Sometimes I get that “It’s about me.’ Not even because something really is about me, but because folk want to make it about me.

Over at the blog Gender Reality; It’s not about the clothes they have a post entitled Stop both engines…. It apparently is an ad hominem post by one of the bloggers at that blogsite — just a bit earlier in the week, another blogger at the blogsite posted another ad hominem piece entitled Autumn Sandeen – you’re a dick.

Well anywho, the Stop both engines… post is about me wearing a military uniform consistent with my gender identity. The photos on the site are three years old, but only now is when the writer of that post is objecting to my wearing of female U.S. Navy uniform.

And here’s part of the writer’s argument against me wearing a uniform consistent with my female gender identity:

We’re having a bit of a dilemma here, and for a change, it is all about the clothes. You see, some people have suggested that Sandeen is treating the female naval uniform as a costume. Others are not so charitable.

The thing is, when you look at the pictures of Sandeen, you might get the impression that she served in, and retired from the US Navy as a female.

Nope.

She never wore the female uniform. She bought it after she retired from a navy that would have kicked her out for being transsexual. It get’s worse, as she deliberately wore the very same uniform when she chained herself to the White House fence, knowing full well that she would be arrested and processed as a transsexual.

…Be proud of your service – that’s fine and admirable, but quit wearing that uniform as a costume – Autumn Sandeen never wore a female uniform while serving…

In the comment thread, the blog author of the piece responded to commenter in the comment thread who wrote “The military does not recognize her as female. Neither does the State of California. She’s playing dress up.” by writing:

To be fair to Sandeen, if she managed to get her birth certificate changed we’ll apologize to her for the error. If…

The responses are personal, even though I have no idea who the blog author or the thread commenter are.

A retired, U.S. Navy Chief wrote a comment though that I thought needed a response. First, the Chief’s comment:

Common sense and dignity govern when and where a military retiree can wear a uniform. For formal occasions, retirees and veterans can wear the current uniform or the last one worn on active duty. A local commander can authorize the wearing of other uniforms. Wearing a uniform is forbidden for business or personal gain or while participating in an event that may cast the military in an unfavorable light.

Regardless of her motives, Sandeen violated 10 USC CHAPTER 45 by wearing that costume. That was not brave, it was grandstanding to draw attention to herself, gather more fame and a lame attempt to increase her ‘credibility’ as a trans crusader. The only reason that she was not remanded by federal authorities was that they had the common sense not to provide her with a free venue and the attendant publicity where she could whine and cry about being persecuted for being transgender, as opposed to be hauled up on the carpet for breaking the law and code of uniform justice.

And here’s how I responded to the chief:

The actual violation I engaged in by wearing a Navy uniform to protest against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is found in the U.S. Navy’s Uniform Regulations, specifically found in Chapter 6, Section 10. The relevant paragraph in the section states:

“Retired personnel are prohibited from wearing the uniform in connection with personal enterprises, business activities, or while attending or participating in any demonstration, assembly or activity for the purpose of furthering personal or partisan views on political, social, economic, or religious issues.”

The violation of that regulation made my two 2010 protests Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) offenses — specifically Article 92 offenses for which I could have been court martialed. The maximum punishment for an Article 92 offense includes 2-years confinement and a dishonorable discharge.

It would have taken a lot of effort on the U.S. Navy’s part to reactivate me, charge me under Article 92, and then prosecute me for what many perceive to be a relatively minor offence. However, if the U.S. Navy had decided to take that tact back in 2010, and I’d have been found guilty of one or more Article 92 offences at court martial, then there was a possibility that I could’ve lost my retirement pay and benefits under the Hiss Act. The Hiss act is codified under 5 USC Chapter 83, Subchapter II – FORFEITURE OF ANNUITIES AND RETIRED PAY, and loss of retirement pay and benefits for the on if the offence of wearing a uniform to protest against Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would have depended on whether the offense rose to the level outlined in § 8312 – Conviction of certain offenses. Frankly, I’m not an attorney — I’m just not sure.

When I chose to join with GetEqual to protest Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) with a number of uniformed lesbian and gay veterans, I had two reasons for protesting. The first is that DADT was wrong and needed to be challenged. Secondly, I wanted to send a message to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) community members that for me, if an issue is an issue for even one subcommunity of the LGBT community, then it’s my issue — my hope was, and still is, that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people would in turn work on trans issues with the same intensity that I worked on a purely LGB issue.

My broader point was, and still is, that civil rights aren’t about you or about me, or about yours or my demographics. Instead, civil rights are about us — all of us. Civil rights are human rights, and we’re at our human best when we embrace fighting for the ordinary equality of all of us. I believe we haven’t started living until we can rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Paraphrasing that thought, I broke a regulation to protest a law that my conscience told me was unjust, and I willingly accepted the punishment I did receive, and the potential punishments I knew I could receive. I took the action I did because I wanted to arouse the conscience of the President, Congress, and broader society over its injustice towards LGBT community members, and I protested in uniform with very much the highest respect for the military in which I’d served 20-years.

I certainly respect the Chief’s viewpoint on protesting in uniform. However, my lesbian, gay, and bisexual siblings in LGBT community can now serve openly in the U.S.’s five military services — that makes the very small part I played in DADT’s repeal worth it. Basically, I’d do what I did again — even if I knew ahead of time I’d definitely have the character of my discharge downgraded and lose my pension for protesting in uniform.

The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood. In whatever way one wants to define me as being nonconforming, I’ll take it if it means furthering the cause of ordinary equality.

