Some of the folks we’re reading today, Tuesday, July 31st …

David Roberts with a “film review” …

This video was released almost two weeks ago by Focus on the Family through their political mouthpiece, CitizenLink, so you may have already seen it or read commentary about it. Regardless of where you might stand on hate crimes laws, this kind of glib, heartless characterization seems unwarranted and cruel. It may also signify a certain amount of desperation. When you watch, pay attention to the last few comments.

We’ve heard gross distortions of this legislation apparently designed to scare people with the idea that, if it passes, free speech will be curtailed, pastors will be jailed, and innocent little grandmothers will be arrested for standing on a lonely street corner doing nothing more than offering tracts to passersby. What you will find at the end of this clip is what I believe is actually at the heart of the matter. Focus, et al, simply can’t allow sexual orientation to be codified into federal statutes as real and fixed, even as a byproduct.

…

The Real Reason Focus On The Family Mocks Hate Crimes

Kate Bornstein waxes poetic on “Neither/Nor” …

Gender As Neither/Nor

Great ending line …

Kiss kiss, and remember: we are everywhere.

Jenny Boylan has put some of the “storm and stress” behind her …

… I also know that I am happy now, and that gender issues are not so much at the center of my life. Like a lot of people, I have found that the long journey brought me to a place where I was free of gender. And by “free of gender” I mean two contradictory things: on the one hand, free like, I understand how random and contructed gender is now; but yes, I also mean free of gender like most other women are– free in the sense that most of the time I DON’T THINK ABOUT IT CAUSE IT’S NOT AN ISSUE.

…

Make Me One With Everything

… on Queerty. And , there’d be no willy left behind if I did …

The headline?

Trans Justice In Idaho

No problem there.

But then …

Inmate Puts Balls On The Line …

… and …

Boise prison babe …

… and …

… Spencer took matters into her own hands, so to speak, when she wacked off her willy …

… and …

We think the settlement should involve some cash money, free manicures for life and a rocking, self-lubricating vagina. And some fake titties, of course.

Jeez, play it straight (the story, I mean), no thank you. “Wack-a-doodle” do to you too.

One of the proposed California initiatives in the signature gathering stage (if the backers get enough valid signatures for the initiative it makes it onto the ballot) is The Voters’ Right to Protect Marriage Initiative.

Per the VoteYesMarriage.com’s write-up on the initiative (emphasis in descriptive paragraph added):

Here are the clear, precise, and important words that The Voters’ Right to Protect Marriage Initiative would place into the California State Constitution:

Only marriage between one man and one woman is valid or recognized in California, whether contracted in this state or elsewhere. A man is an adult male human being who possesses at least one inherited Y chromosome, and a woman is an adult female human being who does not possess an inherited Y chromosome. Neither the Legislature nor any court, government institution, government agency, initiative statute, local government, or government official shall abolish the civil institution of marriage between one man and one woman, or decrease statutory rights, incidents, or employee benefits of marriage shared by one man and one woman, or require private entities to offer or provide rights, incidents, or benefits of marriage to unmarried individuals, or bestow statutory rights, incidents, or employee benefits of marriage on unmarried individuals. Any public act, record, or judicial proceeding, from within this state or another jurisdiction, that violates this section is void and unenforceable.

The folk behind The Voters’ Right to Protect Marriage Initiative also state (no added emphasis):

But not just any constitutional marriage amendment will do. A marriage amendment that doesn’t protect the rights of marriage doesn’t protect marriage. That’s why we’re asking you to read the good, strong language of The Voters’ Right to Protect Marriage Initiative. It’s clear and principled because it protects everything about marriage — marriage licenses, marriage rights, and marriage under law — for one man and one woman. It’s the true-blue standard we must unite under to truly protect marriage.

It takes blind faith and a profound lack of understanding of genetics to come up with an inherited Y chromosome standard for determining sex. As geneticist Eric Vilain spelled out in a 2004 article for the Los Angeles Times (emphasis added):

Since 1921, we have known that women have two X chromosomes and men an X and a Y chromosome. This is the fundamental genetic distinction between men and women.

