Danae (my callow alter ego) has been on a roll this past week …

(Speaking of lost, I’m “not dead, justing resting” here at The Heights … family illness and caregiving have left me a bit stessed and down in the dumps.)

In the mode as a credentialed new media reporter for Pam’s House Blend, I’ll be heading up to Los Angeles early tomorrow morning to cover the Equality Summit. It’s billed as follows:

The Equality Summit is a gathering of community leaders committed to winning back marriage equality in California to network, share information and resources, and plan next steps.

You can read about the goals of the Equality Summit here.

Personally, I’m extremely pleased to see in the schedule that I there is a transgender interest/constituency group listed for the 11:30 AM breakout session. About to the same level that I’m pleased seeing the transgender specific breakout session, I’m concerned that I don’t see the phrase lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender used anywhere in the description, goals, or anywhere else on the webpage for the summit.

My concern stems from the lesson I took away from watching the film Milk: The LGBT community must be visible with our identifications in our political campaigns, and seeing that the phrase lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender is used in our campaigns is paramount. The lack of on the phrase lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender on the summit’s webpage seems like a huge omission.

To me, clarity matters; inclusivity matters; and language matters.

There are going to be a lot of mainstream and new media reporters at the event who are likely going to do a good job in covering the main thrusts of the Equality Summit. As someone who identifies and transsexual and transgender, I’m going to cover from a very militantly trans and you-”leaders”-better-say-the-phrase-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender perspective.

How I’m going to report goes to the core of what blogging is — new media reporting is reporting with a visible agenda.

I’ve been preparing for the summit this week. For those who follow my tweets on twitter, you know that I recently bought a new RCA Small Wonder just for covering events like the Equality Summit. I’ve been trying to figure out today who I want to get one or two minute interviews with, and what’s the one or two questions I’m going to ask all of those folk I have an opportunity to get on camera.

And hey, I like even steamed the wrinkles out of two blouses for wearing tomorrow! — I haven’t decided whether to go with a light blue or a white blouse. Hardly a world-shattering decision to make on blouses to wear, but I really do need to look somewhat professional at the summit.

It’s going to be a really long day, Saturday. The summit starts at 7:45 AM PST, and is scheduled to close at 7:30 PM. Add to it a 2-1/2 to 3 hour drive each direction from San Diego.