I’m not likely going to ever convince people who believe I’m a narcissist that I’m not — it likely doesn’t matter to those folks that I’ve both a psychiatrist and a psychologist (who treat me for my actual bipolar type II/cyclothymia condition) who would disagree with them on the narcissism diagnosis. Or, that I’ve worked on issues regarding ordinary equality for LGBT people because I care about those who suffer in broader LGBT community, and especially those who suffer in the population of transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people — I’m sure as hell not a part of the struggle ordinary equality for any personal fame. From experience I can say that there are big personal downsides to being well known in and out of trans community, and though I advocate being out and proud as trans, the negatives of being “famously” out and proud as trans far outweigh any personal benefit to being well known as trans.

But a trans blogger at a pro-transsexual/anti-transgender blog writing about my photos in uniform that are now more than three years old, and writing about my taking to White House fence in protest to DADT over two years after I first took to the fence — wow. For that trans blogger, it really is seemingly all about Autumn…the Autumn that she apparently hates in large part because I identify with the term transgender.

You know, those of you in Gainesville, Florida or Montgomery County, Maryland or elsewhere, you lost.  Here’s a new crusade (remember $4 gasoline?) you can embark on (leave, go, and just let transgender people pee in peace) …

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Before her wedding last year, Huda Batterjee went abroad to buy her bridal lingerie — she just couldn’t bear the humiliation of discussing her most intimate apparel with a man.

She had little choice: there are almost no saleswomen in Saudi Arabia.

Now a group of Saudi women — sick of having to deal with male sales staff when buying bras or panties, not to mention frilly negligees or thongs — have launched a campaign this week to boycott lingerie stores until they employ women.

It’s an irony of the kingdom’s strict segregation of the sexes. Only men are employed as sales staff to keep women from having to deal with male customers or work around men.

But in lingerie stores, that means men are talking to women about bras or thongs, looking them up and down to determine their cup sizes, even rubbing the underwear to show how stains can be washed out.

The result is mortifying for everyone involved — shoppers, salesmen, even the male relatives who accompany the women.

“When I buy underwear in Saudi, some salesmen say, ‘This is not the right size for you,’” said Batterjee. “You feel almost taken advantage of. Why is he looking at me in this way?”

So for her wedding trousseau, the 26-year-old went to neighboring Dubai to shop. She now lives in Virginia with her husband.

Heba al-Akki, a businesswoman who supports the boycott, said when she shops for underwear, “I go to a store, pick this, this and that and leave quickly. It’s as if I’m buying illegal stuff.”

It’s not easy on the salesmen either.

At one lingerie boutique in a Riyadh mall Wednesday, salesmen blushed when asked about their jobs. All said they back the campaign to hire female sales staff.

“Even in such open regions as the U.S. and Europe, men do not sell underwear to women,” said store manager Husam al-Mutayim, a 27-year-old Egyptian. “I don’t let any of my female relatives buy underwear from men. It’s just too embarrassing.”

Mannequins — headless in keeping with a ban on realistic depictions of women — were displayed in the shop window dressed in modest pajamas. Inside, racks held an array of colorful bras, lacy panties and sexy nighties — along with more day-to-day undergarments.

Under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, women are required to cover themselves head-to-toe in black robes in public. But in the privacy of their own homes — and bedrooms — they can wear whatever they want, and sexy undergarments are popular.

But buying them is another story. Fitting rooms are banned in the kingdom — the idea of a woman undressing in a public place with men just outside is unthinkable. So a woman is never sure she has chosen the right size until she gets it home.

“I have bras with sizes ranging from 32 to 38 because I can’t get to try them on,” said Modie Batterjee, Huda’s sister and one of the boycott organizers.

Even male relatives get dragged into the embarrassment. Women are allowed to shop without a male relative, but husbands or brothers sometimes insist on coming along — or the women want them there — to ensure salesmen stay respectful.

Modie Batterjee recalls how her husband fled a lingerie store because he could not bear to hear her explain to a salesman that she wanted high-waisted underwear to hold in her tummy after their daughter’s birth.

The boycott was launched on Tuesday by about 50 women who gathered in the Red Sea port of Jiddah at the Al-Bidaya Breast-feeding Resource and Women’s Awareness Center, which is run by Modie Batterjee.

The aim is to push for implementation of a law that has been on the books since 2006 which says only female staff can be employed in women’s apparel stores.

The law has never been put into effect, partly due to hard-liners in the religious establishment who oppose employing women in mixed environments like malls, where religious police are always on the lookout to keep men and women from interacting.

Hiring women would also deprive men of jobs in a country where more than 10 percent of men are unemployed.

“We are raising awareness and calling for the implementation of the law,” said Reem Asaad, a finance lecturer at Dar al-Hikma Women’s College in Jiddah, who supports the boycott.

The campaign calls on women to shop at the country’s few women-only lingerie stores. Usually stand-alone boutiques or located in malls that have women-only sections, these shops have no windows to ensure passing men cannot look in — and giving women the freedom to actually try things on.

How much impact the boycott call will have is unclear. Almost 1,700 people signed an online petition posted by Asaad on the social networking Web site Facebook. A few Saudi papers have written about it, but the campaign depends mostly on word of mouth.

Not all women support the idea. At the Riyadh lingerie shop on Wednesday, one woman — only her eyes visible through the black veil covering her face — said she is suspicious of women-only lingerie shops.

“Bad things happen there,” she said.

What might that be?

Women can sneak a picture of you changing with their mobile phones, she replied and refused to give her name.

Saudi woman launch lingerie shop boycott

More from Melissa on some of her transition experience.  Thanks, Melissa!

Autumn and I received this e-mail from Melissa, commenting on one of our posts (I believe this is the one) back in September 2007.  With Melissa’s permission, I wanted to pass along what changes she has seen occur since then …

Hi Autumn and Stephanie,

It was a pleasure to find your blog at transadvocate.com and I’d like to write in and say hi.

Also, I should provide an update for an article that you wrote in September 2007 that mentioned the legal situation of transpeople in Australia.

