News and views for Friday, November 21st through Sunday, November 23rd …

[AZ, USA] “Namoli Brennet’s name is inspired by the word “anomaly,” meaning an exception to the rule. She is that, and also a singer-songwriter with keen talent … in 2002 she released the album “Boy in a Dress.” The title of the album hinted at a larger life issue Brennet was grappling with: Brennet was born male but identified as a female. Sometime after 2002, Brennet started the transition to living her life as a female … Despite her unique life journey, Brennet’s lyrics are accessible and capable of speaking to shared experiences. Although she doesn’t often refer directly to gender transition, the theme of self-discovery informs her work. “I feel like a lot of people go through a process like that, where they sort of have to buck other people’s expectations,” Brennet said.” — Brennet’s life transition sparks musical growth

[FL, USA] “Simmie Williams Jr., the gay teenager slain nine months ago on Sistrunk Boulevard, will be remembered at a pair of events over the next couple of days. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance around the country, and a ceremony is planned for 6:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan Community Church’s Sunshine Cathedral. The church is at 1480 SW Ninth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale Is your Fort Lauderdale restaurant clean? – Click Here.. The day is aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes against the transgendered community. Also, a vigil to mark his birthday will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the corner where Williams was shot: Sistrunk and 10th Avenue. It will include a cake and candlelight march down Sistrunk. Williams was dressed in women’s clothing when he was shot to death Feb. 22. His murder remains unsolved.” — Fort Lauderdale: Events to remember slain gay teenager

[NY, USA] “Dwight DeLee’s family doesn’t believe that DeLee shot and killed Moses “Teish” Cannon and doesn’t buy the motive police have announced for the shooting – DeLee’s dislike of Cannon’s sexual orientation … Dwight DeLee was on parole for a drug conviction and had about three more weeks to go in a halfway house before his release, Williams said. Some family members believe that DeLee was set up as a fall guy for the shooting because he was on parole. “He’s the easiest to hold because he’s on paper (parole),” said Harry Washington, an uncle. Dwight DeLee didn’t catch too many breaks growing up, family members said … ” — Dwight R. DeLee could face hate crime charge in fatal shooting of transsexual

[OH, USA] “[The Cleveland] City Council is considering measures to make this the third Ohio city with a domestic partner registry and the fifth to protect transgender citizens from discrimination … [the] second ordinance that will come before council was introduced quietly by Santiago in August. That ordinance will add gender identity as a protected class every place in city law where other categories such as race, religion, sex and sexual orientation are currently included.” — Cleveland to add TG non-bias and partner registry

[USA] Kit Yan of the Good Asian Drivers has a video response to the Human Rights Campaign’s TDoR video. — Trans Day of Remembrance – Response to HRC

[Belgium] “Attitudes towards gays and lesbians in much of Europe and around the world may have made remarkable advances over the last 20 years, even if some regions of the EU are more hospitable than others. But for transgender people, discrimination, marginalisation and outright hostility remain part of daily experience. Transsexual people are often fired from their jobs when undergoing gender reassignment procedures. They are turfed out of their apartments, refused insurance and confronted with bigotry within the health community. Gender non-conformity is still used as an excuse for harassment, violence and even murder … [According to Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner] “Ignorance seems to be the main reason [behind the discrimination] and this lack of knowledge has led to prejudices which in turn have opened for discrimination and even hate crimes,” he said. “But it also stems from traditional concepts of what it means to be masculine or feminine in our society. We tend to shy away from discussions about sexuality and gender identity, but we need to deal with these issues head on.” There is hardly any area where discrimination does not take place, he believes.” — Transgender people face fear and hate across Europe

[Europe] “The correlations of this polymorphism with various endocrine and phenotypic features of men have been exhaustively studied. Many, though not all of these studies, demonstrate inverse correlation of the repeat length with androgenicity, suggesting that men with longer repeats have weaker overall androgen action. The phenotypes found to correlate directly with the CAG repeat length include poor spermatogenesis and male-to-female transsexualism.” — Increased Estrogen Rather Than Decreased Androgen Action Is Associated With Longer Androgen Receptor CAG Repeats (Abstract)

[India] Life has recently become even more difficult for hijras in Bangalore: “Shortly after, police claimed they had rescued a teenage boy from a “gang of hijras” who had allegedly castrated him without consent. They claim they have broken up a racket, but there are many unanswered questions about the case, which is still under investigation. Nothing has been proved yet but this hasn’t stopped the authorities from using the incident to vilify the community and justify its harassment. As Jenny (name changed) puts it, “After this case, everybody is looking at us as if we are monsters out on the prowl. If this abusive and discriminatory atmosphere prevails, I am worried about what the future holds for us.” To make matters worse, two weeks ago, at least 100 hijras were forced onto the streets in Bangalore’s Dasarahalli locality. “We are living in a constant state of tension. People are being arrested every other day. It was never like this before,” an activist said.” — Life in dire straits

[Japan] “Who said bras are only for women? A Japanese online lingerie retailer is selling bras for cross-dressing men and they’ve quickly become one of its most popular items.” — Bra for the boys an online bestseller in Japan

[Japan] “Takeshi Shimozato, a third-year student at Haebaru Nansei Middle School in Okinawa Prefecture, was awarded the H.I.H. Prince Takamado Trophy on Saturday after winning the 60th All Japan Inter-Middle School English Oratorical Contest … Shimozato began his speech by explaining his gender identity disorder condition, about which he was sometimes teased during primary school days. One day as a fourth-grader, Shimozato saw one of his female friends playing the piano at his school, surrounded by others. “They all looked so happy. I wanted to be able to smile like her,” he recalled. “More importantly, I wanted others to smile at me.”" — Okinawan boy wins English speech contest

[Mexico] “Attaching flowers to a ribbon headdress, pulling a lace slip under an embroidered skirt and draping a necklace of gold coins over his head, Pedro Martinez puts the finishing touches on the traditional costume of Zapotec women in southern Mexico. “When I get all dressed up like this my father always says, ‘Oh Pedro! You look just like your mother when she was young,” beams Martinez, 28, gluing on fake eyelashes in front of a mirror. Martinez spent two hours in the hair salon he owns getting ready for this weekend’s festival of the “muxes,” indigenous gays and transvestites in the town of Juchitan who have found a haven of acceptance in Mexico’s macho society. The muxes (pronounced moo-shes), mostly of ethnic Zapotec descent, are widely respected in the southern town where a dance and parade that crowns a transvestite queen and celebrates the harvest has been held annually for the last 33 years. Anthropologists say the tradition of blurring genders among Mexico’s indigenous population is centuries old but has been revived in recent decades due to the gay pride movement.” — Mexican transvestite fiesta rocks indigenous town (Photos)