But still, it’s been difficult to find clear-cut answers. Olympic Games officials have struggled with the science of “sexing” individuals for many years often after high-profile cases of gender confusion. In the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, U.S. runner Helen Stephens beat Polish runner Stella Walsh in the 100-meter sprint, winning a gold medal and breaking Walsh’s 1932 record. The Polish press falsely accused Stephens of being a man. Ironically, after Walsh was killed during a 1980 robbery, her autopsy revealed male genitals. Decades later, Erica Schinegger, who won the women’s downhill skiing world title for Austria in 1966, was two years later found to be chromosomally male and, as such, disqualified for the Olympics. Her case forced the International Olympic Committee to require all athletes to take a test counting the number of X chromosomes.

In 1990, scientists learned that a gene called SRY on the Y chromosome is what makes fetuses become boys and not girls. In 1992, the Olympic test was perfected to detect the presence of the SRY gene.

But even that was insufficient. Any genetics expert knows that there are exceptions to the chromosome rules. There are females with a Y chromosome; there are males with no SRY gene. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, the IOC decided to “refrain from performing gender tests,” conceding that no single test provided a complete answer.

Identifying the gender of intersex and transsexual individuals poses an even more complex challenge. Intersexuality is defined as the presence of “ambiguous genitalia,” making it impossible to tell easily whether the newborn baby is a boy or a girl. It occurs at a frequency of 1 in 4,000 births. Plastic surgery of the genitals is often performed to conform a typical appearance of one sex or the other, and a male or female legal sex is assigned shortly after birth. Many of these children grow up feeling alienated from their legal sex identity and undergo reconstructive surgery as adults to regain their dominant gender identity.

The ISNA lists genetic intersex conditions, which include, but aren’t limited to:

- Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)

- Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS)

- Mosaicism involving “sex” chromosomes

- Swyer Syndrome

The backers of this initiative don’t understand physical and chromosomal variabilities, but they want to make simplistic law based on their poor understanding of genetics. Incredible.

Dr. Vilain, in his Los Angeles Times commentary, concluded:

Sex should be easily definable, but it’s not. Our gender identity our profound sense of being male or female is independent from our anatomy. A constitutional amendment authorizing marriages only between men and women would not only discriminate against millions of Americans who do not fit easily in the mold of each category, but would simply be flawed and contrary to basic biological realities.

So why don’t the conservative Christians behind this initiative get that?

…It’s wonderbarr.

(Click to watch video)

I don’t know why I was thinking about this video today, but there it is.

After her recent, previous attempt to be anti-trans-humorous, Randi Rhodes made a measured apology at Transadvocate.com:

This is my second attempt at posting a reply because I feel awful about your PERCEPTION of who I am. Can YOU imagine that? Being misunderstood?

I am honesty sorry if my attempt at humor failed.

I have only the greatest of intentions when I go after the likes of Ann Coulter who spews HATE ad naseum . She despises people like US -and by this I mean good and decent warm and loving people WHO DON’T BUY HER BULL***t OR her BOOKS.

She has attacked you deliberatly [sic], attacked me shamelessly, all liberals, atheists and anyone who gets in her way, on her nerves or in her pocket.

The little black cocktail dress and long blonde hair routine is her entre [sic] into the elite media where she gets access to large audiences who she gives PERMISSION to hate. She VALIDATES them and I’m sick of it. You can’t shame her into being truthful or kind. She is a person without conscience.

My friends come in all genders. I helped my friend transition. I saw her “friends” leave skid marks because it was just too much for them. I know what this is. And because I do, I take liberties. That means I try to make you laugh at yourself. Perhaps I was wrong to try. I meant to let you know that I am aware of what it’s like to suddenly have your hormones TOTALY OUT OF CONTROL. That’s all.

Sometimes jokes don’t play well. I am sorry for the lame attempt and will try to do better. My heart is in the right place.