So hopefully I’ll have some interviews and a report or two from the summit up tomorrow. If not, Sunday for sure we’ll have something up.

~~~~~
Related:
* January Prop 8-related summit will restrict media access?
* Wockner: Equality Summit drops restrictions on media
* Taking A Short Break To Think About Freedom To Marry
* Writing A Toast; Being A Maid Of Honor
* Marriage Equality Beyond Just Gays And Lesbians

Reality doesn’t want reality when it comes to trans people. Note this RealityWanted.com casting call, entitled Talk Show Casting for Transexuals & Drag Queens (emphasis added):

Are you an over the top drag queen who performs in nightclubs??

Are you new to the drag scene??

Are you or do you know of an over the top transexual who would like to share their story on TV?

If you said yes to any of the questions please reply with a recent pic, contact information, and a brief description of what you do.

“Over the top transsexual who would like to share their story on TV” seems to me to be a euphemistic way of asking for “freak” trans people to exploit and mock.

I’m dismayed and discusted by the idea that an “Emmy Award Winning Talk Show” isn’t looking for trans people with real experiences to talk to; they’re looking for “reality show” trans people they can point to as freaks. Considering how many trans people have trouble finding housing and employment, and how many have been violently killed and listed on the Remembering Our Dead list — in large part due to the societal stigma associated with being trans — having this kind of a casting call to search for trans people to exploit and laugh at is absolutely unconscionable.

I wish the casting call listed exactly which “Emmy Award Winning Talk Show” was making the pitch — I’d like to have a chat with the show’s host and the show’s producer about the abysmal blackness of their souls.

As I think about race and racism during the week of President-elect Obama’s Inauguration and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, I’m stuck that Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has released a report entitled Shared Differences: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Students of Color in Our Nation’s Schools. The report looks at student experiences at intersections of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

As many of us already suspected was true, ethnic minorities who also indentify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender experienced increased discrimination and safety issues. Key findings from the report, as reported in the media release for the report:

• Across all groups, sexual orientation and gender expression were the most common reasons LGBT students of color reported feeling unsafe in school. More than four out of five students, within each racial/ethnic group, reported verbal harassment in school because of sexual orientation and about two-thirds because of gender expression. At least a third of each group reported physical violence in school because of sexual orientation.

• More than half of African American/Black, Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial students also reported verbal harassment in school based on their race or ethnicity. Native American students (43%) were less likely than other students to report experiencing racially motivated verbal harassment.

• About a quarter of African American/Black and Asian/Pacific Islander students had missed class or days of school in the past month because they felt unsafe. Latino/a, Native American, and multiracial students were even more likely to be absent for safety reasons - about a third or more skipped class at least once or missed at least one day of school in the past month for safety reasons.

• Native American students experienced particularly high levels of victimization because of their religion, with more than half reporting the highest levels of verbal harassment (54%), and a quarter experiencing physical violence (26%).

• Less than half of students of color who had been harassed or assaulted in school in the past year said that they ever reported the incident to school staff. Furthermore, for those students who did report incidents to school staff, less than half believed that staff’s resulting response was effective.

• Native American (57%) and multiracial (50%) students were more likely than other students of color in our survey to report incidents to a family member.

• Performance at school also suffered when students experienced high levels of victimization. Students’ overall GPA dropped when they reported high severities of harassment based on sexual orientation and/or race/ethnicity. Students experiencing high severities of harassment also reported missing school more often.

• The report also looks at differing experiences based on the racial/ethnic make-up of students’ schools. For all groups, LGBT students of color who were minorities in their school were much more likely to feel unsafe and experience harassment because of their race or ethnicity than those who were in the racial/ethnic majority.

The media release spoke to why they released the report now:

GLSEN is releasing the report in conjunction with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Organizing Weekend, which takes place January 16-19. Dr. MLK Jr. Organizing Weekend provides an opportunity for students and Gay-Straight Alliances to honor the coalition-building work of Dr. King and other civil rights leaders, such as Bayard Rustin, by reaching out to others committed to working toward safe schools for all students.

For those youth who want to be activists for civil rights in their schools, Bayard Rustin has a poignant quote on the protesting, dignity, and humanity:

When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.

[Below the fold: Looking at the demographics of this report - especially the trans-related demographics.]

Read the rest of this entry »

No doubt, be considerate of Sandy’s sense of esthetics and get a (”complete”?) make-over — before using the Ladies’ Room in Gainesville …

~~~~~

Related …

Fla. Conservatives Fight Transgender Restroom Rule

Stop right there, ma’am … er, sir

I don’t get this at all. I got a note from Twitter this morning:

Stacy L. Harp (stacyharp) is now following your updates on Twitter.

This Stacy L. Harp of Active Christian Media.

I can’t imagine that I’m a significant enough blogger for any consevative “Christian” media type to keep an eye on me on Twitter, even a fellow third of fourth tier New Media type like Stacy L. Harp.

I hoped she liked my tweet about my Sunday trout fishing trip.
.

I’ve read about studies on the subject of LGBT healthcare. I know one needs to out oneself when seeing healthcare providers because there are some medical issues associated with being LGBT (here, here, here, and here, for example).

It’s really unlikely that there are any significant intersecting health concerns with my toothache and LGBT status — but in the past I would always out myself to healthcare providers “just in case.”

Yesterday (January 16, 2009), I didn’t. Even being as out as I am about my sexual orientation and gender identity to just about everyone, I didn’t out myself to the unfamiliar, new dentist. I didn’t because I was concerned someone would invoke their right of conscience and decide not to treat me because I’m transsexual…because I’m transgender.

It’s a real worry. Folks who aren’t even trans are already suing the federal government because they believe the regulations were written way, way too broadly. From the Washington Post:

Seven states and two family-planning groups yesterday asked a federal court to block a controversial new federal regulation that protects health workers who refuse to provide care that they find objectionable.

In three lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, the states and groups sought an immediate court order preventing the regulation from going into effect Tuesday and a permanent decision voiding the rule.

“On the way out, the Bush administration has left a ticking political time bomb that is set to explode literally on the day of the president’s inaugural and blow apart women’s rights,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who filed one of the suits on behalf of his state, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island. “This midnight rule is a nightmare for hospitals and clinics, as well as women.”