At the time, the Howard government had done everything it could to make our lives difficult and uncomfortable.

This included:

* Changing a policy allowing pre-ops to get passports in their new gender when they travel overseas for surgery.

* Trying to overturn a decision of the Australian Family Court allowing transsexuals to marry in their new gender (fortunately, they were unsuccessful)

* Refusing to recognise the gender of transsexuals who were married in their old gender.

* Planning legislation that would prohibit us from marrying anyone in either gender.

* Allowing religious institutions to discriminate against us (for example, granting exemptions to anti discrimination laws for homeless shelters so they could refuse to admit transpeople).

* Removing pre-operative hormone therapy from the pharmaceutical benefits scheme.

However, we have since had a change of government and the new Labor government is far more trans-friendly and has reversed most of the above.  One Labor senator actually is married to an FTM and she has helped a lot.

The passport issue has been reversed, and divorce is no longer a condition for gender recognition.

Unfortunately, we still have not been allowed pre-surgery passport changes, and the change to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme has not been reversed yet, but I would expect both problems to be solved within the next 2-3 years.

I should also point out that we have a very pro-trans environment generally.

* Australia’s two largest states (Victoria and New South Wales) both have strong anti-discrimination legislation protecting transgender people in employment, education, and housing. This legislation is effectively enforced, and was upheld even during the time of the Howard Government.

* We formally recognise sex change under Federal law and under the law of each Australian State. All but two of our states will accept partial surgery (e.g. Orchidectomy) as sufficient for recognition and there is a strong move underway to remove the surgery requirement altogether. If successful, this will make Australia the first place in the world (to my knowledge) to recognise pre-ops under law.

* In many places and in many industries, transition is view positively and many people have transitioned on the job without any opposition or difficulties (myself included)

* Australia has national social security which provides enough money (although barely) for someone who is unemployed to have where to live and what to eat. This significantly improves the prospects of transgender youth when they have to leave home.

* Sydney has a full-time gender centre with counselling, support, employment training, and even assistance with accomodation. Importantly, this is run by trans people and not by the medical establishment or other third parties.

* In Melbourne, while we do not have a formal full time gender centre (yet, one is being set up) but there is a strong informal network of “successful” trans people who provide the time and money to help other people going through the process.

Importantly, laws do not tell you about what is happening in society.

In Melbourne and Sydney, it is possible to be openly transsexual and accepted by most people in mainstream circles – especially if you are friendly and have good social skills.

Based on my experience, the experiences of my friends in Australia, and of other friends in Thailand, Israel, and the USA, Australia is definitely the best of these places to be transgendered in…

Anyone thinking of visiting (or relocating to) Australia is welcome to contact me for more information about where is the best place to go…

Regards,

Melissa

The Los Angeles Times has a recent piece out (December 29, 2008) on how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, entitled DSM psychiatry manual’s secrecy criticized. The subheader for the piece is The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is being revised under a cloak of confidentiality. Critics say the process needs to be open, and cite potential conflicts of interest. From the article:

An update is underway for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, known as the DSM, which defines the emotional problems for which doctors prescribe drugs and insurance companies pay the treatment bills. Psychiatrists working on the new edition were required to sign a strict confidentiality agreement.

Critics contend that the American Psychiatric Assn. should allow outside observers to review the scientific debate behind new and revised diagnoses.

Among the most prominent to speak out is the editor of the manual’s third edition, Dr. Robert Spitzer, hailed by peers as the most influential psychiatrist of his generation. If the DSM is often called the profession’s bible, then the DSM-III is the King James Version. Released in 1980, it set the standard by which others are measured.

Recently, Spitzer broke ranks by publishing an open letter to the profession protesting the confidentiality mandate.

A copy of Dr. Spitzer’s open letter is here. Here’s an excerpt from the letter:

[Below the fold, the Spitzer Letter and possible transgender/transsexual related issues behind the lack of transparency.]

Read the rest of this entry »

From GolfMagic.com‘s Long drive champ had a sex change:

TV golf-watchers in the US sat aghast over Christmas when it was revealed that the winner of the RE/MAX world long driving championship for women – shown on the ESPN network – was a former male policeman who used to play off a plus one handicap.

The new women’s world champion is 55-year-old bartender Lana Lawless from Palm Springs, California whose longest drive into a 40 mph headwind at the Mesquite event travelled 254 yards to beat reigning champion Phillis Meti (21) from New Zealand by four yards.

The rules governing transgender golf competition allow for those like Ms Lawless, who have received a ‘sex-change’ operation to take part in such events as long as they provide mandatory doctor reports, lab results within normal female limits and onsite testing…

Let’s be clear: Lawless didn’t beat previous winner Phillis Meti by much at all.

Having lost a significant amount of upper body strength myself in the last six years, I know on a personal level that after a short period of time, having a male history provides one no athletic advantage. Most male-to-female transsexuals loseWeight Exercise a significant amount of muscle mass as a result of blocking or removing the testosterone from their natal testicles, and actually over the period of just two years after genital reconstruction surgery, male-to-female transsexuals have no competitive advantage over natal women.

However, it’s always going to be said in any competition in which male-to-female transsexuals compete that they have a competitive advantage due to their male history — their male genetics. It doesn’t need to be true to be repeated over and over again.

Pretty much right after I came out to my Mom as a transsexual — a transgender woman — my Mom entered an Orthodox Christian monastery as a novice nun. I was never quite sure if my coming out wasn’t the “last straw” event that led her to join the monastery; however, she left her particular order about a year-and-a-half after joining it.

For those who aren’t aware, the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church split in 1057 over the idea of a Pope being in charge of the church — the Orthodox and Catholic Churches are pretty similar in their approach to Christianity otherwise.