[Netherlands] In the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, an article on new research by Madeleine Wallien and Peggy Cohen-Kettenis: “Conclusions: Most children with gender dysphoria will not remain gender dysphoric after puberty. Children with persistent GID are characterized by more extreme gender dysphoria in childhood than children with desisting gender dysphoria. With regard to sexual orientation, the most likely outcome of childhood GID is homosexuality or bisexuality.” — Psychosexual Outcome of Gender-Dysphoric Children

[New Zealand] “”JOBLESS BEYER EYES AUSSIE,” trumpeted Wellington’s Dominion Post back in August. “Former Labour MP Georgina Beyer plans to move to Australia because she cannot find work,” the bleak article began. Yikes – is New Zealand really in danger of losing its highest profile transgender activist?” — She’ll be right – Georgina Beyer keeps it Kiwi

[Uganda] The GayUganda blog comments on the beating and arrest of Fatuma Segiyirira: “What crime has this lady committed? Daring to dress like a woman. Deceiving her acquitances. Those seem to be the most heinous crimes, according to the article. And what has been the punishment, which the community meted out fast and furiously? A not so public check to confirm the genital sex. A public beating. Paraded naked, for 5 good kilometres. Jailed. Was there any mention of bail or police bond? To court soon, charge- impersonation. Of a woman. (Any woman!!!) The police commander is not happy. Second time offender, so more charges, he adds grimly. The price of ignorance. Why should a man dress as a woman? Why would one risk one’s very life to do that? As a gay man in Uganda, I realize that I am fine in a way. For a long time, and at great cost to myself, I have learnt to hide. It is simply a necessity of survival. I hide so well that I can get lost in my own deception. A trans person in Uganda is more disadvantaged. Much more disadvantaged, and Segiyirira has paid the price. It could as easily have become a lynch mob.” — A Trans in Uganda

[UK] “The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Children, Young People and Families has said that new guidance is being developed for schools on gender and gender identity. Baroness Morgan was speaking at the pre-launch event for LGBT History Month last night … She later told PinkNews.co.uk that plans for the guidance are well-advanced.” — Education minister reveals new guidance for schools on gender identity

[UK] “People who are undergoing a sex change will be allowed two cards – one in each gender. But they will also be forced to pay twice – landing them with a £60 bill. The Home office said it had been giving careful thought to how it would deal with the cases of ‘transgender’ people. It has decided they will have to hold a card in their current sex, which can be used for travel in the EU. But they will also be able to apply for a card – with corresponding picture – in the name and sex they are undergoing treatment to become. In other words, they will dress and appear as they will once the sex change is complete. This will not be valid for travel but can be used to prove their identity in a second gender reliably and securely and reflects a different name, signature and photograph, the consultation paper says. Finally, when the change of gender is complete, they will hand the card in their original sex back. The one in their new identity will then become fully usable.” — One for each sex: ‘Transgender’ individuals to get two ID cards

[UK] From The Observer on London’s Portman Clinic, which is 75 years old: “But Ruszczynski did give me a copy of an audit showing the reason that patients were referred to the Portman. Most were there because of ‘compulsive sexual behaviours’ – fetishism, transvestism, transsexualism – and some for sexual and criminal offences, including exhibitionism … These days, the clinic is often visited by transvestites and transsexuals, and people who practise bondage and other sexual fetishes. ‘They come here because the desired effect of those things, what they were intended to do, has started to break down, usually when they’re in their thirties,’ Davies says. ‘The papering over the cracks that those practices fulfilled is no longer working. Some patients who are just post-operative can be despairing.’” — Porn addicts, sex offenders, rapists, paedophiles…

… that I’m disappointed again that the “deception” “discovery” defense has credibility with anyone. Levi Gunderson? Did he punt this case? “Yah, you betcha.”

Levi’s got way less (nevermind “fewer”) balls than Marge … not that, speaking personally, I think there’s anything wrong with that … but just don’t not have them in the judicial sense.

Do we have any math majors here? Can 85% of 8 3/4 years really only be not much more than seven years for this … ?

The alleged murderer in the 2005 slaying of a gay man pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted manslaughter in agreement with prosecutors.

Ruben Solorio Valenzuela faces a prison sentence of 8-3/4 years if the agreement is accepted by Yuma County Superior Court Judge Andrew Gould.

Although Gould was not able to attend Tuesday, the plea agreement was presided over by Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves.

Reeves also said the suspect will be required to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for release.

Prosecutor Levi Gunderson acknowledged that Solorio Valenzuela did not plan the alleged murder but acted suddenly, in the heat of passion resulting from the rage and humiliation he felt when he discovered Corrales was actually a man.

Corrales, a 23-year-old gay man, was a cosmetologist who also performed as a female impersonator known as Dalila, impersonating celebrity singers.

Corrales was dressed as a woman the night he and Solorio Valenzuela met. After several attempts to fondle Corrales, Solorio Valenzuela realized his mistake and then allegedly stabbed Corrales.

Corrales’ body was discovered on May 6, 2005, floating 500 feet west of Paradise Cove, just west of Joe Henry Park, with multiple stab wounds. He died from what authorities called “violent trauma.”

Yuma County sheriff’s deputies arrested Valenzuela on May 23, 2007, at Express Lube, 1900 S. 4th Ave., where he had been working. An anonymous written tip led to his arrest.

Subsequent investigation disclosed Solorio Valenzuela had confessed to family members soon after the murder. The day of the killing, he fled to Guadalajara, Mexico, for three months, according to court records.

Maribel Corrales, the victim’s mother, briefly addressed the court Tuesday while trying to hold back sobs. Speaking through an interpreter, she said, “He didn’t kill a person but a whole family. I don’t agree (with the plea). It is not fair.”

Solorio Valenzuela had been booked into Yuma County Jail on one count of second-degree murder, but a grand jury later indicted him on a charges of manslaughter and abandoning a body.

In exchange for the plea, the state suspends the original count. Solorio Valenzuela could be ordered to pay restitution of $150,000 as well as an additional 80 percent of that amount at his sentencing, Gunderson said.

Like Marge, I’m not amused.

This stinks.

