an award-winning picture story about two male penguins who become parents was the most complained about book for the third year running. and tango makes three was cited by parents and educators as being anti-family, pro-gay, and anti-religion, as tracked by the american library association.

h/t

lifetime is playing “a girl like me: the gwen araujo story” tonight. i’d never seen it before, so i sat down to watch it. i had to turn it off a few minutes later.

looking at even the movie poster, or the photo preview on lifetime, shows the stereotypical transwoman applying lipstick. um, haven’t we seen enough transsexuals putting on lipstick? and don’t bother reading the comments on the lifetime site.

anyway, it’s just too depressing. i’ll have to save this movie for a different time.

via the bbc news:

Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.
He explained that defending God’s creation is not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction

read the whole article. it speaks for itself. apparently, the pope finds himself at odds with the united nations.

according to news 5 cbs, a house resolution to ask arizona voters to amend the arizona constitution to effectively ban same-sex marriage has been declared dead.

it seems that calling a trans person “it”, is the new “that’s so gay”. in the comments of a celebrity gossip column about christian slater, reported by tmz.com, two commenters suggest christian’s new girlfriend must be trans.
first, r.zimmerman says:

Is the girlfriend a transsexual? It looks like a man trying to be woman.

(emphasis mine)
then, jumbo loan account says:

17. that girl does look like a trans

so, “it” looks like “a trans”.

this reminds me of a post secret entry that was posted this week:

yes, society treats us like monsters, or just kills us.

the l.a. times reports that lawrence king, the gay boy who wore feminine clothes, will undergo an autopsy today. as if lawrence will ever do anything. i wonder why the media frames these acts of violence in the way they do.

his alleged murderer, brandon mcinerney, age 14, will be tried as an adult, with the added severity of a hate crime.

in what kind of world do we live, where children are taught to kill those of us who are different? who step outside those sacred gender roles. who love individuals of the “same sex”.

i can imagine what kind of narrative might have been going through the alleged murderer’s head. we’ve all heard those words before. i’ve heard those words before. some, spoken at me, with hatred, as if they were bullets.

in the violence against us, there is no difference between lawrence and myself. while he may have identified as gay, and while i may identify as trans, in the minds of those who would do us harm, we are the same. the violence perpetrated against us is motivated by the same sickness.

some of us placed into the lgbt community argue that we are different. that we should remain separate. politically, socially, legally. that our needs are different.

i disagree. we’re all human. and we all fight for human rights. equality, in medical care, housing, employment, and most basically, the right to exist as ourselves without getting shot or harassed. you know, the same human rights that white christian men enjoy. the same christian men who would veto a bill that would help to secure those rights for others.

some say that lawrence was trans. some say he was gay. i say he was human, a human who was denied the same rights that all lgbt people fight for, and struggle through simply to survive.

i have today off from work. i had a doctor appointment this morning, which i plan to blog about later, perhaps tonight or tomorrow. right now, i’m off to the pistol range. tonight is ladies night, and the range time is free. i like to think that practicing will provide an environment in which i’ll have equal footing with people like brandon mcinerney. because they are all around us.

if you are so wrapped up in your homophobia and self hatred, that you would kill someone because *you* can’t tell the difference between a man, woman, transperson, or any other socially constructed category of persons, then maybe you should just ask before you lay your money down.
the daily news reports:

A transgendered prostitute was stabbed to death in the Bronx Saturday by a customer who was apparently surprised by the hooker’s true sex, police sources said Saturday.

i’d like to know how one determines “true sex”.
they go one to say:

The victim – a 25-year-old man who dressed like a woman – was identified by sources as Talib Stewart, who often went by the feminine nicknames of Nesha or Sanesha.

ah yes, the old “man dressed like a woman” meme. i’m inclined to call them out on nexy’s law for that one.

Stewart also apparently had undergone surgery to give him larger breasts and other female characteristics, neighbors said.

“She looked like a girl but when she turned around, you knew it was a man,” a 17-year-old neighbor said. “She had a big jaw and an Adam’s apple.”

give “him” larger breasts? if the woman is transsexual, that makes her a “her”. “you knew it was a man”? “it”?!?!? i hate language sometimes.

if you think the article is bad, the real bigots come out in the comments. calico’s is a gem:

NO ONE deserves to die for a lifestyle he/she prefers to be identified or live with; however, you are one dumb, ignorant or stupid @ss if you still cannot understand that not everyone appreciates being fooled, deceived, humiliated, trifled with, hoaxed, lured under false pretenses. HOW do you want this repeated so that YOU can understand this?

so no one “deserves’ to die for being trans, but just be sure to wear your trans-ness on your forehead in neon letters or you are deceiving and humiliating the world. so if you get killed, it’s your fault. just like the women who incite rape for wearing short skirts. sounds like victim blaming to me.

well, there you have it – being yourself, expressing yourself, moving through the world as yourself is deceit. yes folks, we’ve attained double-speak.

h/t autumn, with prayers and best wishes on your surgery and speedy recovery!

i was born and raised jewish. and while i don’t practice the religion, i have no doubt that if a certain group of bigots came to power, i’d be carted off and killed placed with the other jews. in reality, it has nothing to do with how i identify, or how i see myself, or how i currently live my life. i was born and raised jewish, and that makes me jewish, regardless of how i “identify”.

i was born and raised male. and while i don’t live as a male, i have no doubt that if a certain group of bigots came to power, i’d be carted off and killed placed with the other homosexuals. in reality, it has nothing to do with how i identify, or how i see myself, or how i currently live my life. i was born and raised male, and that makes me a homosexual, regardless of how i “identify”.

as such, i am invested in maintaining a relationship with the “jewish community”, just as i am invested in maintaining a relationship with the “homosexual community”. both of these communities offer support, sacred space, and resources.

i can’t care to any significant degree, what certain individuals of either community says with regard to my status in either community. i am, regardless of how those individuals may see me, a part of both communities. i have no choice. the world at large forces me into these communities, regardless of how i may feel about it.

so be it.

just hand me my pink desert eagle. 

you’ve no doubt heard of godwin’s law, which states:

“As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”.

i propose a new law which states:

“As a trans-related online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving men in dresses approaches one.”

i call it “nexy’s law”, and i will promptly exit said online discussion immediately, according to the first corollary of nexy’s law, which states:

“once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the men in dresses has automatically “lost” whatever debate was in progress.”

i’ll add that as both a jew and a transwoman, i am uniquely qualified to coin nexy’s law.