Within this past year, my Mom converted to Catholicism, so she has chosen to embrace a church where I believe the doctrine states that the Pope is infallible — at least, as a non-Catholic, that’s how I understand the doctrine to be. Does my Mom believe the Pope is infallible, or at a minimum speaks with tremendous spiritual authority? I have no idea — I never asked her what her thoughts are on the subject of her faith regarding the Pope.

But, with that thought of an infallible Pope in mind and my Mom’s recent conversion to Catholicism, perhaps I let things news like this get to me a bit too much: The Pope’s Christmas message included the message that the world needs to be protected against gays and transsexuals.

Time Magazine adds:

Without actually using the word, Benedict took a subtle swipe at those who might undergo sex-change operations or otherwise attempt to alter their God-given gender. Defend “the nature of man against its manipulation,” Benedict told the priests, bishops and cardinals gathered Monday in the ornate Clementine hall. “The Church speaks of the human being as man and woman, and asks that this order is respected.” The Pope again denounced the contemporary idea that gender is a malleable definition. That path, he said, leads to a “self-emancipation of man from creation and the Creator.”

This goes a bit beyond what the Catholic Church has said about transsexuals in the past (here, here, and here).

So, Merry Christmas, gays and transsexuals, from the Pope!

This is a crosspost regarding something I posted in this blog, as well as over at Pam’s House Blend
~~A~~

I had know ideat we here at Pam’s House Blend could generate so much heat over at Focus On The Family, but apparently we did with our diary FOTF: The Endocrine Society “Entered Into Ethical Bankruptcy” Over Treatment Of Transyouth.

From OneNewsNow‘s Puberty-halting drug ‘tragic,’ ‘ethical bankruptcy’ (emphasis added):

[Caleb H. Price, research analyst at Focus on the Family] says Focus on the Family has caught a lot of heat for referring to this philosophy as “ethical bankruptcy.” He contends teens are not stable enough emotionally to make a decision of such magnitude.

“We see this as a situation that’s tragic, foolish, and unconscionable for a professional medical group to encourage young people to move forward on a road where they might be making a decision about changing their gender,” he adds.

According to Price, the drug treatment program is another example of parents and physicians bowing to political correctness and to the demands and feelings of young people.

No other news organization appears to have covered the PHB take on the story; I can’t even find another blog that didn’t just post a link to our PHB piece {or the crosspost over at (Ab)Normal Heights} as a part of a blog feed, or post in a piece that just highlighted the piece as part of a news summary. So, apparently we at PHB — in and by ourselves — can generate a lot of heat over at Focus On The Family. Who knew?

By the way, I still have the same problems with Price’s original analysis of The Endocrine Society‘s draft policy update (Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline), and his slightly revised statements, as I did previously. From the PHB’s diary where I evaluated Price’s comments:

[Excerpt from previous PHB diary where we generated "a lot of heat" at Focus On The Family below the fold.]

Read the rest of this entry »

News and views for Tuesday, December 16th …

[OH, USA] As expected the Columbus City Council last night passed a transgender anti-discrimination law. News report and video from NBC 4 in Columbus: “At Monday night’s Columbus City Council meeting, council had a plateful, voting on … whether or not to extend employment protection benefits to people who consider themselves to be transgendered. It was a packed house in council chambers as people listened in to hear which way council would vote…and they said yes to extending protections when it comes to discrimination because of age, disability, pregnancy or gender identity and expression.” — Citizens Pack In To Hear Council’s Decisions

(More on the new ordinance in Columbus can be found at the TransOhio blog.)

[USA] The “Earthlings Welcome Here” episode of Terminator, which aired Monday evening on Fox (and which can be viewed online here), featured a transgender character. Some reactions to the episode from Kate Bornstein and GLAAD. — Kate Bornstein Weighs in on Last Night’s Trannytastic Terminator, Terminator Terminates Transgender TV Cliches

[USA] The Boston University student paper, BU Today, has a video feature today on transgender student, Emeri Burks: “But as a young boy growing up in Jefferson City, Mo., Emeri Burks wished only to be a girl. “I prayed every day for the body that would fix things, that would make everything right,” recalls Burks (CAS’08). “More than anything, I wanted to be anatomically and biologically female.” It wasn’t until sophomore year of high school that Burks learned of a word that explained the feelings he had wrestled with for years: transsexual. “A transsexual is someone who identifies with the opposite gender of his or her born sex,” Burks says. “For me, it means that in spite of what my body, my doctors, my teachers, and society have told me, I am — and always have been — female.”  Last summer, Burks underwent sexual reassignment surgery, and today she has the body she wished for as a child. In the video above, she describes her transition from a deeply depressed boy to a much happier young woman.  “At last,” she says, “I am whole.”” — “I Like That About Me.”

[Canada] Jillian Page, who’s chronicling her transition at Patent Pending and Jillian Page: Transgender Journey, is a 23.58/7 woman. — Repentance

News and views for Sunday, December 14th and Monday, December 15th …

[NY, USA] Two news reports on the Binghamton, New York city council’s passage this evening of a transgender anti-discrimination bill: “In a move that was hailed by state civil rights groups, the city council on Monday passed a law that would outlaw discrimination against transgender individuals … Council member Sean Massey, D-5th District, who proposed the local law, said it was a “sad fact” that its protections were necessary … The director of the Central New York Civil Liberties Union, Barrie H. Gewanter, said the city was sending a strong message to state lawmakers who have not yet passed laws protecting those people … Galen D. Kirkland, Commissioner of the New York State Division of Human Rights, wrote to council members last week to express that agency’s support for the bill.” — Council approves anti-discrimination law, City council passes anti-discrimination bill