My heart goes out to Maribel Corrales, who got it right …

“[This] is not fair.”

This story may not be specifically trans-related, but this quote …

Now, said Daniel G. Fish, a noted elder law attorney, “‘She looked so young’ is no defense.’’

… did remind me a bit of some of the absurd and indecent “deception” arguments trotted out in “trans panic” defenses over the years.

As someone who cares for a parent who’s not many years younger than Rose Morat (and as someone who grew up and spent almost half their life in NYC), I’m pleased that Gov. Paterson and the New York State legislature did the decent thing passing this legislation.

(And maybe sometime soon the New York State Senate will do another decent act … and pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.)

Happily, in these cases of “deception,” wasps don’t “panic” and orchidphobic violence is not a result …

Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen — they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.

And the flowers benefit twice — getting help in their own reproduction, and perhaps indirectly producing more male pollinators in the process.

Some of the most exotic orchids are known to have evolved their convoluted shapes to attract insects, who unwittingly collect and transfer pollen as they try to mate with the flowers.

“The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs,” Anne Gaskett of Macquarie University in Sydney and colleagues reported.

“Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm,” they wrote in a report in The American Naturalist.

It is not harmless to the wasps, who may suffer more than an inconvenience. “Male pollinators can prefer orchids to real females, prematurely end a copulation with a real female to visit an orchid, or be unable to find real female mates among false orchid signals,” the researchers wrote.

“Unquestionably, producing sperm, ejaculate, or seminal fluids is costly for many animals. The energetic demands of sperm production can result in reduced body mass, a shortened life span, or limited lifetime sperm production,” they added.

But this arms race of sexual trickery works in more than one way for the flower. “We also show that orchid species provoking such extreme pollinator behavior have the highest pollination success,” they added.

“How can deception persist, given the costs to pollinators?”

They found that the wasps who frequent these flowers are haplodiploid species. Like bees, ants and similar species, offspring produced by sexual unions are female, while females can also produce males asexually.

“Therefore, female insects deprived of matings by orchid deception could still produce male offspring, which may even enhance orchid pollination,” the researchers wrote.

Gaskett’s team examined flowers after wasps visited them and found the hoodwinked males did eventually learn their lesson.

“With experience, male Lissopimpla excelsa wasps become less likely to copulate with and pollinate sexually deceptive Cryptostylis orchids,” they wrote.

Sexy orchids do more than embarrass wasps?

The orchid, by the way, gets its name from the Greek όρχις orchis, meaning “testicle.”

This story from the UK’s Pink News today reflects pretty well the feelings of myself and others regarding the New York Daily News‘ reporting of the murder of Nesha Stewart …

American tabloid newspaper the New York Daily News has been condemned by gay activists for its reporting of the murder of a trans woman.

On Sunday the paper published the headline Fooled John Stabbed Bronx Tranny.

The story referred to the murder a 25 year old transgender woman named Sanesha Stewart.

A “john” is American slang for a person who uses prostitutes.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a group that monitors representations of LGBT people in the US media, complained to the paper.

They said that use of the term “tranny” was dehumanising and the insinuation that the victim had “fooled” her murderer was defamatory and irresponsible.

The group also complained about the description of Ms Stewart as: “a man who dressed as a woman.”

The story is now inaccessible from the Daily News website and GLAAD welcomed the publication of an additional story yesterday.

“After listening to GLAAD’s concerns, the Daily News coverage improved in a February 11th follow-up story,” the group said on their website.

“Unlike the February 10th article, this story’s headline avoided sensationalism and included interviews from friends and neighbours who knew Ms Stewart.

“Unfortunately, despite these improvements the story still inaccurately described Stewart as a man and referred to her with male pronouns.”

While GLAAD may have made some progress with the Daily News, another NYC tabloid, the Rupert Murdoch-owned title New York Post, has consistently been hostile to the sensibilities of the LGBT community.

In recent times the Post has been condemned for using the slur “she-male” and the term “toe tapper” (a reference to the alleged bathroom activities of Senator Larry Craig) as a demeaning way to describe gay men.

The tabloid paper has made a point of inflaming gay opinion, publishing cartoons showing gay men getting married to sheep.

New York tabloid’s “dehumanising” trans story

Last week I posted on the “smelliness” of a story entitled Controversial Law on Gender Identity Tested by an ABC affiliate in Maryland — well, Teach The Facts and Equality Loudoun have updates: By golly, it smelled like a publicity stunt because there’s even more facts that really seem to say it was one. It appears that what the ABC affiliate (WJLA) left out of their story was extremely significant.

Here are some tidbits from the Teach The Facts piece that have come out since the original WJLA story broke:

…a trustworthy friend of [Teach The Facts] had a discussion with a manager at the [Rio Sport and Health Club] — we will not use their name since it wasn’t an official interview — who said that there was “an activist” in the lobby of the gym at the time that this “man in a dress” went in….

According to this manager, the person in a dress signed in with a crowd of other guests so it is not clear who it was or if it was a man or a woman; they then proceeded directly to the ladies locker room, went into it and to the back of the room, and then came out and left the building. When this person came in, the employee at the door thought something strange was going on and called for an attendant to go check the ladies room, but the person left before they got there. Rio staff say they do not know who the person was.

The manager at [Rio Sport and Health Club] said she did not know who called the media, but she said the activist in the lobby was filmed in an interview after the event. The only “activist” interviewed by Channel 7 (the only media outlet indiscriminate enough to send a reporter to the scene) was Theresa Rickman of the CRW [Citizens for a Responsible Government], who has written in our comments section that she goes to the Bethesda Sport and Health gym, not the one in Rio — so why would she have been there? In its newscast, Channel 7 failed to mention Ms. Rickman’s connection to the anti-gay, anti-transgender group, quoting her as if she were an ordinary citizen on the scene.

The manager at Rio told our friend, quote: “I think it was a publicity stunt.”

Equality Loudoun added some commentary:

The spokesperson for the group claiming that the new law prohibiting discrimination against transgender people will permit “men” to use the ladies’ room was present in the lobby of the health club – not her own health club – at the very time that this unidentified “man in a skirt” person signed in, quickly paraded through the ladies’ locker room, and then promptly disappeared. How interesting.