I only wish you the best life possible and much LOVE

ALL ways,

Randi Rhodes

Yet again though, Randi Rhodes recently used her show to mock Ann Coulter for having an Adam’s Apple — this time in a show promo (Audio: here.). Rhodes’ use of the Austin Powers’ audio clip of “That’s a MAN, baby!” tells me that she still thinks transwomen are really just whack-a-doodle men.

Does she not get that mocking Ann Coulter by using various forms of transgender related insults also insults transgender people in the process? Does she really not get that many real transwomen have Adam’s Apples, and that her running Adam’s Apple based insults are vulgar and inhuman towards those and other transwomen? Her apology above indicates that she, on some level, does understand.  She just doesn’t care.

Whatever Rhodes is or understands, she doesn’t appear to be the kind of progressive that understands progressive values include responsibility, fairness, trust, cooperation and community-building — values that all figure prominently in extending civil rights and protections for everyone. If Rhodes’ were truly progressive, she’d get that insulting people for their physical appearance — even people as offensive as Ann Coulter — isn’t light-hearted humor. This Ann-Coulter-is-a-transsexual running “joke” is just offensive and bigoted, and it is counterproductive towards obtaining civil rights and protections for the everyone that includes transpeople.

I’m sticking with my previous conclusion that Randi Rhodes is an anti-trans bigot — and that her anti-trans bigotry is just as bad as Michael Savage’s anti-trans bigotry. She might believe her heart is in the right place with her Coulter insults, but the persistent, anti-transgender speech she uses on her show to insult Coulter is wrong-headed and offensive; it insults transwomen in the process of insulting Coulter.

And, her previous apology shows that at least on some level, she gets that.

—————-
H/t: Marti Abernathey at Transadvocate.com

WESH-TV, FL,USA: Police: Deceased Man Found In Miniskirt
Excerpt: A DeLand man is in jail for fatally shooting another man dressed as a woman outside a Daytona Beach restaurant on North Nova Road.

Related: 365Gay.com: Daytona Killing Not Being Investigated As A Hate Crime
Excerpt: Daytona Beach Police Monday said that the weekend killing of a man in women’s clothing is not being investigated as a hate crime.

Advertiser Adelaide, Australia: Men disguised as women attack checkpoint
Excerpt: INSURGENTS dressed as women have killed at least three soldiers in an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint west of the northern oil hub of Kirkuk today, security officials said.

Anchorage Daily News: Co-worker’s sex change is upsetting (Workplace advice column)
Excerpt: Two months ago, the situation changed from odd to surreal. We were told Frank was undergoing surgery to change into a woman. We all left the meeting shaking our heads. I consider this sort of behavior immoral, and I decided I would interact with Frank only when I absolutely had to. … Two weeks ago, Frank returned from surgery. Management informed us by e-mail we were to call him “Frances.” Last week, things got worse. Frances and I got assigned to the same business process improvement committee, and so I have to work with him daily. Yesterday, I was en route to the restroom when I noticed Frank behind me in the hallway. I stopped just short of the restroom door and then he went in. This makes me nauseous.

Pam’s House Blend: My Special Reality
Excerpt: I was not fired because of real or perceived sexual orientation but I was fired specifically based on my gender expression. The Human Resource department was very careful in being explicit as to why I was being fired. My story of anti-transgender discrimination isn’t unique, there are hundreds just like it. So I ask you, where do we go to demand these rights? Where exactly was I supposed to go to demand justice for losing a job where I had spent years working holidays and weekends, sacrificing time that could have been spent with my family?

Trans Group Blog: Trans Partner Advocacy
Excerpt: But to miss the old, worse job, or thinking fondly about the time when you were single or childfree, doesn’t mean you don’t want the new change in your life. You do. But you can’t just tell your mind not to think about how it once was, either. … & Sometimes I think that’s what’s expected of partners, that we never have a time to say, “I did love him as a man.” We can’t admit that we liked the cocky or shy guy we first fell in love with, & the partners of FTMs aren’t supposed to mourn the loss of breasts and smooth cheeks that they loved to touch.