[OH, USA] In Columbus, Ohio, the city council was expected to pass a transgender anti-discrimination bill on Monday evening: “Tansgender residents of Columbus — men who consider themselves women and women who consider themselves men — would gain legal protection under legislation going before the City Council tonight. The Columbus Community Relations Commission has recommended that the city add gender identity to the list of categories in local anti-discrimination ordinances. The move would put Columbus another step beyond Ohio law and on par with dozens of other big cities and college towns … Columbus has protected gays in its civil-rights ordinances for about 20 years. Backers of the new legislation say the term sexual orientation once was thought to include people who live or dress as the opposite gender. People still refer to the “LGBT community,” which represents lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, but advocates say one’s gender identity is different from one’s sexual orientation. And acceptance of transgender people often lags, they say … Gender identity and other new categories added to the anti-discrimination ordinances also would be added to the city’s hate-crimes ordinance.” — Gender identity on city’s agenda: Anti-discrimination proposal would add transgender people

[USA] From columnist Deb Price in The Detroit News today, “But the [Schroer v. Billington] ruling, while a groundbreaking warning to other employers that they might be sued and held liable for similar discrimination, doesn’t automatically protect anyone beyond Schroer. In fact, federal judges disagree over whether federal sex discrimination laws cover transgender Americans … The ACLU is heartened, though, that President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, in an historic first, includes “gender identity” in its nondiscrimination policy for appointment-level jobs in the next administration. The legal group hopes, as president, Obama will take the next step — signing an executive order formally banning job discrimination based on gender identity within the federal civilian work force. President Bill Clinton signed a similar order banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in civil service jobs.” — Activists pin hopes on Obama banning transgender bias

[USA] From today’s Washington Times, two transgender persons figure in the Young America’s Foundation‘s list of “top 10″ examples in 2008 of political correctness “running amok” on college campuses: “The roster includes … West Point, the veritable bastion of military tradition, recently hosted Allyson Robinson, a transgendered speaker and one-time graduate of the Army academy … [and] the University of St. Thomas for censoring pro-life speaker Star Parker while showcasing liberal comedian-turned-Senate candidate Al Franken and Debra Davis, another transgendered activist.” — Critics of PC decry ‘top 10 abuses’ of ’08

(Allyson Robinson currently serves as Associate Director of Diversity at the Human Rights Campaign. A report on her return to West Point — well worth the read — can be found at Trans Universe. Debra Davis recently spoke at the University of Kansas.)

[USA] A sign of the times: “Activity on TJobBank has all but stopped as far as new job postings, even from the non-profits and advocacy organizations.  Funding for non-profits has become scarce as the economy slides deeper into recession.” — Jobs – Trans-employment in a Recession

[USA] From Radha Smith, “I have argued that the gate-keeping process hampers the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist and I believe it does. I also believe that transitioners very much should have a therapist who can work with them, guide them, follow them and hold and hear their inmost yearnings, doubts and struggles … Opposition is not always a bad thing. It can help us to see cracks and fissures in our plans and timelines. It can show us areas we still require working in before we’re absolutely ready to move to the next transitional stage. Better, it seems to me, have that before one’s surgery than after. That much less work to do later on. Because, later on, we’ll still have problems. It’s inevitable. However, the impulse remains, quite naturally, among some transitioners to “game the system,” to get what I want when I want it and caution or discovery be damned. OK, I understand the impetus; but, I still maintain that sometimes the transitioner should be slowed in her headlong rush. Self-discovery and self-acceptance are always worthy attainments. The therapist who cares enough, is skilled enough, to demand that I do that for him or her should be held by me to be a “good therapist” not as one who “wants to derail me.”” — Gaming Therapists, Gaming Ourselves

News and views for Thursday, December 11th through Saturday, December 13th …

[AL, USA] “A federal judge on Friday sentenced convicted transgender bank robber Jimmy Maurice Lewis II to a term of four years in prison. Lewis, 26, is a transgender individual who was dressed as woman when she robbed the Alabama Credit Union on Alabama 67 in Decatur on Nov. 9, 2007. Lewis has artificial breast implants but still possesses male genitalia, and police and prosecutors say her plan was to rob banks to finance a sex-change operation” — Bank robber gets 4 years: Cash was wanted for sex-change surgery, police say

[CA, USA] A judgment has been reached in Juan (“Auntie Juan”) Valera’s sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit against Costco (“the Anti-Wal-Mart“): “The panel of eight men and four women deliberated for two and a half days before finding that 45-year-old Valera had suffered under a hostile work environment. However, the jury rejected a claim in the October 2006 lawsuit that Valera was a victim of sexual orientation discrimination, that Costco failed to provide accommodations for his needs, and that the company acted with malice.” — Judgment in warehouse store discrimination case: $420,000

[ID, USA] Apparently, it’s been a difficult and trying past 28 years for trans woman Catherine Carlson, and a traffic ticket dispute involving the use of her former male name was “the last straw”: “For nearly a year, Catherine Carlson refused to pay the fine for driving with a suspended license because it was issued to both her and the man she used to be. She went to jail four times over the ticket that includes both her legal name and the one she was born with, Daniel Carlson. She had surgery 28 years ago to become a woman, the gender she believes should have been assigned her at birth … Her struggle for acceptance since the sex-change operation on Thanksgiving Day 1980 has gone on much longer. She chose a life of solitude at a trailer park near the Payette city limits, rejecting a society she feels has rejected her … Dressed in black pants, a plaid shirt and hiking shoes, Carlson is rail thin with long blond hair. Fine lines map her face, she hand-rolls her cigarettes, eats little and survives on nine travel-sized mugs of coffee a day. She lives on a $1,000-a-month Social Security check, suffers from depression, emphysema and a heart condition. “Changing your gender is not going to solve all your problems,” Carlson said … She worked three jobs, saved up about $15,000 to castrate Daniel and get saline breast implants for Catherine. She took estrogen until it became too expensive … Carlson views her struggle against the local justice system as a fight for rights granted to everyone else under the U.S. Constitution, acceptance in the society she has secluded herself from for all these years. “You’re going to have to make me one of ‘We the People,’” Carlson said.” — S. Idaho transgender woman fights use of male name