Also interesting: The woman in the locker room who reported this suspicious person to management was identified as Mary Ann Ondray – which seems to be a hasty phonetic spelling of her actual name, Andree. In one of the Anti-Gay Industry propaganda mills that was fed this story by CRW, they spell her name Andree. What would prompt them to change the spelling? There is no indication that they contacted her; the content of their story is basically a cut-and-paste from the Channel 7 story, with the addition of some commentary by another CRW spokesperson, Michelle Turner. It appears that Turner may have corrected the spelling of Andree’s name. But why would Turner have that information? Is Andree one of the 3000 or so names on CRW’s petition? We may yet find out.

This is looking more and more like what many of us have suspected it is — the locker room invasion by a-man-in-a-skirt was a mockery of actual transgender people like me by hypocritical Christian conservatives, orchestrated by the Theresa Rickman of Citizens for a Responsible Government. This was hypocritical specifically because they themselves apparently dressed the man-in-a-skirt in direct contradiction to their own interpretation of Deuteronomy 22:5 and Genesis 1:27.

This is particularly offensive to me because Theresa Rickman and company apparently felt a need to simulate behavior of transgender women in a way that no transgender woman I’ve ever known would behave. And, leave to WorldNetDaily to pick up on the story without bothering to check out if the story was a publicity stunt.

The news division at WJLA and WorldNetDaily need to apologize to the transgender people for falling for what looks more and more only to be a deceptively conceived publicity stunt. And, even more distain should be heaped on WorldNetDaily to smear transgender people because of a hypocritically executed stunt. If the man-in-a-skirt were a conservative Christian recruited by the Citizens for a Responsible Government, his motivations to deceive the public would be “sinful,” and the act of his dressing up in a skirt should be considered just as “sinful” as they consider transgender people’s dressing in clothing not associated with their natal sex. In other words, if they consider me a “sinner” for allegedly “cross-dressing” as an out-of-the-closet transsexual, then the Citizens for a Responsible Government‘s apparent plant would be just as “sinful” as I am for his cross-dressing stunt.

I can’t imagine that this kind of apparent deception would be something the Jesus they believe in would do, or even tacitly approve of.

Theresa Rickman, if you’re reading this, you and your man-in-a-skirt owe my transgender peers and me an apology — or an explanation. It sure looks like you and your organization bore false witness against us by having a man pretend to be transgender, and act in provocative in a way my peers just don’t. To me, it looks like you couldn’t find a case where an out transgender women had engaged in the kind of activities that you keep saying we would engage, so it’s becoming clear you created an incident to make the story.

If true, that would be you bearing false witness angainst your transgender neighbors — it makes you and your man-in-a-skirt liars.

I’ll be waiting to read your apology, or your explanation of how you knew to be at the gym to be interviewed before the provocative incident occured. And, I would expect you to name who the man-in-a-skirt was if this was pure publicity stunt, and he should be publicly apologizing to my transgender peers and me also — and probably to your Christian peers as well for behaving in direct contradiction to your own interpretation of Deuteronomy 22:5 and Genesis 1:27 to make your inane point.

I won’t hold my breath.

~~~~~
H/t: David at Equality Loudoun

Can I feign some offence at being a transgender veteran, and being associated by U.S. Military personal — personnel assigned to Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, the U.S. military command that runs the Camp Delta terrorist prison in Cuba — with Fidel Castro?

Apparently, servicemembers at Guantanamo Bay haven’t got the word about WikiScanner as yet.

Specifically, the Associated Press, the New York Daily News, and ZDNet have stories up about the changes Gitmo servicemembers have been making to Wikipedia; comments to articles about Gitmo detainees. Some of the changes on Wikipedia, per the articles:

- “Fidel Castro is an admitted transexual” (misspelling the word transsexual)

- deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles (example: Prisoner No. 766, Canadian-born Omar Khadr. Khadr, 21, who has been held since 2002 and accused of killing a Special Forces medic in Afghanistan)

- changed the phrase “invasion of Afghanistan” to “war in Afghanistan.”

Other online activities by Gitmo servicemembers:

Comments on news stories were posted by people using apparently fictitious names to news sites – and were prepared by the Guantanamo public affairs office, according to Wikileaks.

A comment on a Wired magazine story about a leaked Guantanamo operations manual that was recently posted on the Wikileaks website urged readers to learn about Guantanamo by going to the public affairs website, adding that the base is “a very professional place full of true American patriots.”

And of course, we’re left wondering if these are inept, official actions of the federal government, or inept unofficial actions by individual servicemembers:

Army Lt Col Ed Bush, a Guantanamo spokesman, said there is no official attempt to alter information posted elsewhere but said the military seeks to correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about the prison.

[Lt Col] Bush declined to answer questions about the Castro posting.

The ZDNet article also mentioned an article by the UK’s Inquirer, mentioning how an entry on the invasion of Iraq was modified by someone with a US House of Representatives IP address. D’oh!

Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, who led the research effort regarding web activity of servicemembers with Guantanamo email addresses, said:

“This is the American government speaking to the American people and to the world through Wikipedia, not identifying itself and often speaking about itself in the third person.”

She said the Gitmo servicemembers’ postings amounted to propaganda and deception.

I wish I was more surprised and angered by this story than I am, but frankly…enh. This story just seems like a “business as usual” kind of under-the-Bush-Administration, government story .

If my presentation alone isn’t considered deceitful, then my motives for using restrooms marked women are impugned as deceitful.

Olivia St. John, writing for WorldNetDaily, implies that the motivations for male-to-female transsexuals is to engage in child abuse, voyeurism, and rape of natal women. She includes transgender youth in her broad swipes. She implies it in her statements and rhetorical questions.

…according to Yale and Harvard-connected psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover, pedophilia is more than three times more common among homosexuals than among heterosexuals, and since the GLBT population is strongly unified, doesn’t it strike you as odd that a major transgender organization endorsed by the homosexual lobby would consider having children undress in a teacher’s office? And that they would insist on using multi-stall restrooms of the opposite sex? And that they would desire stalls that extend to the floor and securely lock? (If only Sen. Larry Craig had been so lucky.)

And…

The TLC‘s emphasis on the desire to urinate in any chosen location is laughable, except for this question: Why would any adult, young or old, fight so hard for full access to all facilities in which people are in some state of undress?

And particularly within the restrooms and locker rooms of public schools?

And…

According to “Peeing in Peace,” it is important that transgenders be allowed to use multi-stall facilities with mixed company. The guide states, “If people are worried about privacy … stall doors could extend all the way to the ground and locks on individual stalls could function more effectively.”

Why would such desires be so important?

The impetus for Olivia St. John’s commentary was on legislation on accommodating transgender children in a statute in Maryland’s Montgomery County, and California’s SB 777. She concludes that taking one’s children out of the school system, and home schooling children is the moral equivalent of saving one’s children from a raging wildfire.

Frankly, I prefer those single stall, gender neutral restrooms with the handicapped signs on the door. Of course, those restrooms have their detractors too — specifically because transgender people like me prefer to use these gender neutral restrooms.

The bottom line with these religious right folks is that my existence is considered deceitful period, and they often want to put as many impediments in the way of transgender people’s gender expression as possible. Even if, like Olivia St. John, they have to lie about my reasons for wanting access to safe, public restrooms to scare folk into treating me like a deceitful, piece of human garbage.