The Salt Lake Tribune: LDS Church pamphlet advises on same-sex attraction
Excerpt: The LDS Church has posted the contents of a new pamphlet about same-sex attraction on its Web site. … The piece, titled “God Loveth His Children,” reiterates the church’s long-held distinction between same-sex attractions and actions, suggesting that only the latter are immoral. According to LDS doctrine, sexuality is only appropriate within heterosexual marriage. Everyone else is expected to be chaste.

The Christian Post: The Church, the APA and Homosexuality; Outsourcing God’s Work? (Opposition piece)
Excerpt: The Corinthian church had something most current churches apparently do not have—a “hands-on/no outsourcing” attitude to sin. If we attempt to rationalize “that was then, this is now” we make ourselves to be cessasionists on this issue and in so doing, imply “once a homosexual - always a homosexual.”

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Monday, July 30th …

ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Act are on the minds of many of us. There are probably few people in the trans community as qualified as Ethan St. Pierre to write about rights … and pain, loss, suffering, indignity and unfairness …

…

Transgender Americans are not asking for special rights but for the same rights that other people have. The fact that transgender Americans are NOT treated equally in employment, housing, credit..etc. begs for legislation to stop discriminatory acts towards transgender people. Transgender Americans are not asking for rights that others don’t have. Transgender Americans are not asking to be treated better than everyone else or to have something that other Americans don’t have.

When I began transitioning on the job and I started exhibiting male characteristics, I was fired from my job and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I was told by every lawyer that I did not have a case because there was no law to protect transgender people from being fired in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

…

It would be nice to think that we are all human and therefore we should all be treated as human beings, that we should all be treated fairly and that all laws should apply to all of us. The simple fact is that we are not and we are dying as a result.

We are not disposable people and if Congress can’t pass a law that sends that message, they might as well just paint a target on our asses.

Read all of Ethan’s post at Bilerico here.

Jillian Weiss’ been traveling …

I’ve been away at the Law and Society Conference in Berlin and it’s been wonderful. Ich spreche kaum Deutche. (I hardly speak much German.) Eine tasse kaffee bitte. (A cup of coffee please.) Anyway, I went to some wonderful presentations on transgender issues and got to know some new people. There was one from Andrew Sharpe, whom I knew from his book entitled “Transgender Jurisprudence,” and Dean Spade, who founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a project specializing in transgender issues in New York. I’ll give more details on those presentations in my next post. I gave one entitled “Relationships between Transgender Non-Discrimination Law and Corporate Policies.” …

At the Law & Society Conference in Berlin

Monica Roberts, a phenomenal writer and exceptional person …

It’s ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
But the GOP hates science
“The GOP hates science!”
Because they failed biology

…

The GOP Hates Science

… and …

When W.E.B DuBois first envisioned the Talented Tenth in his book The Souls of Black Folk it wasn’t intended to be interpreted as being exclusionary or elitist. But that’s the connotation that has been placed on the concept by many peeps in the African-American community.

DuBois concept was that the Talented Tenth would be given the mission to uplift the race and help it thrive through a combination of economic and political empowerment with a strong moral center as its core.

I believe that The Talented Tenth concept is one that is sorely needed at this juncture in the African-American transcommunity.

…

The Transgender Talented Tenth

… and much more.

Today’s cheers to management consultant and columnist Lynne Curry, who gave this advice to a letter-writer whining about her “rights” …

You have rights — but not the right to tell Frances what sex she is or what restroom she uses.

…

Although many share with you the strongly held belief that changing one’s sexual identity is a moral issue, three thoughts may help you come to terms with the fact that you work with Frances.

First, those who feel at home in their own skin ordinarily perform better than those who always feel not quite right. Some of Frances’ former odd behaviors may fall away now that she has the chance to present herself to the world in the sexual identity that she feels is hers.