[MI, USA] The recent, successful repeal of a sexual orientation/gender identity anti-discrimination ordinance by voters in Hamtramck, Michigan appears to have set the stage for a similar effort against a recently adopted anti-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo : “Petitions aimed at rescinding a new city ordinance banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals in housing, public accommodations and employment began circulating in Kalamazoo churches last weekend. Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said Thursday that his organization is supporting the efforts of unnamed local activists toward a 2009 ballot measure to rescind the ordinance … Glenn confirmed that AFAM has a supporting role in the local petition drive. But he declined to name local organizers, saying “determining who their spokesman is is up to them.”“There is a petition being circulated to allow the citizens of Kalamazoo to make the decision on this ordinance, not the politicians,” Glenn said. “Experience proves that in other jurisdictions, ordinances like this have been used to discriminate against and penalize people who believe homosexual behavior is wrong.” — Petitions target new ordinance

[NH, USA] Brianna Cook is suing the PC Connection, accusing the company of gender discrimination in violation of state and federal law after that company declined to hire her:  “Cook is a post-operative transsexual with experience in marketing communications and sales, both as a man and as a woman, her suit states. She claims PC Connection officials implied that her hiring was assured, and that a company recruiter later told her she was eventually rejected because she hadn’t disclosed that she had previously applied to the company as a man.” — Transsexual sues over discrimination

[OR, USA] What were members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church really doing in Silverton a couple of weeks back protesting the election of its new transgender mayor, Stu Rasmussen? Well, one person evidently thinks it’s all part a devious and subversive transgender agenda and he sets the record straight: “Could this whole affair of protesting Silverton’s new transgender (a man dressing as a woman) mayor be a well-organized set-up to foster and make acceptable transgendering? The Westboro church may be a front organization to make sensational news through “hate messages” under the guise of Christianity, thus undermining true Christianity. … The infinite wisdom of God makes no mistakes. Men are men, women are women. That is the reality now and forever no matter how they dress or alter their bodies.” — Church’s protest could be a setup to make sensational news

[WA, USA] The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is a trailblazer when it comes to the formulation and implementation of policy governing the participation of trans persons in organized athletics: “Before the 2006-07 school year, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association had never fielded a question about transgender athletes. That year, they received four inquiries about whether teenagers with non-traditional gender identities could compete for their schools. Trans issues were no longer out of bounds. “No one had ever asked, so we had no policy” … the 2007 policy talked about “transgender” issues, the revised version referred to “gender identity or expression.” It says: “Fundamental fairness, as well as most local, state and federal rules and regulations, requires schools to provide intersex and transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in athletics. This policy creates a framework in which this participation may occur in a safe and healthy manner that is fair to all competitors.” The policy says that if questions arise whether “a student’s request to participate in a sex-segregated activity consistent with his or her gender identity is bona fide,” the student may seek review of eligibility through a confidential process, beginning with his or her school administrators. A hearing would then be scheduled before a WIAA committee specifically established to consider gender identity appeals. The committee is to include at least one person from the medical or mental health field who is familiar with gender identity issues … ” — Washington embraces trans athletes

[USA] “The Human Rights Campaign is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to implement numerous non-legislative changes to improve the lives of gay and transgender Americans … The many changes recommended by HRC include expanding President Bill Clinton’s executive order barring discrimination in the federal workplace on the basis of sexual orientation to include gender identity … Other recommendations include … [requiring] that the federal government only hire contractors that have non-discrimination provisions for sexual orientation and gender identity categories … [and] allowing the Internal Revenue Service to provide reimbursements for medical expenses in the gender-transition process through tax-preferred flexible spending accounts. Also, allowing transgender people to change their gender markers on federal documents and records, including passports.” — HRC asks Obama to make pro-gay changes: Requests include expanding non-discrimination protections

[UK/Turkey] “The biology behind the raging-hormone rite of passage known as puberty has long been a mystery. Just as the pimply, mood-swinging teen puzzles parents, the process that sets the teenager off has also stumped scientists. But researchers from Turkey and England say they have discovered one of the master molecules that triggers sexual maturity.” — Research uncovers puberty genes

[UK] “A Guilford woman has revealed how a sex change [over "£60,000 worth of surgery in America, Thailand and Britain"] has helped her conquer the business world. Kate Craig-Wood was a man up until three years ago, but last week she was named one of the main winners at the NatWest Everywoman Awards.” — Sex change Kate has never looked back

[Vietnam] Regrets? The Thanh Nien Daily reports that for some Vietnamese transwomen gender reassignment surgery is “much pain, little gain.” — Transsexuals find new body doesn’t ensure happiness

[Singapore] Three videos from The Straits Times on transgender life in Singapore and Thailand: Transgenders among us (Part 1) (00:15:12), Transgenders among us (Part 2) (00:17:20), Transgenders among us (Part 3) (00:11:47)

[UK] A message from Lucy Parker — who was the subject of the BBC shows “Teen Transsexual” and “Lucy: Teen Transsexual in Thailand” — and who soon will no longer be a teen …

CitizenLink / Focus On The Family posted a piece commenting on a draft update of The Endocrine Society‘s Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline. In The Endocrine Society‘s draft update, the organization proposed the following:

We recommend that adolescents who fulfill eligibility and readiness criteria for gender reassignment initially undergo treatment to suppress pubertal development.

From CitizenLink:

…Caleb H. Price, research analyst at Focus on the Family, said young people are in no position to make a decision of this magnitude.

