paralyzed Veterans of America

- VietNow National Headquarters

- Chapin’s Help Hospitalized Veterans/Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on December 13th on the subject, where Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) stated:

This morning’s hearing is about deceit and a sickening betrayal of our most fundamental values. And I hope it is the first step in fixing an intolerable fraud.

As a disabled veteran, I couldn’t agree more with Rep. Waxman’s characterization of this Veterans Charities’ situation as a “sickening betrayal of our most fundamental values” — as well as a sickening betryal of our nation’s homeless and wounded veterans.

~~~~~
Video:

Veterans’ Charities Don’t Make the Grade

As a member of the LGBT community, let me say that in my opinion, we’ve got our collective heads up our collective asses.

I’m a bit surprised, but not shocked looking at this poll — gay marriage is apparently the number one priority of LGBT voters voting on the TheVisibleVote*08 Blog.

If there ever were an indicator that the LGBT civil rights movement is an “it’s all about me” movement, this poll from Logo’s TheVisibleVote*08 Blog is it.

The issues that aren’t on the answer list speak loudly even about the folk who wrote the poll — Are there any answers regarding LGBT youth, such as the high suicide rate, bullying in our public schools, or the epidemic of LGBT youth homelessness?  No.  Any mention of the RealID Act?  No.  LGBT immigration issues?  No.

And, the priorities of marriage equality over LGBT employment, housing, healthcare, and public accomodation is  … well, I don’t get it.

We forget our our poor, we forget our next generation, we forget the basic needs of our peers who are oppressed because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, but we remember our personal desires and elevate them to the highest of community goals.

Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.
–Helen Keller

Okay, I’m stepping off the soapbox.

The Contra Costa Times has a new article up on youth suicides in the San Francisco Bay area.

The stark statistics on LGBT youth suicides:

In the gay community, youth suicide continues to be a persistent problem, experts say.

Among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths, as many as 40 percent are likely to attempt suicide, said Cassie Blume, youth programs coordinator for the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose. The national data is derived from several studies, Blume said.

“They are three times more likely to attempt suicide” than straight young people, Blume said. “Our work can be just about keeping them alive.”

University of Minnesota pediatrics professor Gary Remafedi’s book, “Death by Denial,” found that 30 percent of gay youths said they had attempted suicide at least once as a teenager.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report from 1989 concluded that gay youths are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens. Gay and lesbian teens accounted for about 30 percent of youth suicides, the department found.

It’s not just suicide, it’s homelessness among LGBT youth as well.  As dan l pointed out in a Pam’s House Blend diary back in January of 2007 (citing a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force report entitled An Epidemic of Homelessness):

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the number of homeless and runaway youth ranges from 575,000 to 1.6 million per year.1 Our analysis of the available research suggests that between 20 percent and 40 percent of all homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).

In related a blog entry to a New Standard article about the violence and obsticles transpeople face, author Megan Tady quoted Avy Skolnik, (a coordinator with the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project):

Common sense would tell us that being homeless is a factor that makes one significantly more vulnerable to violence. But how do we know that being trans makes one more likely to be homeless? Its hard to capture numbers of trans people in the population because of stigma, medical definitions of transsexual which differ from community definitions, issues self identification, and linguistic/cultural barriers. Its [also] hard to capture numbers of homeless people who are trans because most shelters only have male and female on their intake forms [and] homeless trans people may be discriminated against and turned away. What shelters document that they discriminate by turning trans clients away? The police are another example – again, incident reports do not offer a ‘trans’ option for an officer to mark – only male and female. And if such an option were available, the trans person might be reluctant to disclose their ID as trans. Why? Because of institutional transphobia.

And, that all said, that’s not even touching on the violence and bullying our LGBT youth face. 

When I ask myself if I’ve done enough to help our LGBT youth see brighter futures, I have to answer “No.”  I wonder how many of my LGBT peers would have to answer that same question with the same answer of ”No.”

Is the next generation of LGBT youth worth the investment the time, energy, and cash of the older generations of LGBT people?  I hope so.  I really hope so.

The Bilerico Project: Denied AIDS Medication, Trans Woman Dies in ICE Detention Center
Excerpt: Apparently, the Los Angeles Daily Journal is reporting that a trans woman named Victoria Arellano died July 20 in San Pedro, California, after being denied AIDS medication and improperly treated for AIDS-related infections at an immigration detention facility. The report says that Arellano (who was detained in a men’s facility) is one of 62 people to have died in federal immigration custody since 2004 and describes systemic problems with health-care delivery in detention centers nationwide, with detained immigrants having little to no legal recourse.

Trans Group Blog: Victoria Arellano
Excerpt: Mind you, my complaints about the way various media outlets cover trans issues aren’t directed at the trans people who are often featured in these articles: their intentions are for the most part good, & they are trying, in their own way, to raise awareness of trans issues in general, all of which is much needed. It’s not that it was a terrible article in terms of The Big Picture, but I’m tired of journalists/media writing a piece that is pretty much like every other piece about a trans person (choosing someone professional, white, with a traditional narrative including surgery & the like) & presenting it as if it’s a revelation.It’s not a revelation. I’d like to get the bar set a little higher, & to start pressuring media to cover more types of trans people, in more situations, with more of the kinds of issues that come up…

City Limits Weekly: Who Are Homeless Youth?