Second, although you feel put out by Frances’ transformation, can you imagine what it must have been like for her to have felt in the wrong body and sexual identity since birth? No one elects the painful and rigorous surgery needed to change sexual identity without having experienced severe anguish over the situation.

Finally, as you employer apparently feels, Frances and Frank possess the same skills. In the workplace, that’s what matters.

Lynne’s column can be found in the Anchorage Daily News.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pat Boone’s conclusion:

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

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

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

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

Sunday edition …

#1 - At PrideSource.com, D’Anne Witkowski names her Creep of the Week …

From the “Do As I Say Not As I Do Department (that’s DAISNAIDD for short) I bring you U.S. Senator David Vitter.

The Louisiana Republican has been M.I.A. ever since it was revealed that he was a regular customer of an alleged D.C. prostitution ring (and, quite possibly, a brothel in New Orleans as well).

“Just because people visit a whorehouse doesn’t make them a bad person,” Jeannette Maier, former madam of the New Orleans brothel, told a Baton Rouge paper.

I agree. Visiting a whorehouse doesn’t, technically, make someone a bad person. But visiting a whorehouse, regularly, while building your political career as a “family values” defender of marriage against pesky homosexuals does.

According to the Hartford Courant, “In a June 2006 speech on the floor of the Senate, Mr. Vitter argued for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. It was ‘well overdue that we in the Senate focus on nurturing, upholding, preserving and protecting such a fundamental social institution as traditional marriage,’ he said.”

And wouldn’t you know it, but Vitter is a big supporter of abstinence education, too. “Mr. Vitter last month urged his colleagues in the Senate to devote more federal spending to programs urging sexual abstinence among teens,” the Hartford Courant reported. “The best way to avert teen pregnancy, he wrote, is ‘by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness.’”

“It’s hypocritical,” Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), told The Hill July 13. “My own view on this is that privacy and hypocrisy are separate issues. People have a right to privacy but not to hypocrisy. People should be held to the standards they would hold others to.”

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman said, “It is the pinnacle of hypocrisy for Senator Vitter to be thundering about ‘family values’ and the ’sanctity of marriage’ and doing everything possible to deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples while apparently paying for sex behind his wife’s back. If his wife and family want to forgive him, fine, but this far surpasses a personal transgression. He owes all Americans, particularly those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, an apology.”

What makes the Vitter hooker scandal even more ironic is the fact that back in the 1990s, Vitter replaced Rep. Bob Livingston who stepped down after it was revealed that he was having extramarital affairs. Livingston was, in fact, in line for the coveted Speaker of the House position after none other than Newt Gingrich who, it turned out, was whoremongering, too! This all went down when the Republicans were impeaching Clinton’s wiener. Vitter called Clinton “morally unfit to govern.”

…

#2 - Speaking of family values …

A planned Republican fundraiser in New Hampshire aims to promote gun ownership in America by letting supporters fire powerful military-style weapons — from Uzi submachine guns to M-16 rifles.

The Manchester Republican Committee is inviting party members and their families to a “Machine Gun Shoot” where, for $25, supporters can spend a day trying out automatic weapons, said organizer Jerry Thibodeau.

“It’s a fun day. It’s a family day,” said Thibodeau of the August 5 event. “It’s quite exciting.”

…

Fundraiser to feature machine guns

#3 - With all those guns about, all I can say is DUCK! …

“Anatomically the vagina is designed to receive the penis,” Dr. James Holsinger wrote.

This observation by the Kentucky cardiologist - part of his 1991 paper, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” which was discussed during a Senate hearing on his nomination for surgeon general of the United States - seems reasonable by itself.

Some might wish he had written “evolved” instead of “designed.” Biologists who study genitalia, however, say even evolution doesn’t always point to the most obvious explanation behind behavior or physiology.

From a scientist’s perspective, Holsinger’s words would have been spot on if he had written them in 1591, when the highest scientific authorities believed that the vagina was designed for the penis - not the other way around. Earlier that century, the world’s leading anatomist, Andreas Vesalius, drew an accurate representation of the penis but a gross distortion of the vagina that made it look like a penis turned inside out. Subsequent anatomists corrected this.