“Teenage years are marked by a confusing maze of feelings that wax and wane on a daily basis,” he said. “It is unconscionable for a professional group to push hormone treatment that alters — perhaps irrevocably — natural physical development.

“The endocrinologists have clearly been hijacked by activist groups, lost their credibility and entered into ethical bankruptcy. They’ve capitulated to the political correct notion that gender is a social construct and can be changed.”

The problems with that Caleb statement are many, but to let me highlight a few.

First and perhaps foremost, FOTF’s Caleb isn’t an endocrinologist, but he feels confident in substituting his judgment for those of a society of endocrinologists. That’s a lot of righteous hubris.

Secondly, Caleb makes the assumption that the youth in question are fickle in how they perceive their own gender identities. I know from talking to folk at Trans Youth Family Allies, health care providers, other trans people, and my personal experience that these youth aren’t fickle in how they perceive their own gender identities. If an individual youth was fickle in his or her gender identity, that would be the reason for a healthcare gatekeeper to state that a particular adolescent didn’t meet the eligibility and readiness criteria for this treatment.

Also, transyouth aren’t making healthcare decisions on treatment on their own. By framing the treatment schema as FOTF’s Caleb does, he implies that’s exactly what’s happening. Does he really, honestly believe that parents and medical professionals aren’t involved in the decision making process? Does he really believe that youth make these decisions on their own? In my opinion, this is yet another example of FOTF’s less than honest framing of issues.

And lastly, while Caleb and most medical and healthcare experts on trans people agree that gender can’t be changed, Caleb doesn’t agree with what scientific evidence seems to be indicating regarding how sex and gender don’t always match. As Zoe Brain over at AEBrain documents, there is scientific evidence that sex (what’s between the legs) and gender (what’s between the ears) don’t always match; there is a growing body of evidence that people’s brains can be cross-gendered from their bodies.