~~~~~
Further reading:
* Julia Serano: There’s Something About “Deception
* Testing The Premise: Are Gays A Threat To Our Children?

~~~~~
Related:
* Is It Deceit?

Transgender advocates make a big mistake when they argue that [slain transgender girl Gwen Araujo] was not guilty of deception, or that Araujo had no obligation to tell her sex partners about her gender. What these advocates, in effect, are telling transgender teens is that it is OK to play with fire.

The quote above is from an article by Debra J. Saunders, published in the San Francisco Chronicle back in 2004. She was arguing that male-to-female transgender people who whose gender expression doesn’t match their natal/birth certificate sex shouldn’t be dating unless the transgender people telegraph that they’re transgender.

The question isn’t just about telling a potential sexual partner whether or not one is a transsexual before engaging in sexual activity — although that is what was at issue in the Gwen Araujo murder case — but are transgender people being deceitful at all times when presenting as their target sex if they don’t announce what their natal/birth certificate sex is? Or, in the case of intersexed individuals, is presenting as male or female just by itself a deception — especially if the intersexed person concurrently identifies as intersex and transgender?

This isn’t a moot point. Michelle Bruce has publicly acknowledged that she was born intersexed, and she identifies as transgender. Ms. Bruce is being sued by Georgia Fuller and Stanley Harris, unsuccessful opponents in the Riverdale, Georgia city council race, because the opponents claims Ms. Bruce deceived voters by running as a woman.

The third-place finisher, Georgia Fuller, who collected 171 votes, filed a lawsuit claiming election fraud.

The complaint, identifying Ms. Bruce as “Michael Bruce,” says she misled voters by identifying herself as female. It asks a judge to rule the November election results invalid and order another general election.

Ms. Fuller did not return calls seeking comment, but her lawyer said voters in Riverdale tended to favor female candidates, particularly if they were incumbents.

“It gives her an unfair advantage,” said the lawyer, Michael King. “It’s not just sour grapes. The people need to know whether the election is fair.”

The suit is unlikely to be settled before the Dec. 4 runoff, but Ms. Bruce sees it as an effort to alienate her from voters.

“They’re just distracting the voters from the issues,” she said. “Everybody in my district knows me. Everyone in Riverdale knows me.”

The Associate Press story above left out some of the details that Southern Voice story included:

In the lawsuit, [City Council candidates Georgia] Fuller and [Stanley] Harris refer to Bruce as “Michael Bruce” and claim she misled voters.

…Bruce said she is identified as female on her driver’s license, voter registration and Social Security card.

…Matt Carrothers, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, said there is no place to identify gender on the form people file to run for political office in state, county or municipal elections.

“Nowhere on the form does it ask for the sex of a person,” he said.

…“They name her as ‘Michael’ in the suit — that is not her name,” [Kyle Bailey, political director for Georgia Equality] said.

“However, Michelle is a prime target and it is important our community understand that they have attacked the LGBT community and tried to make it more valid by attaching it to another issue,” he said.

One of the sub-section headers in the Southern Voice piece is “Bruce denies deceit.”

As a transwoman, It’s a little frustrating to have the word “deceit” frequently linked the to “transgender” and “transsexual” — based on the concept that my transgender peers’ and my gender presentation is a bald-faced lie as too our “real” sex.

When I know how I present my gender isn’t a lie, but knowing that it’s widely perceived as one — well, it’s a little frustrating.

James Hartline was happy. Outrageously happy. Back in early September, the San Diego City Council stuck 4-to-4 on a vote for a friend of the court brief supporting marriage equality.

By golly, Mr. Hartline is certainly not happy now. As the California Catholic Daily phrased it back on September 10th (when Councilwoman Frye announced she was changing her vote to support the friend of the court brief for marriage equality), the elation Hartline and his conservative Christian peers felt about blocking marriage equality  turned out to be a “Premature Celebration.”

And boy-oh-boy, did it really turn out to be a premature celebration. Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders changed his public position on marriage equality, and after previously indicating he would veto the resolution he instead signed the San Diego City Council resolution to support marriage equality.

San Diego Mayor Supports Gay Marriage

In response to the turn of events in San Diego, Mr. Hartline promised a report on Mayor Sanders’ support for marriage equality. In fact, he put together three pre-reports entitled The Corruption of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), as well as a fourth pre-report entitled entry The Deceptions of Mayoral Candidate Jerry Sanders.

All of the first three pre-report posts began with the following blurb:

The James Hartline Report is working on a breathtaking report revealing corruption between Mayor Jerry Sanders and radical elements of the local San Diego gay rights movement which we believe played a key role in his decision to betray voters in his support of same-sex marriage. This report will be released within the next 24 hours. The James Hartline Report has been receiving a tremendous number of requests for this report. In the meantime we are now going to re-release a number of historical James Hartline Reports outlining the many corruptive issues surrounding San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. These reports, published over the past three years, provide great documentation of the Sanders involvement with the homosexual movement. (Lesbian Daughter… Please! Sanders was involved in supporting the homosexual movement years and years prior to his alledged [sic] revelations three or four years ago that his daughter was a lesbian!)

In the fourth pre-report post, Mr. Hartline quoted Mayor Sanders from a 2005 issue of the Gay & Lesbian Times:

“The other part of it is, I don’t think government belongs in it all….I think marriage is an issue that’s up to the churches.”

Yup. Mr. Hartline was frothing at the keyboard, and he hadn’t even posted his actual response post as yet.

So, at a little after noon today (12:31 PDT, September 21, 2007), Hartline finally released his promised report, entitled San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders Sticks The Knife In & Executes A Vicious Betrayal Of San Diego Voters! . Some quotes (often in that famous James Hartline third-person way he writes):

No one in San Diego’s Republican Party can say that they weren’t warned about the radicalized homosexual agenda of Mayor Jerry Sanders. In early 2005, the James Hartline Report revealed that, then candidate Jerry Sanders, had been for years, implementing his scheme to promote homosexuality in San Diego. As San Diego police chief in the early 1990′s, Sanders was responsible for bringing in most of the early homosexual policing policies into the department.6

While Jerry Sanders may be attempting to manipulate voters with his disturbing emotional meltdown, it is clear that he has a far darker agenda then just his same-sex marriage schizophrenia. Mayor Sanders may have used his own daughter as an excuse for flip-flopping–John Kerry Style–but it is clear to those who have watched the mayor’s social engineering-in-action over the past twelve years that Sanders has been aggressively attempting to implement an anti-[C]hristian, European-style society.

Judgment of the Sanders’ marriage betrayal has been swift and decisive. The James Hartline Report has received a multitude of emails and telephone calls requesting that Hartline lead a renewed campaign against the Sander’s corruption. Christian leaders throughout San Diego are telling the James Hartline Report that they will work against the Sanders’ vision of anti-[C]hristian bigotry.

With Jerry Sanders finally revealing his dark agenda in its full manifestation…

“If the heart is corrupted it can be a very dangerous thing to lead with,” one Republican leader told the James Hartline Report. “Hitler led with his heart too, and we know what kind of evil he ended up doing.”

Basing his previous campaign statements of opposing same-sex marriage because of “religious” reasons, voters will certainly be asking themselves what religion is Sanders now following in lying to voters and betraying the 5,000 year-old bedrock institution of marriage?

Holy, crap. Dark agendas and same-sex marriage schizophrenia aside, a Hitler comparrison for Mayor Sanders? Egads, Hartline is seriously frothing.

Changing gears a little bit, I had a medical appointment at the VA today. (Yes, I’m a disabled veteran, having served as an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy from 1980 to 2000.) During my waiting room period today, I wondered what I’d find at Hartline’s Blog when I got back home.

Reading Hartline’s latest blog entry, a contrast between his life and mine struck me: While I spent 20-years serving my country in the U.S. Navy, Hartline spent nearly that long serving behind bars in California penitentiaries.

Hartline talks about Mayor Sanders’ “flip-flopping–John Kerry Style.” If only James Hartline would have served in the military as Senator John Kerry did — instead, Hartline spent his “service age” as an incarcerated burden on society.

To Hartline himself, all I have to say is:

Good f*cking luck with your campaign to become San Diego’s Third District City Councilperson. I can’t imagine too many San Diego citizens would vote in a convicted burglar like yourself to be in charge of any portion of the City of San Diego’s budget.

Plus sir, for a convicted felon, you’re awful damn sanctimonious in your condemnation of Mayor Sanders. You yourself flipped-flopped from a penitentiary dweller to self-righteous Christian blowhard — you’ve got your nerve calling Mayor Sanders “corrupt.”

When one compares Mayor Sanders record with yours, who actually has the more “corrupt” record? I don’t recall Mayor Sanders at any point being incarcerated for any kind of theivery.