Blumenthal’s lawsuit challenges the regulation on several grounds, charging that it is too vague and overbroad and conflicts with other federal laws and state laws…

[More below the fold.]

Read the rest of this entry »

I personally believe some of the quiet mistakes of LGBT civil rights movement make are in not knowing our enemy what our enemy believes out of our collective earshot, and not thinking clearly about how to counter what they say/what they do.

Well, below is some text and a link to some readily available reading from the Concerned Women for America…They talk about the perceived evils of the upcoming Obama Administration.

So, from the Concerned Women For America’s Spellbound by Obama: What it Means for America, discussing The Good and the Bad about Obama (bolded emphasis added to text below):

The Bad

The bad news about an Obama Administration far outweighs the good news. We can count on it: Obama may wait awhile, but he will do the things that will assure his second term, and he is definitely a Marxist “true believer” who will not deviate from his socialist goals, even when the current financial or political climate means their implementation has to be delayed. He chose Rahm Emanuel, a member in good standing of the down-and-dirty Chicago political scene, for the White House Chief of Staff position—which means the president can count on strong-arm tactics for any opponents who have to be “persuaded” to come into alignment with the president’s goals.

Even before his inauguration, Mr. Obama has revealed plans for an enormous domestic spending package–the largest public construction program since the 1950s, including roads, bridges, schools and technological development. It is also essential for his reelection that he establish national health care, a Democratic priority, by 2012; he will do so by implementing its various aspects incrementally–an “under the radar” scheme that will achieve his goal without raising public objections. He will likely try the same strategy with abortion, the feminists’ top priority. He has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a measure that would turn back all prolife gains and remove all regulations and restrictions on abortion. He probably won’t use all his political chits to fulfill that promise immediately, as he said he would, but ultimately he will give the feminists that victory and he will give the homosexual activists their two priorities, federalizing same-sex “marriage” and revoking the current “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans open homosexuality in the U.S. military services. Though he campaigned as a candidate opposed to same-sex “marriage,” he fully intends to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)–legislation that has been enacted in 44 states to protect husband-wife, traditional marriage at the state level.

Obama will support the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and indicates his support for expanding the bill to cover “gender identity.” Further, he favors adoption rights for same-sex couples as well as condom distribution throughout the world as an AIDS prevention measure. He has also said that he will strengthen and expand dangerous federal “hate crimes” legislation…

The CWA goes on to state that “the greatest threat” of the upcoming Obama Administration (their words: “of the Obama agenda”) will be his left-leaning judicial appointments.

(Frankly, I’m more worried that all Obama will lean too far to the center with his appointments. I want civil rights protected; I want to see judges who consider how the fundamental rights of minority individuals and groups need to be protected from governmental or corporate abuse.)

As we all can see, the Concerned Women For America (CWA) is thinking about the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in relationship to America’s current Democratic Congress and America’s soon Democratic President.

And hey, the CWA — their founder and chairman in particular — has a lot to say about a woman’s right to choose too. Mainly, they don’t want women to have a right to choose, and they’re motivated to push back against that fundamental right.

Know your enemy. We don’t always know enough about what they believe considering how well they have been mobilized in the past. When you think about it, it usually takes identifying clear enemies to get people motivated enough to create a movement — think about what the removal of fundamental civil rights of LGBT Californians has done recently for the LGBT civil rights movement. We have identifiable enemies that did wonders to mobilize the broader, LGBT community when they took away LGBT Californian’s fundamental right to marry.

The CWA trying to manufacture an enemy in President-elect Obama to mobilize their concerned women troops. They haven’t succeeded as yet, but you can bet the Concerned Women For America going to keep trying. We need to be ready if they and their peer “Christian” organizations again succeed in mobilizing their troops against the fundamental civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

Besides having our own, positive, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender messages about civil rights and equality, we need to be ready to counter their arguments…their movement to crush equality, liberty, and justice for all.

If you are a member of an LGBT family with young children, or the friend or the ally of an LGBT family with young children, or your an friend, family member, or ally who wants to expose your children to what the broad, LGBT community looks like, you need to expose yourself and these children to the picture book 10,000 Dresses. This is the first picture book aimed at 5 to 7-year-olds I’m aware of with a transyouth as the main character.