Excerpt: When the results come in from New York City’s first survey of homeless youth, service providers hope finally to understand who these elusive teenagers and young adults are, how many they number, and how to intervene before chronic homelessness becomes an accepted – or inevitable – part of their identities.

Completed last week under the auspices of the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services, the survey aims to put a credible number on this size of this population, which over the years has been estimated at anywhere from several thousand to tens of thousands. Since the beginning of July some three dozen volunteers and employees of social services groups asked a series of questions of homeless people from age 12 to 24 who agreed to participate. On the street and at youth program sites, respondents answered questions about sexual orientation, previous home life, sources of income, educational attainment and more. In addition to counting the population, the survey seeks to illuminate the contributors to and outcomes of youth homelessness – with the goal of helping public and nonprofit agencies better house and care for these young people.

New York Times: Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege
Excerpt: Earlier this month, members of the International Academy of Sex Research, gathering for their annual meeting in Vancouver, informally discussed one of the most contentious and personal social science controversies in recent memory. The central figure, J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University, has promoted a theory that his critics think is inaccurate, insulting and potentially damaging to transgender women. In the past few years, several prominent academics who are transgender have made a series of accusations against the psychologist, including that he committed ethics violations. A transgender woman he wrote about has accused him of a sexual impropriety, and Dr. Bailey has become a reviled figure for some in the gay and transgender communities.

Northwestern University: The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age
Abstract excerpt: Dissatisfied with the option of merely criticizing the book, a small number of transwomen (particularly Lynn Conway, Andrea James, and Deirdre McCloskey) worked to try to ruin Bailey. Using published and unpublished sources as well as original interviews, this essay traces the history of the backlash against Bailey and his book. It also provides a thorough exegesis of the book’s treatment of transsexuality and includes a comprehensive investigation of the merits of the charges made against Bailey that he had behaved unethically, immorally, and illegally in the production of his book. The essay closes with an epilogue that explores what has happened since 2003 to the central ideas and major players in the controversy. (Complete article at link)

United Methodist News Service: Judicial Council to review transgender clergy issue
Excerpt: The United Methodist Church’s top judicial authority will again be considering questions about sexuality — including the case of a pastor who switched gender from female to male — when it tackles a full docket at its fall meeting.

…The transgender case involves a ruling by Bishop John R. Schol of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, who in May reappointed the Rev. Drew Phoenix as pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Baltimore. Mr. Phoenix, 48, had been minister at St. John’s for five years as the Rev. Ann Gordon. After surgery and hormone therapy in the past year, the pastor changed his gender to male and adopted a new name.

Leonard Link: Hormone Treatment for Transgender Prisoners: Court Refuses to Expand Wisconsin Case to Class Action
Excerpt: U.S. District Judge Charles N. Calvert, Jr., issued a ruling August 7 refusing to expand a pending lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s recently-enacted statute concerning hormone treatment for prisoners. The case, originally brought by Lambda Legal and the ACLU on behalf of five transgender Wisconsin inmates who were threatened with cutoff of their hormone therapy when the statute was set to go into effect, claims that cutting off the therapy would be cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. Lambda/ACLU hoped to expand the case to include two additional transgender prisoners as named plaintiffs, both of whom have not been allowed to start hormone therapy in prison, and to get the case certified as a class action on behalf of all present and future TG prisoners in Wisconsin who may be affected by the new statute…

Blabbeando: Chile: Transgender character erased from Chilean version of Argentinean soap opera
Excerpt: …it’s no surprise that Chile is set to launch their own version of “Los Roldan,” renamed “Fortunato,” which promises to follow the original story-arc - with one key difference.

Clarin reports that while the character of Laisa will survive under a different name (Judy), the part will no longer be that of a transgender woman or even be played by a woman.

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe: The Ultraviolet Catastrophe
Excerpt: Well… okay. I’m starting this blog for several reasons.

One, I need to have a place to vent about being trans. My friends are sick of hearing about it. Two, I feel a twinge of guilt. I never was involved much in any trans community, real life or online. Now that I’m stealth, this probably isn’t going to change. But I’ve know that my path is often tread; we transition and fade into the crowd. For many, this is the ultimate goal. And I’m unapologetic about going stealth and publicly swearing off any connection to transsexuality. But the problem is obvious- if we all transition and disappear, who’s left? I feel that the “I just want to transition and get on with my f*cking life already” type’s voice is somewhat lost.

When opportunity is limited, it’s hard to be a functional member of society. Plans to address this in the worldwide transgender community:

———

Southern Voice: New initiatives seek jobs for trans people
Sparked by crackdown on trans prostitutes, activists seek ways to find legal employment

Excerpt:

Transgender prostitutes working the streets of Midtown have drawn the ire of numerous residents tired of seeing them in their neighborhoods.Two proposed initiatives — one by queer and trans activists and another by the Atlanta Police Department — hope to quell that resentment by helping the sex workers find legitimate jobs.