As usual, Focus On The Family appears very willing to substitute their organizations’ interpretation of the Bible for good science, good healthcare, and/or good public policy.

~~~~~
Related:
* It’s How Jesus Would Treat Trans People, Right?
* According To CitizenLink/Focus On The Family, There’s “A New Type Of Predator” — Men In Dresses
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”

News and views for Monday, November 17th …

[NY, USA] “Syracuse police are saying what the family of Moses “Teish” Cannon believed all along: Cannon was shot and killed Friday because of his sexual orientation. Police have charged Dwight R. DeLee, of Syracuse, with Cannon’s murder. DeLee, 20, is scheduled to be arraigned on a second-degree murder charge today in Syracuse City Court … Moses Cannon, 22, often dressed like a woman and had a boyfriend. Family members called Cannon “Teish” and used “she” when speaking about him. Shaconia Williams, Cannon’s sister, said Cannon called himself a transsexual … “I’m angry. It wasn’t her time to go,” said Tameka Johnson, Cannon’s sister. “She was so full of life and had so much left to give.” Cannon’s loss leaves a void in the family that’s going to be hard to fill, relatives said. On Sunday, nearly 20 relatives and friends gathered at Cannon’s home to comfort each other and share stories about “Teish.” “She was always there for me,” said Cannon’s niece, Maniya Cannon, 10. “She would do anything to help other people.”" — Gender motive in death, cops say

[NY, USA] “A Syracuse man charged with murder after shooting two people on Friday night, one fatally, could wind up facing more serious charges. Police say Dwight DeLee, 20, shot and killed Moses Cannon, known by friends and family as Latiesha Green. The victim, 22, was a transgendered person. DeLee was arraigned Monday morning in Syracuse City Court on a charge of second degree murder. No bail was set and DeLee remains in custody … About 70 people attended a candlelight vigil for Latiesha Green on Arthur Street on Monday night. Balloons were hung, and mourners lined up to write their goodbyes on a memorial mural. Latiesha’s mother, Roxanne Green, expressed her frustration with the crime. “Because why would you take his life,” she asked, “just because he’s gay?” She then shook her head in disgust.” — No bail for murder suspect; hate crime charge a possibility

[NY, USA] “High heels are pesky things. They get caught in sidewalk grates, come in styles high enough to cause the wearer nosebleeds and, truth be told, aren’t terribly healthy for feet. Not everyone can walk in them, particularly men. Which is why folks make their way to Mary Veronica, aka Miss Vera, head of Miss Vera’s School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls.” — Mary Veronica’s Miss Vera’s School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls is in session

[USA] “Tyra Banks surprises Isis King, the first transgender contestant on America’s Next Top Model, with sex reassignment surgery in an episode of her talk show to air Tuesday. “This is not happening!” King, who was born Darrell Walls, says when Banks introduces her to Dr. Marci Bowers, a leading gender reassignment surgeon who has experienced the surgery herself. Bowers is paying for the surgery.” — Exclusive Video: Tyra Banks Surprises Contestant With Sex Change Operation

[USA] ““Unfortunately, transgender people end up at the very bottom of the financial totem pole, simply because we are who we are,” contends QueerCents’ new financial consultant, Ashley A. Wilson. “We get discriminated against employment wise, we get discriminated against when we go as consumers to buy things. The challenges are huge.” … For the trans community, already “horribly underemployed,” Wilson projects, “Things are going to be rough for us for a while—very rough. It will be harder for the transgendered to find employment, because they’re laying people off left and right. We’re going to have to do whatever we have to, to survive.” “When you transition,” Wilson contends, “it almost forces you to become an activist because there’s no other way you can survive. You have to stand up for yourself, everywhere. You get tired of it. Like why does it have to be hard all the time? As I say in my [QueerCents] series, in those instances, ‘Remember, you’re a consumer: Don’t back down, don’t get scared and run away—stand up for your rights.” Wilson suggests a similar approach to addressing the trans community’s legal and political woes: “We have to become activists…come together and come out of the shadows and stand up united and say, ‘We’re not asking for anything more than the rights that are supposedly ours as citizens of the United States of America.’”” — TransNation: Start Making Cents: Trans-specific Financial Advice

[Sweden] “Transvestism, along with six other sexual behaviours, will be struck from Sweden’s official list of medical diagnoses starting on January 1st, 2009. The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) took the decision to declassify the behaviours as illnesses in order to avoid strengthening prejudices about them, said agency head Lars-Erik Holm … The other diagnoses which will soon disappear from the disease registry include fetishism, fetishistic transvestitism, sadomasochism, gender identity disorder in youth, and multiple disorders of sexual preferences.” — Transvestism ‘no longer a disease’ in Sweden

News and views for Thursday, November 13th …

[CO, USA] “A week after Aimee Wilcoxson was found dead in her north Aurora home, her friends say they still have questions about the transgender woman’s death … Police aren’t releasing many details about the case, but said investigators believe Wilcoxson took her own life. “Detectives feel that all the evidence in the case points to a suicide,” said Aurora police spokesman Detective Bob Friel … But Wilcoxson’s friends say she was a happy person with a lot to look forward to and wouldn’t have killed herself. They say she was murdered. “We think there was foul play,” Latif said.” — Friends reject police’s take on transgender woman’s death

[NY, USA] “A contentious battle initially involving four – but later just three – State Senate Democratic rebels has left control of the Legislature’s upper chamber in doubt, more than a week after the election. At first blush, the November 4 results seemed to have given the Democrats control, by at least a 32-30 margin, for the first time in 43 years. Given the intransigence of the longtime Republican Senate leadership, Democratic control has been deemed essential to progress on the marriage equality law and the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a transgender civil rights measure. Only this past summer did the GOP signal a willingness to finally end the logjam on school anti-bullying legislation that would include gay and transgendered youth in its protections. The resistance of the remaining three Democratic holdouts in getting on board with Queens Senator Malcolm Smith becoming the new majority leaders is further complicated by the fact that gay marriage has become the focal point for the public volleying on the issue.” — State Senate Control Iffy

[MA, USA] “On Nov. 20 transgender activists and their allies will gather in Allston to remember Rita Hester, a woman whose murder 10 years ago shook the local trans community to its core and transformed the way people across the country respond to anti-transgender violence.” — Remembering Rita Hester

[USA] “In what is being viewed as a strong signal to activists nationwide, the transition office of President-elect Barack Obama has issued a non-discrimination policy including sexual orientation and gender identity. “The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law,” says the website of the Office of the President-elect, Change.gov.” — Obama transition team is transgender-inclusive

[USA] “Thomas Beatie, the controversial “pregnant man” who gave birth to a daughter earlier this year, reveals to Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview that he is pregnant again with his second child.” — Barbara Walters Exclusive: Pregnant Man Expecting Second Child

[USA] “Christa Hoisington can barely utter her birth name. It still bothers her to this day. “It just didn’t feel right,” she says. It didn’t make sense to her. Gary is a boy’s name. And Christa says she knew, even as a child, she wasn’t a boy … Christa felt trapped, until she began to transition from male to female. “I’ve never been happier. I can be who I am,” she says. She began psychotherapy and hormone replacement to reduce testosterone levels, body hair, and make her feel more feminine. In 2003, she got breast implants. She expects to have complete SRS– or sexual reassignment surgery– next year.” — Becoming, Part 2: The Mental and Medical Sides of Transgender

[UK] Zagria at Gender Variant Biography profiles musician-singer Antony Hegarty. — Antony Hegarty (1971 – ) musician

[Finland] “Olli Aalto, the Lutheran Vicar of Imatra, says that he has struggled with his gender identity for almost all of his 54 years. The struggle is now coming to an end. Aalto will take a leave of absence at the beginning of 2009, during which time he will undergo surgery and other procedures to become a woman. Aalto says that the matter has been a cause for concern “ever since I was a little girl” … Aalto decided to come out in public after extensive reflection. “I decided that because of my position, it would come out at some point”, he says. Aalto wanted to raise discussion and promote understanding about the transgender phenomenon. “Keeping it a secret and living a double life are terribly heavy burdens.”” — Transgender Lutheran vicar wants to continue his pastoral work

[Finland] “The number of those wishing to change their sex has multiplied in recent years. In 2003-2006 around 40 people per year sought treatment from the relevant clinics in Helsinki and Tampere. Last year’s corresponding figure was about 90, and this year even more patients have called at the clinics dealing with transgender issues. The congestion has caused queues for corrective operations. At the moment the waiting time is about a year. “If the number of referrals remains this high, our capacity will be stretched”, explains acting specialist doctor Marja Kautto from the Helsinki University Central Hospital. Issues relating to correcting one’s gender became topical in connection with Imatra vicar Olli Aalto’s announcement, according to which he would return from his leave of absence at the beginning of 2009 as a she, Marja-Sisko Aalto … The Aalto case, in which questions were asked about the suitability of the vicar’s return to the position after changing gender, has prompted a response from labour legislation experts. While the Bishop of Mikkeli Voitto Huotari has said Aalto’s continued pastoral work may “contain problems”, the law as it stands does not present any formal obstacles to a transgender person returning to a job in a different sex after a leave of absence. Since female clergy are an established part of the Finnish Lutheran Church, there can also be no grounds for dismissal on that score.” — Number of transgender cases has increased severalfold in recent years

[India] “As India’s gays, lesbians, and gender nonconformists struggle for legal recognition of their civil rights and the end to their criminalization, an ugly two-day incident of police violence against hijras – as the transgenders are known – and LGBT activists in the south-eastern city of Bangalore, the nation’s third largest, illustrates their continued tenuous position in the world’s second most populous country.” – Trans Indians Under Assault