And, 10,000 Dresses is an absolutely beautifully written and illustrated book (written by Marcus Ewert; illustrations by Rex Ray). Frankly, I was expecting a mediocre children’s book when I received a copy to review, and was extremely surprised at the quality of the book — my eyes welled with tears the first three times I read it. From this artsy, trans woman’s perspective: yes, the book is that good. This children’s book is no doubt as important a work as Heather Has Two Mommies, and it certainly is as well done.

In fact, Lesléa Newman, the author of Heather Has Two Mommies, gives a back cover comment for 10,000 Dresses:

Three cheers for Bailey, whose creativity and artistic vision will inspire readers of all ages to celebrate exactly who they are.

The transyouth at the heart of the 10,000 Dresses is a child named Bailey. She’s a child that is being told she’s a boy when she really knows she’s a girl. Each night she dreams of one of 10,000 magical dresses, and each day she tries to figure out a way to have significant people in her life help her obtain a magical dress. Many days she discovers she’s not ever going to have that special dress she imagined in her dreams that night before. The story has a very happy ending — I won’t spoil it by describing it.

Perhaps the most important endorsement of 10,000 Dresses comes from Shannon Garcia, the president of TransYouth Family Allies (TYFA). She wrote a short review of the book for their Recommended Reading section:

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert is a charming tale of a “boy” named Bailey who dreams of wearing dresses. His parents and brother tell him that boys don’t wear dresses and Bailey is sad because she doesn’t feel like a boy. Bailey finally meets a friend that understands the desire to wear dresses and helps her achieve that goal. It is a story with beautiful illustrations by Rex Ray that uses just enough words to say what is needed. I highly recommend it for children of all ages (adults too), although it is definitely a book that would be enjoyed by the under 10 crowd. 10,000 Dresses helps us understand the workings of the gender variant child’s mind from their point of view and it is very nicely done.

10,000 Dresses is a very important book. If you’re involved with LGBT families at all, don’t skip this book. If you have a local bookstore nearby you — especially a local LGBT bookstore — ask them for a copy of the book. If they don’t have a copy, ask them to order you a copy. Hey, you won’t be sorry, and neither will the bookstore.

~~~~~
10,000 Dresses

By: Marcus Ewert
Illustrated by: Rex Ray
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Hardcover: $14.95

~~~~~
FaceBook: Ten-Thousand Dresses

~~~~~
Further Reading:
* San Francisco Chronicle: ‘10,000 Dresses’: A book about gender identity

Let me repeat myself:

I get angry reading about the same tactics over and over again against LGBT civil rights legislation - You just can’t sell me that this isn’t about hate when were seeing these same, hateful “Christian” mistruths and fear tactics used over and over again. When do we develop some good answers to his and his “Christian” peers’ lies and fear tactics?

The ad below, by Citizens for Good Public Policy, is a for a Gainesville, Florida referendum to repeal a civil rights ordinance:

I don’t look like that actor behaving like a predator shown in the ad when I go to use a public restroom; I don’t act like a predator when I go use a public restroom — I just go to the bathroom. So do other trans people. And hey, sexually predatory behavior in any public bathroom is unlawful everywhere in the U.S. — despite what the ad says and the ad implies, the behavior shown in the ad isn’t legal.

If there were documented cases of transpeople having acted like predators in public bathrooms, or documented cases of male predators dressing as women to molest women and children in public bathrooms that organizations like Citizens for Good Public Policy would be citing the cases.

As it is, my trans peers (and I personally) are portrayed as potential predators — facts to support the claims and implications appear not to be needed. Frankly, it sucks raw eggs.

~~
H/t: Queerty

~~~~~
Related:
* White Male Privilege & Women’s Fear Of Crime Intersecting With Gender Expression & Public Restrooms
* When It Comes To Transgender People & Civil Rights, It Really Is Always About The Bathroom
~~
* AFA Michigan’s Gary Glenn Up To The Usual Fear Tactics — This Time In Kalamazoo
* A Further Update: Why A Commission Is Investigating The Suspension Of A Trans Student
* MA Haters Using Prop 8 Celebration to Fundraise Against Trans Rights
* The Ambiguous Feelings About Peeing In Public Restrooms
* The Predator Argument Doesn’t Work With Transgender Fifth Graders
* Kevin Moore’s Take On Colorado’s “Bathroom Police”
* If Dr. Dobson Were King, We’d All Be Wearing Depends
* The Non-Trans Woman Thrown Out Of A NY Women’s Restroom Sues
* Outing #2: When You Endanger A Child For The Sensationalism Of It
* Latest Attacks Of Teh HomoSEXual Agenda’s Transgenderededs’s Bullet Points

I think we need to add “Pecker of savage promotes superior male function” …

I’m referring here to the news coverage of the City of Gainesville, Florida’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which City Commissioners passed just about one year ago.