The genitalia are where previous thinkers saw design flaws that they attributed to divine punishment. Eve’s transgression made the vagina rather narrow for comfortably delivering babies, and Adam’s transgressions, according to St. Augustine, cost men the ability to control their own erections.

Other species were stuck with genitals that are more difficult to explain. The Argentine lake duck, for example, has a phallus that extends more than a foot - as long as the rest of the duck - and is coiled like a corkscrew. How and why such a thing would evolve puzzled Patricia Brennan, a biologist at Yale University.

…

While the human system of penis and vagina isn’t quite so convoluted, it still seems jury-rigged in various ways, says Swarthmore developmental biologist Scott Gilbert. The most obvious problem goes back to an old joke, he says, about the questionable engineering decision to put sewer lines through our favorite recreational areas.

Scientists point out that species’ sexual evolution is intertwined with individuals’ sexual development, and so works within a big constraint - a single gene, called SRY, turns an otherwise female fetus into a male. Most of what makes a boy different from a girl depends on hormones.

At six weeks, a human embryo is a sort of hermaphrodite; it has the makings of both male and female genitals. The bit of tissue that becomes a penis if it’s a male develops into a clitoris in a female.

Male fetuses secrete what’s called anti-Mullerian hormone to prevent development of a female’s uterus and fallopian tubes. There’s no anti-nipple hormone, however, so those stay with males. (Breast development is triggered by a hormone at puberty.)

The anti-Mullerian hormone dissolves what would be the upper part of the vagina. The lower part becomes something called the prostatic utricle. It is a duct that, in the male, leads nowhere.

Obviously, says Gilbert, “this is not a good piece of design.”

Carnal Knowledge: Some genitals fit, but what of the duck?

#4 - Gwen Smith’s musing about “The Community Thing” …

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this thing many call the transgender community. It’s a nebulous object, not easily defined. Aside from the long-standing issues people have with defining the word “transgender,” you have the need to explain community.

For myself and many others, I look at transgender as an umbrella term, encompassing anyone who transcends the gender assigned to them at birth. I paint with a broad brush, and welcome all sorts of people to the party. This seems both logical – too many boundaries an arbitrary definitions only serve to divide an already divided community – and politically beneficial.

…

Each of the above may have something to share with the others. Every one of us brings something to the table and provides us with a chance to look at something fresh. We may not need to agree with every interpretation of gender – and I would be shocked if we all did – but we can all take something from the other as we look at their lives and ideas.

That is where community comes into the picture.

…

We all do share many common goals, chief amongst them the desire to simply be allowed to live in peace. The crossdresser who only gets out once a month to go to a local, secure, support group meeting wants to make sure that he won’t lose his job when a co-worker stumbles upon them in the hotel lobby. The transsexual wants to make sure he won’t face harassment while out in the public eye. Each and every one desires at least some level of respect for who they are and what they do and wants a life free of discrimination and violence.

This is what’s so often lost. While we have goals that are unique to one group or another – the average crossdresser might not feel the need for a legal change to their birth certificate, for one – at heart, our goals can be summed up as a single whole. We simply want the right to be ourselves. That is the goal of a community — and united as a community, we just might have a chance at it.

…

You can read all of Gwen’s thoughts on community here.

#5 - Dennis Shepard urges you to take action …

…

All of us—gay and straight alike–need to act. Hate affects each and every one of us. It knows no limits, follows no clear set of rules, and has infiltrated our society’s most basic institutions. For that reason, I am humbled that the United States House of Representatives has chosen to act, and to do so in Matt’s memory, and the United States Senate is poised to follow. They are now taking the first giant steps in making the Matthew Shepard Act the law of our land.

The legislation is simple: to protect people from being attacked, beaten, brutalized, and murdered because of who they are. It’s a necessary, measured response to the consequences of hate that took my son away from me and has taken far too many other Americans from those who loved them.