~~~~~
Further reading:
* San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times Editorial: Thank you, Mayor Jerry Sanders
* Gay And Lesbian Task Force: Task Force calls San Diego mayor a ‘profile in courage and conviction’
* HRC: Human Rights Campaign Commends San Diego Mayor for Resolution in Favor of Marriage Equality
* San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times Poll: In light of Mayor Jerry Sanders’ support for same-sex marriage, will you support his re-election?
* NBC San Diego Poll: Do you support Mayor Jerry Sanders’ decision on same-sex marriage?

~~~~~
Related:
* Freepers on Republican San Diego mayor’s support of marriage equality
* Republican San Diego mayor comes out in favor of marriage equality
* Hartline’s Happy About The San Diego City Council Marriage Equality Vote
* James Hartline Filled Out A Form All By Himself
* Hartline: Mitt Romney’s beliefs disgrace the birth of Christ
* Hartline: San Diego is suffering from God’s wrath
* Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline

… except perhaps waiting too long.

So Paula Grieg says today in this “transition” story published in the Belfast Telegraph …

 

When Paula Grieg’s first grandchild was christened last year, she could only be there in spirit. Her presence in the little rural parish church would have been too unsettling for many of the other people there. The reason was an unusual one – in her former life, she would have been the little boy’s grandfather.

For Paula used to be Paul, who for over 25 years was married to Karen. They had three healthy children, lived in a beautiful house overlooking a lake, and enjoyed many of the material trappings of the early boom years of Celtic Tiger Ireland. To an outsider, it appeared they had the perfect family life.

But the outwardly successful Paul, in secure employment with a big international company, had a secret that even those closest to him never suspected. He believed he was a woman trapped in a man’s body. A vague yearning which at first he struggled to comprehend eventually grew into an overpowering desire to become the person he felt he had always really been.

It was a gradual realisation that ultimately gained irresistible momentum, with enormous personal consequences. He was forced to walk away from his family, home, friends, and well-paid job to live an entirely new life alone in another country.

Paul came to Ireland when his family moved here from Germany in the late 1960s. He was just 17. As a youngster, he found himself inexplicably drawn to secretly trying on his mother’s underwear. But his teenage hormones pointed him strongly in the direction of girls. While working as a barman, he met Karen. They became engaged when he was almost 20 and she was 17.

His liking for women’s clothes became apparent early in their marriage, though the pair never spoke openly about it. He loved his wife, but he had other deep feelings for which he had no rational explanation. He had the normal sexual urges of a man, but secretly desired to be loved like a woman. He deemed it wise not to mention this to anybody.

They had a son and twin daughters. But he felt he was living under false pretences.

Nowadays Paula Grieg lives in Manchester. She has written a book describing the personal confusion and turmoil which would ultimately lead to a sex change operation. Grieg is a nom-de-plume. Likewise, the names of family and friends have been changed and geographical locations have been blurred to protect those dearest to her. But otherwise the story is told in sometimes graphic detail.

Recalling her growing young family, she says: “I can’t say if my urges towards my children were more maternal or paternal, but I knew that I loved them with every heartbeat.”

Married life too had its contradictions. ” Physically, I was perfectly able to function sexually as a man. But the processes going on in my mind, while doing so, were usually anything but male.”

Through the 1990s, business trips abroad gave him the opportunity to explore his secret desires. He took to packing women’s clothing. Tentatively, he began to venture out in London and Manchester dressed entirely as a female. He gradually became aware of a whole other world of transsexuals – people who had a sex change. “The trips let me live out my secret life. My children were at home and knew nothing about what I was doing. It was the ultimate deception to them. By this stage, however, Karen was well aware that I packed extra clothes and went out in female mode in the UK,” she says.

“By now, things had progressed at home to a stage where Karen had accepted me for what I was and was giving me good advice on what was good on me and what was not, and even letting me have some of her outfits.”

But even his wife still didn’t suspect the full extent of things. “My internal conflicts were hidden so well from everyone, but they were threatening to tear me and our secure lives apart. The conflict was between the sham ‘man’ everyone thought they knew and the woman I needed to be,” she says.

Counselling in London brought him closer to the path he felt he had to take. At home, things rapidly became more complicated when his son discovered his secret stash of women’s clothes. He admitted to the stunned young man what they were for.

By now, the prospect of a sex change was starting to take shape. But this was clearly out of the question in Ireland. He still loved his wife and struggled to keep his family life intact, but this ultimately proved impossible. He went on a last romantic holiday with Karen before starting female hormone therapy.

He wrote an agonising letter to his 17-year-old daughters. This was followed by a “gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, tearful” discussion in which he told them he could only see a meaningful life for himself as a woman. One of the girls left him gutted when she asked: “Who will give me away when I get married?”

He organised a meeting of family and close friends to tell them. Nobody knew what to say. “It was my father-in-law who finally broke the silence. He jumped up, gave me a hug and said that while he could not at all understand what was happening, I had always been a great son-in-law and he could only wish me well for the future.” He decided to move to Manchester where there was a support group for transsexuals. His work colleagues had a going-away party for him in the pub, though nobody knew why he was leaving. Despite the heat, he kept his jacket on, terrified they would notice his budding breasts – the result of taking the hormones.