The Associated Press news story, “Fla. conservatives fight transgender restroom rule” (and there are headline variations) is getting a great deal of attention.  (I follow transgender-related news every day — have for many years — and that’s a lot of attention.)

With the economy going down the toilet, I don’t find it very surprising that many of the folks who cheerleaded for those who brought it on — are ramping up diversionary societal acrimony.

It’s been going on in Montgomery County (Maryland) too, among other places, and I expect it will become (even more so) staple fare for the LaBarberas, the Barbers, the Sheldons and the like.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A blond girl heads from a playground into a women’s restroom. A scruffy man, lurking outside, darts in behind her. ”Your City Commission Made This Legal,” the words on the TV screen read.

The dark ad came from opponents of a gender identity provision added last year to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance, which now allows the city’s roughly 100 transgender residents to use whichever restroom they’re most comfortable using.

Foes want to repeal the new protection with a March 24 ballot measure that has divided Gainesville, a generally gay-friendly university city surrounded by staunchly conservative north Florida.

Those who support the transgender protections say their opponents are really unleashing a broader attack on the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals in general.

The city commission approved the restroom provision by a 4-3 vote a year ago. Before the ink could dry, Bible-quoting opponents angrily began working for its repeal.

”You are trying to operate in a realm you do not have the authority to operate in,” one pastor, George Brantley, told the commissioners.

The debate is expected to become noisier as the ballot nears with opponents resorting to more TV ads and campaigns pegged to such slogans as ”Keep Men out of Women’s Restrooms and vice versa.”

Organizations defending transgender rights are mustering their own campaign.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force notes 108 cities and counties nationwide have similar transgender protections. An attempt to repeal an ordinance in Montgomery County, Md., failed when a court ruled opponents did not collect enough signatures to place it on the ballot.

Citizens for Good Public Policy, the group behind the commercial that aired last summer in Gainesville, collected more than 6,000 signatures last summer to win a referendum. If approved, the repeal measure would also prevent the commission from adding protections beyond what the state requires: race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability and marital status.

Cain Davis, chairman of Citizens for Good Public Policy, said the issue is about regulating a ”government gone wild” and ensuring public safety, charging that sexual predators could now simply enter a women’s restroom claiming to be a transgender individual.

”We know when men go into women’s restrooms, bad things can happen,” Davis said.

City Commissioner Craig Lowe, leader of a group called Equality is Gainesville’s Business, called the ads from Davis’ group a grossly distorted attempt to whip up fears.

Lowe’s group believes anti-discrimination protections for people who change their sexual orientation are good for business and foster diversity. He noted that 433 of the Fortune 500 companies have policies covering sexual orientation and 153 cover gender identity.

Since the ordinance took effect, police have reported no problems in public restrooms stemming from the law.

Retired postal worker Donna Lee, who became a female with surgery in 2001, moved to Gainesville from Ocala last March after hearing about the anti-discrimination ordinance. The 60-year-old is working to save the protections.

”We just want to live our lives with the basic civil rights that everyone else has,” Lee said.

But some are taking no chances.

Computer programmer Clare Holman, who was born male but now lives as a female, said she simply stays away from public toilets.

”I don’t want to run afoul of the law by using the wrong restroom,” Holman said.