I challenge all of you to follow the example of the House by making the choice to act. Encourage your senators to vote for the Matthew Shepard Act. Today. Tell your story about how hate has affected your family. Today. Come out as LGBT and allied. Today. Choose to erase hate. Today! We all have a responsibility to act. If we don’t–who will?

…

A father’s appeal: choose to act

And I can assure you that she’s saying, “Sorry, hon’, they didn’t have any more copies of the TS Roadmap … ” …

A mysterious blonde paid a visit to a petrol station shop in the small eastern German town of Doemitz on Sunday - wearing nothing but a pair of golden stilettos and a thin gold bracelet.

The tall, tattooed woman (pictured) strolled into the shop in the town of Doemitz on the warm afternoon and bought cigarettes, petrol station employee Ines Swoboda told Reuters on Monday.

“I wasn’t surprised because she’s come in naked before - she’s a very nice woman,” Swoboda said, adding none of the other customers were bothered by the appearance. The woman could have faced charges of creating a public disturbance if anyone had complained.

A quick-witted customer did, however, snap pictures of the woman believed to be about 30 years old as she walked back to a waiting Ferrari and climbed into the passenger seat.

Nude blonde, gold stilettos and a Ferrari

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

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

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

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

…

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

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

O’Donnabhain Trial Wrap Up

Zoe asks where in the universe could you conceivably find …

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

Well, in this Universe…

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

In a Unverse Next Door … #2

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

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

This Says It Better Than I Ever Could

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

Pam sums up my present feelings regarding hate crimes legislation …

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

…

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

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

…

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

…

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

Pay no attention to the hate crime behind the curtain

What would we do without those wonderful British tabloids?

IT’S a nightmare for chaps on the pull – you chat up a girl . . . and realise the bulge in her pocket wasn’t her purse.

Head on over to The Sun and see how good you are at “tran spotting.”

If you answer 14 correctly, you got what … tradar?

There has not been all that much in the media about the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill since that legislation was put in abeyance over a week ago.

Yesterday, the San Francisco Bay Times had an opinion piece by Chris Crain entitled “Something Rotten in the Senate.”

It’s the stench of gay rights bills languishing despite six months of ‘friendly’ Democrats in control.

The latest casualty in George Bush’s fiasco in Iraq is the gay-inclusive hate crime bill, a victim of friendly fire in the U.S. Senate.

…

Now is the time to put up or shut up for those senators running for president claiming they would show “leadership” on gay rights from the White House. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd should show some “leadership” now and demand a vote in the Senate on the gay rights bills that are pending.

To be clear, criticizing these Democrats is not to say Republicans are better. Of course they’re not, and anyone who suggests otherwise should have their head examined. But the question is whether our energy is better spent complaining about conservative Republicans we’ll never change or pressing “friendly” Democrats who actually control the fate of our legislation.

Even our friends in Congress are politicians first and will take the path of least resistance. We need to make action more attractive than inaction for them. Look no further than the anti-war movement’s unrelenting pressure and the way Democrats have responded. Only we have the votes on our bills that they do not.

Now is the time to press HRC and the Democrats for a vote on hate crimes by the end of the summer, and ENDA by the end of the year. Bring our bills to a vote! Bring our bills to a vote!

I can’t say I disagree with that.

But, I am a bit peeved (not surprised, though) that Crane could not call it …

… a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill …

… as Lou Chibarro of the Washington Blade did yesterday (and previously).

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Thursday, July 26th …

nexy …

stuff of nightmares

Marti Abernathey …

Woman’s Space To Hate With Heart

Helen Boyd …

A reviewer recently misquoted me as having written that I was called a “dyke” when I was a kid, when in fact the word I used was “butch.”

That mistake, while minor on the surface, has got me thinking.

The difference between the words is that essential difference between sexual orientation and gender presentation, which are often conflated in the first place, but which I tried to dissect in She’s Not the Man I Married. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t issues like this that cause some of the rift between the gay/lesbian community and the trans community …

The Importance of Being Earnest, or Accurate, or Both