In July 2001, he left home. Five months later, he travelled to Bangkok for ‘gender realignment surgery’ – the removal of all vestiges of his manhood and remodelling him as a woman. The 11-hour operation also included reducing his Adam’s Apple and also breast enhancement surgery.

Now almost 57, Paula says that having a sex change wasn’t a lifestyle choice. She admits she has paid an enormous personal price, but suggests the overwhelming need was finally to be true to her real nature. Because Paul retained his German citizenship, the sex change has full legal recognition there. Paula has a new German birth certificate which states that she is now officially female.

Recently, her father’s funeral gave her the opportunity to attend the first major family gathering since her operation. She believes it went well. She and Karen spent “quite a while” talking. Her former wife is now in another relationship.

“I spent nearly 30 years of my life with Karen and she obviously meant an enormous amount to me – and still does, ” she says.

“By and large, my family have been supportive. My children are great. They have all stayed with me.

” And they have done rather well in spite of the upheavals that they had to go through.”

Paula doesn’t flinch from the question of her own sexuality now. “The testosterone-driven desire I had for women in the past is now gone, replaced by a womanly desire to be loved simply as a woman.

Dilemma

“As for men, every time I meet someone I like, I am faced with the same dilemma. Do I just let it run, enjoy the moment, or do I disclose my secret at the first possible chance? If I don’t, I may have some fun and I may even fall in love. But love is based on trust and trust can’t be built on lies.”

On the other hand, she says, disclosure will probably cause most men to run, asking “silly questions about their own sexuality”.

As for those who know and don’t run, she has her own uncertainties. “Do they stay because they truly want Paula, the attractive interesting woman, or do they have some kinky fascination for transsexuals?”

But she stresses: “I absolutely have no regrets. I made the right decisions. If anything, they were made way too late in my life.”

Had she embarked on her new life earlier, it might have opened up new romantic possibilities. Does she have a partner now?

“No. I wish I had, but I don’t,” she replies wistfully. “Love has not come knocking on the door yet. But there’s still hope.”

No Man’s Land: The Story of a Man who Became a Woman, by Paula Grieg, Maverick House, £7.99

Or not … Thursday Edition …

#1 – More on “ex-gay” Michael Glatze, whom we mentioned here yesterday …

It’s not difficult to see the very real origins of Michael’s feelings of revulsion, nor does it take a genius to spot the leaps of illogic that sweep him away to dubious conclusions. Anyone who spends years doing something morally against his inner conscience (as Michael did working for a magazine peddling content he found offensive) is going to have to come to a point where he faces a moral quagmire.
…

As for his stock narrative as a Reformed Gay, including all his terrible misunderstandings and misrepresentations of homosexuality, Michael’s is now a familiar tale. His story, replete with its truly offensive and defamatory attacks on an entire class of human beings and its tone deaf reading of gay culture, is best forgotten and forgiven.

The Reformed Gay: A Spiritual Path of Self-Deception

#2 – The price of sleep …

Ty Wenger, editor of Trader Monthly, a lifestyle magazine for a select segment of the self-made superrich, like hedge fund managers, agreed with this paradigm shift: a good night’s sleep isn’t a sign of weakness, but something to boast about.

“My readers are almost like athletes in the way they perceive themselves and pamper themselves,” Mr. Wenger said. “A good night’s sleep can mean millions for them the next day. How they prepare themselves for their job is the difference between brilliant and wealthy and going completely belly up. They aren’t hedonist playboys like those ’80s guys. They work out like crazy; they eat the finest food. It’s all about honing their instrument.”

Will they spend tens of thousands on mattresses?

“Absolutely,” he said.

…

Now where was the $50,000 bed? We’d discussed it on the phone — its mohair cover, its built-in iPod jacks and television. I was ready.

“It’s not here,” Mr. Ashe said. “It’s in Israel. It will be here in a year. I do have a $35,000 that’s coming next week …”

This is what’s known as the old switch-eroo.

Mr. Ashe said, in a mollifying tone, “You know, I can get you a great night’s sleep on a $17,000 bed.”

The Money’s in the Mattress

#3 – A “how to” from The Stranger …

Normal couples rent the Empathy Belly so that the man can understand what the woman is going through when she’s pregnant.

But I’m not pregnant. We don’t have kids. We’re not even trying. Patrick is wearing this 40-pound taupe vest full of water and steel balls to see what it would be like if he did it.

If he had my baby.

…

it’s basically an ectopic pregnancy. these can be carried out safely in women, although it’s rare. we’d do in vitro fertilization with my egg and your sperm. the fetus would be injected above your intestine into your abdominal cavity. it would hook up to your circulation system by attaching to an organ. (they just need a line, they do most of the rest, and you’d take female hormones, too.) it’s like a cross between IVF and the preparation for a sex change.

wow.

naturally, it’s reversible.

right.

then, you’d deliver by c-section. the delivery wouldn’t be dangerous for the baby but could be for you, because the placenta would be attached to your organs instead of to the inside of a uterus. but even that could be solved, since it’s possible you could have a uterus transplanted to contain the fetus.

Getting Patrick Pregnant
Scientists say it could be done. And my better half is the perfect candidate. All I have to do is convince him.

#4 – Blame it on testosterone …

Research has shown that women are better than men at games involving letters and words such as Scrabble. Women usually have a broader vocabulary than men, and speech development problems usually affect men three times as often.

Charles Lamoureux, soon-to-be PhD graduate of the Department of linguistics and translation, measured for the first time the impact of testosterone levels on linguistic and speech functions. The research was conducted under the supervision of Victor Boucher, and the results were presented at the ACFAS congress last May.