——

On the Net:

Equality is Gainesville’s Business: http://equalitygainesville.com

Citizens for Good Public Policy: http://citizensforgoodpublicpolicy.org

~~~~~

Related …

The View From (Ab)Normal Heights

City of Gainesville: Gender Identity Anti-discrimination Ordinance Legislative History (PDF)

City of Gainesville: Meeting Agenda (1/28/08) (PDF) [see pages 40-42]

City Of Gainesville: Ordinance No. 051225 (1/28/08) (PDF)

Transgender ordinance backlash (2/3/08) (St.Petersburg Times)

It’s a difficult thing for me when I hear an on-air personality use hateful language against a class of people to make a point. When hate speech is directed at me alone, well then it’s just me — I’ve got a pretty thick skin. When it’s directed to all trans people over the pulic airwaves, and the hate-filled words reinforce others’ hate against a trans people — just because they’re transgender — then it’s hard for me not to see a connection between hate words and hate crimes.

Certainly I don’t want anyone’s freedom of speech rights censored by government forces. And yet, at the same time I’d like to see hate speech by broadcast personalities responded to by businesses refusing to advertize on their shows, people not buying products from businesses maintain advertizing on these broadcast personalities’ shows, and would like to see broadcast outlets that air these personalities pull the shows off of the air. I don’t see that as censorship; I see that as market forces in action — a recognition that many people want to see and hear language that embraces the human diversity about us.

What has me thinking about this today are recent comments from Michael Savage: he slammed transgender people (yet again) on the January 7th broadcast of The Savage Nation:

Radio host Michael Savage continued his attacks on the transgender community during the January 7 broadcast of The Savage Nation, declaring that a sensitivity training program for San Francisco police detectives on transgender issues is “sort of like toilet training for adults” and describing the program as a “class … to teach normal men how to have sensitivity to a psychopathic sex-change operative who should be in a mental hospital.” Savage also published a “memorandum” about the sensitivity training program — which he claimed was “sent to me anonymously by … someone in the [San Francisco] police department” — on his website under the headline: “Exclusive: SFPD forcing detectives to undergo brainwashing by transgendered dick.”

On The Savage Nation, Savage added:

[More below the fold.]

Read the rest of this entry »

Some music (from younger days) …

… to listen to while reading this one …

A man undergoes the mutilative procedure known as “gender-reassignment surgery” and then wins the women’s division of golf’s premier long drive championship.

There was a time when a sexual identity crisis was thought a problem of adolescence and only discussed in psychology journals. But now our whole civilization is experiencing one, as we’ve gone from confusion about the roles of the sexes, to a battle of the sexes, to a battle about how significant the category of “sex” actually is, to subordinating it to “gender,” and finally to a battle of the “genders.”

Such a battle has just played out as 55-year-old Lana Lawless (an assumed name), a man who used to be a 245-pound SWAT cop for the city of Rialto, California, has just won the women’s division of the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.

Allowing such individuals to compete in women’s athletic contests is nothing new. It dates back to 1977, when Renee Richards (formerly Dr. Richard Raskind) won a court battle that allowed him to compete on the women’s tennis circuit. Now, three decades later, many sporting organizations – including the International Olympic Committee – have rules in place allowing mutilated men to compete alongside women. In other words, we went from altar boys to altered boys in just a couple of generations.

The real problem, however, is that we have an altered society, one thoroughly confused about so many things, not the least of which is the nature of the sexes.

Personally, I don’t refer to any of these altered men as “she.” This is mainly because you cannot change your sex any more than you can your species, and I don’t subscribe to the concept of “gender.” Believe it or not, many altered-men activists agree with me; they will say that while “sex” is inborn, “gender” is chosen. Why do you think the preferred labels today are not “transsexual” and “sex-change operation” but “transgendered” and “gender-reassignment surgery? These terms are part of a social-engineering scheme to alter society’s thinking. They reflect the belief that people have gender (it originally referred only to words) and that it can be whatever your feelings dictate. This is why I won’t use the word gender when referring to people any more than “she” when referring to Lawless. When we use these elements of the lexicon of the left, we unwittingly acknowledge that the concepts they represent are valid.

In other words, there cannot be gender-reassignment surgery because unless “gender” is synonymous with “sex,” it’s not a quality people possess. And there cannot be a sex-change operation because one cannot change his sex. As soon as we deviate from this principle, the form of our argument negates its substance and we help legitimize that against which we fight.

Yet critics tell me I’m uneducated on the matter, that I just don’t understand the science. My response is that they don’t understand the philosophy, without which they can’t interpret the science.

What does it mean to be a man or a woman? Is it just a matter of superficial qualities? Well, good theology tells us that your sex is something existing in your very soul, but I don’t expect this to carry much weight with secularists. So instead of delving into what sex is, I’ll explore what it is not.

If a man loses his genitalia in an accident, is he somehow less male? Or is he just a mutilated male? We know that a pre-pubescent boy has the same hormone balance (low estrogen levels) as a pre-pubescent girl and no male secondary sex characteristics. With his high voice and low muscle mass he is certainly less masculine than his father, but is he any less male than dad?

If that boy lost his genitalia in an accident and thus had none of the three attributes – male primary and secondary sex characteristics and an adult male hormone balance – would he be any less male? This is where critics may say that some elements of femaleness are still missing; for starters, external primary and secondary female sex characteristics would have to be created via surgery and estrogen treatments.

If this were done and the boy dressed and wore his hair like a girl, he’d certainly be able to masquerade as a female very effectively. This point is sometimes made by altered men’s advocates. But does it matter? A great imposter may be indistinguishable from the real thing, but he is no less an imposter.

I would point out that altered men still have an XY (male) chromosome configuration, and, while I won’t boil sex down to just genetics either, it’s certainly more significant than superficial qualities. After all, a boy only develops properly as one because his genes send messages for the release of testosterone in his body while in the womb.

This is where “gender” comes into play. Critics will say that the most significant factor of all is that you must feel like a member of a sex trapped in a body of the other; in other words, you may be physically male but your “gender” is female. The psychobabblers call this “gender dysphoria” – giving something an impressive medical name always lends credibility. And feelings are the ultimate arbiters of reality.

But now consider that the mental health profession has also “identified” a psychological disorder called “body dysmorphia.” Its most extreme manifestation is when a person strongly feels that a certain body part – an arm, leg, etc. – doesn’t belong on his body. He feels it’s alien to him and that he won’t be happy until it’s amputated. There are doctors willing to perform such an operation so that their patients can be “cured.” It’s a remedy prescribed after a brilliant diagnostic process: ascertain if the person truly feels that his body doesn’t conform to what he feels like on the inside. Remember, feelings are the ultimate arbiters of reality.

But here is reality: there may be a man in a psychiatric institution who feels he’s a wolf. He could have his body surgically altered so that he has fur, a tail, paws, fangs and a snout. He could then run about on all fours and howl at the moon, but he would not be a wolf. He would simply be what he is, a troubled man who needs not his body altered, but his mind.

Man Allowed in Women’s Athletic Event . . . and Wins It

No doubt — with the “Socialist Party” firmly back in power in this country — these folks will be meeting in the John … and making a great deal of noise.