The Queer Progressive Agenda and transgender activists and allies are starting a Transgender People of Color Workers Project. The project seeks to join forces with gay business organizations to find employers willing to hire transgender employees as well as offer job training, tips on writing a resume and help with interview strategies. The project is also compiling a database of available jobs.

And the Atlanta Police Department is slated to hold a job fair later this year specifically for transgender people and bring in employers who won’t discriminate against a person based on gender identity.

Both initiatives were sparked by a crackdown by the APD approximately a year ago. Working with the Midtown Neighborhood Association, officers worked to reduce sex workers in the area, including many trans women.

APD Officer Darlene Harris, the gay liaison for the department, said she became frustrated seeing members of the community — including gay people — stigmatize transgender sex workers, but she also understood residents wanting to keep their neighborhoods safe.

The sex workers “weren’t going anywhere because of discrimination they faced trying to find jobs, so we thought it would be great to get employers together and help them so they don’t feel the need to be on the street,” Harris said.

———

Livemint: Transgenders in Tamil Nadu get more than government help
While the state has banned discrimination against transsexuals, two agencies are now offering free courses.

Excerpt:

Chennai: Seven years ago, 27-year-old Gopal Gopinath walked out of the jewellery store where he worked, unable to bear the lampooning and the mistrust directed at him by his employer.”I had pierced my ears, and I had grown my hair long, like a woman—and the way I walked and spoke was feminine,” Gopal explained.

No employer he ever worked for quite let Gopal be—whether it was in the jewellery store where he first took up a job, or in a shoe factory, where he endured misery for seven years.

Finally, tired of the posturing, Gopal renamed himself—or rather, herself—Gomathi, and joined the Thamilnadu Aravanigal Association (Thaa), a body run by transgenders that aims to uplift their community in the state.

The association spells its name thus because the acronym Thaa means ‘give’ in Tamil.

“My dream is to have a nine-to-five job in any field, in any capacity,” she says.

What she also means is a job with dignity.

Two agencies, the Stenographers’ Guild and the government-run Women’s Development Corporation, have stepped in to offer free vocational courses in basic computing and hand embroidery for the transgender community—hoping to do just that.

———

Many religious right folk focus on the posibility of cross-dressing elememtary school teachers. Many trans folk are focusing on finding good jobs so they can have their basic necessities met, and pay for transition expenses. Many community activists and allies are working to improve transgender employment numbers.

Let’s hear it here for a transgender enclusive ENDA.

—————
Crossposted from Pam’s House Blend.

If it weren’t for my kat Bon-Bon butting her head into mine most mornings (she’s hungry, and wants me to feed her), I know I wouldn’t be in a hurry to get up. I feel emotionally beaten down — being under my covers means life doesn’t have a chance to beat me down.  But, real life does break-in some days, and I do feel tired…worn.

Here in San Diego yesterday, a 19-year-old homeless transperson was really beaten down by a flashlight in Balboa Park. San Diego’s local affiliates for NBC and CBS both referred to the victim as a man — either a transgender man or cross-dressed man. So much for page 249 of the Associated Press Styleguide’s direction of how to report on transgender people.

The CBS affiliate had this to say about the beating:

The beating victim was taken to the hospital with moderate injuries. Police are treating the attack as a hate crime, as the victim is transgender and witnesses say the suspect used derogatory terms to describe the victim’s sexual orientation during the assault.

I called both affiliates regarding the use of male terms for someone dressed as female, and the NBC affiliate’s person answering the newsroom telephone that the police aren’t treating this as a hate crime. I’ll be calling the LGBT liaison officer on Monday to find out why, since per the reported witnesses the person doing the beating called out a gay epithet while hitting the transgender youth.

Meanwhile, reality crashed in from an update to a story about a Philadelphia murder — the police have refused to release the unedited 911 tape covering a courtesy ride police gave to transgender woman Nizah Morris. For those who don’t know about Nizah Morris, she was found with a fatal head injury on Dec. 22, 2002, shortly after police gave her a courtesy ride.

A previous Philadelphia Daily News article on the murder said the following about the some of the peculiar circumstances surrounding her death and the aftermath:

A witness testified yesterday that he had been struck by the lack of urgency by police and an ambulance team in tending to a transgender entertainer who was fatally injured near 16th and Walnut streets in December 2002.

The witness, who asked not to be identified, said he was driving on Walnut Street about 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 22 when he came upon Nizah Morris, 47, lying in the street in front of a stopped car.
The witness said he thought the car had hit and killed her because she didn’t appear to be breathing and no one was tending to her.

In addition, an ambulance had pulled up but no emergency lights or sirens were on.

And after two ambulance paramedics placed Morris on a gurney, they put her black jacket over her face as they put her in the back of the vehicle.

“I thought she was deceased,” he said, adding that he had not learned until he read a newspaper article that Morris had not died until two days later.

Police admitted they have a lo