The first Lose Weight Exercise consisted of asking 20 male subjects to list as many words as possible starting with the letter R in 60 seconds. The Lose Weight Exercise was then repeated with the letter L. Testosterone levels were measured using saliva samples. Results indicated that the higher the level of testosterone the lower the number of words listed.

“The individual with the highest level of testosterone listed 18 words, while the one with the lowest level of testosterone listed 31 words,” explains Charles Lamoureux. The proposed explanation is that testosterone reduces the speed of lexical access. “It is possible that men have as broad a vocabulary as women, but that they have a harder time accessing it.”

To support his hypothesis the student cites research, which indicates that transsexuals who went from women to men often had difficulty with language following the testosterone treatments.

Both Lamoureux and Boucher consider an evolution aspect to the theory as well. According to the theory, masculine skills favored by evolution such as hunting required less vocabulary, while women who were left in charge of the children, required stronger communication abilities. In fact, a broad vocabulary could have been to the detriment of males in a hunting context who needed to react quickly and precisely.

Testosterone levels affect linguistic abilities

#5 – Speaking of testosterone …

Male dogs can breathe a sigh of relief. The days of removing their testicles to stop them breeding or to curb aggressive behaviour may be numbered. A contraceptive implant that halts testosterone and sperm production for months at a time is expected to gain European approval within weeks, while steps are being taken to enable the drug to be sold in the US.

Dog contraceptive signals end to castration

Rape…is a masculinist violation of bodily integrity. All transsexuals rape women’s bodies by reducing the female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves…Rape, although it is usually done by force, can also be accomplished by deception.
–Janice Raymond in her book The Transsexual Empire: The Making Of The She-Male (1979)

I was challenged by Liza in Boston Dyke March Yanks Musical Performer Bitch From Line-Up‘s comment section to…

…read as much as you can about Lesbian Separatism. Not just secondary sources, but primary documents as well. Separatism was a complex issue in its heyday, well worth the investigation.

I read Janice Raymond. She also said:

Masculine behavior is notably obtrusive. It is significant that transsexually constructed lesbian-feminists have inserted themselves into the positions of importance and/or performance in the feminist community. Sandy Stone, the transsexual engineer with Olivia Records, an ‘all-women’ recording company, illustrates this well. Stone is not only crucial to the Olivia enterprise but plays a very dominant role there. The… visibility he achieved in the aftermath of the Olivia controversy…only serves to enhance his previously dominant role and to divide women, as men frequently do, when they make their presence necessary and vital to women. As one woman wrote: “I feel raped when Olivia passes off Sandy… as a real woman. After all his male privilege, is he going to cash in on lesbian feminist culture too?”

I read enough to know that the roots of radical feminist separation from transwomen isn’t to save womyn-born-womyn space as some are trying to state these days, but instead because transwomen aren’t considered women. It doesn’t take much time reading the comments found in radical feminist blogs and forums to see hate speech regarding transwomen.

I’m not looking through the looking glass to see hate. It’s in the roots of Raymond’s work; it’s in the present words of adherents to feminist separatism who say they wish to preserve womyn-born-womyn spaces — they use derogatory commentary and pejoratives to describe transsexuals.

Heck, just from just the original article The Colonizing of Lesbian and Women’s Community: Bitch Performance at Boston Dyke March Canceled by Transgender Activists‘s that started this discussion comes comments in the tone of Janice Raymond:

Kiuku: I’m sorry but in my Dworkinized opinion they are still very much men enthralled with the -male- idea of what it means to be a woman and what they -think- they would want to do/can do/can express as a woman.

womenspace: And then the discussion is diverted from a discussion of a misogynist, sexist, or racist, or classist, or speciesist or otherwise destructive incident we are analyzing, bringing to light, or critiquing, to a discussion of how wrong we are to omit this theoretically overriding, more important discussion, which is something like that not “all” members of whatever group would have approved. Before anyone realizes it, it’s not about the destructive act, it’s about how mean and wrong and “bigoted” we are — even if the “all” happens to be men — not to focus on those who did NOT approve the destructive act … And there have been issues over male persons on the land, i.e., “transwomen,” (male-born persons who present as women).

Womanspace, in the The Colonizing of Lesbian and Women’s Community: Bitch Performance at Boston Dyke March Canceled by Transgender Activists article she wrote indicates she believes that being pro-womyn isn’t being anti-trans, but then in the comments of the article she puts the term transwomen within quotation marks as if to say transwomen don’t really exist as women. This is in tune with the historicly anti-trans, Janice Raymond stlye language of the radical feminist movement.

And, this indicates to me that that the two terms of pro-womyn and anti-trans, if not the same concept, are very closely related concepts. And, pardon me if I draw the reasonable conclusion that pro-womyn and anti-trans are related terms, much like pro-white and racism are related terms.

So yeah, I have done some reading Liza. I don’t buy the pro-womon soft soap you’re selling as anything but a defense of harsh, segregationist discrimination, rooted in an historic, philisophical point of hating demonizing transsexuals.

———
Note: I did not understand this issue until I started reading up on it during the past few days. I understuood about MWMF having a belief in womyn’s space, but I really didn’t understand the history of it. I do now. I’m angry about radical, old school feminists when I felt neutral — really uncaring about 1st and 2nd wave feminism — about a week ago.

I’ll be happier when 3rd wave feminism more completely overtakes 1st and 2nd wave feminism in the years to come. Call me bitter.