~~~~~

Related …

The George Bush Society

Swinging With The Big Shot Women

Back when I was a Pentecostal (waaaaaay back in the 1970’s), I got it drilled into my head what the difference was between saying you’re sorry and repenting. Saying you’re sorry was an admission of doing a wrong thing, while repenting meant you first said you were sorry for what you had done, and then you made a commitment to yourself not to do repeat the act. It didn’t mean you actually never repeated the same type of wrong act again, but it meant that you had the intent of behaving better, and not repeating your bad acts.

So when I hear those “I’m sorry I got caught,” “I’m sorry that you were offended,” or even the “I’m sorry I was wrong” apologies if they don’t come with a “and this is how I plan on changing my behavior” comment — well, I take all of these kinds of apologies with a grain of salt. And, it’s because there’s no real repentance in the apology.

Welcome to the Charlie Stadtlander apology to transgender people and drag queens. Charlie Stadtlander, a former Republican and leader of Log Cabin Republicans groups in Missouri and Atlanta, is planning to run for the District 6 seat on the Atlanta City Council. He’s expected to formally announce his candidacy this week.

From Stadtlander’s statement at Project Q Atlanta:

My views have changed. At the time, I did not know very many transgender people. I was a gay rights lobbyist within the conservative party in Missouri. We all make mistakes. I probably said some things that were ill informed positions.”

That was then — it was four years ago. Times have changed. My views have changed. I want to be very clear that I do not support discrimination against transgender people. I think it is horrible that transgender people are discriminated against, that gay and lesbian people are discriminated against. I fully support any measures, policies, laws or protections for transgender people. I do not think that anybody should be discriminated against and it is a travesty that any transgender people are discriminated against”

So what did Stadtlander say years ago that was so bad? And why, in my opinion, is this apology statement a not-good-enough-for-government-work-apology? Answers below the fold.

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