a promotional bottle of 3 olives, seen at our local watering hole, the rainbow cactus saloon

navi pillay, un high commissioner for human rights, said in this article:

Those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, those who are transgender, transsexual or intersex, are full and equal members of the human family and are entitled to be treated as such.

The ageless cliché that everyone is equal but some are more equal than others is not acceptable. No human being should be denied their human rights simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. No human being should be subject to discrimination, violence, criminal sanctions or abuse simply because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

what a concept. lgbti people are human beings, deserving of human rights. where’s the “film at 11″?

i’m off from work today, but i can’t seem to get motivated to leave the house. i’ve been surfing the web, and reading what others are writing.

helen g compiles a list of links.
pam posts an open thread.
and bil ‘come to my blog and teach me about the tran’ browning posts an hrc video.

now to be fair to bil, pam also posted the utube hrc video. but it’s under the fold, and it’s one among three. there’s one comment in bil’s thread that says it for me, by Alyssa:

You DO realize, that hrc has been actively working to make more dead transwomen.

This is beyond tasteless. They are celebrating their long career of assuring that trans women will find it harder to survive. They are reveling in it, and rubbing it in our faces.

And this is not at all unusual for gay and lesbians. Not at all.

…

How long will it be before they rename it “Gay on Trans Hate trophy day?”

yeah, there’s many trans women who are not feeling the love from the hrc. i’m among them. even more so after learning that they’re celebrating this day with a “fun, laid-back evening”, and trying to muscle in on several local tdor events.

there was a time when i questioned the idea that the only day of the year that trans people gather as a community, was a day on which we remember those of us who are murdered because of who we are. i posted about trans awareness week, and liked the idea of a different kind of gathering for the trans community. i’ve come to know now, that tdor is is really the only day we, as trans people, own. and if others want to take it away, they’ll have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

it started with posts like this, from say uncle, a gun rights proponent, whose blog i read pretty much every day. yeah, he supports mccain, but no one is perfect. on the other hand, he’s pro rights, so he also supports glbt rights, and the pink pistols.

it was escalated with posts like this, from kynn, a “transgender::genderqueer” woman who takes issue with “pompous, idiotic gun-fetishists [who] need to shut the fuck up and stop trying to politicize tragedy to justify their own lunacy.”

words were exchanged, including the obligatory insults on trans appearances and subsequent apologies. and all the while, feeling torn between my affiliation with both what i’ll call “gun culture” and the “trans community™”.

why can’t we just “get along”?

absolut introduced a limited edition vodka bottle to celebrate the 30th anniversary of gilbert baker’s rainbow flag.

the absolut website is nicely done, with the ability to turn off the sound. i did come across one slight error though.

mouse over each color and a little blurb pops up. only the green one is, umm, blue.

that said, i’ve actually enjoyed absolut vodka on many occasions. i particularly like their mandarin orange and lemon flavors. and that’s new for me as i’ve traditionally avoided flavored vodkas. they both make for a great mixer with limoncello. and coming from a strong russian gene pool, i feel somewhat qualified to judge the quality of vodkas.

note however, that i couldn’t find a link from absolut’s main page to the colors page. i had to type in the url absolut.com/colors. maybe i just missed it, but they did a pretty good job of hiding it from the average casual browser. it’s a bit disappointing that the verbiage is all about being proud, but it seems to be pretty well hidden. and the limited edition bottle has been available since may, yet i haven’t seen it in stores. and i go liquor shopping once a week.

h/t bilerico

dude at gay bar: so how long have you guys been together?
me: oh, just over 3 years.
dude at gay bar: wow, that’s like 10 in gay years!

so the phoenix pink pistols had a booth at the 2008 phoenix pride, which was very well attended. we had hundreds of visitors, and a very positive reaction from the crowd.

over a hundred people signed our email list, and we’re expecting many new attendees at the saturday shoot this weekend. more pictures are available on the ppp website here.

via cutter:

The average person who calls themself a transsexual does not change sexes. She/he corrects documents.

i totally agree with this one.

and via the bilerico project, where waymon talks about homosexuality positioned as a disease, well, being transsexual is still considered a mental illness. so i’ll be calling in to work tomorrow:

“hello boss? can’t come in to work today. still trans.”

i went to the doctor yesterday for my annual check-up. as it turns out, i hadn’t been since november of ’06, so i was over due. i had the usual prodding, poking and peeking, blood tests, and extensive questioning that accompanies any thorough medical exam. i am fortunate and privileged to have the medical insurance that covers this (besides a $20 co-pay, and a small co-pay for the blood work), and i feel extremely lucky to have found an excellent medical group that specializes in lgbt medicine.

actually, i schedule my visits with the resident nurse practitioner as opposed to the doctor there. i usually prefer female medical personnel when it comes to someone poking in and around my body, and i’ve been seeing her since i moved to phoenix, so she knows my history.

at this visit, i met their new assistant, who performed most of the exam. she was quite personable, and she put me at ease immediately. apparently, she’s in training, and i was her first post-op trans woman. which was quite the experience since i was past due for an internal exam, and i haven’t found a gyno in the area with whom i was comfortable.

she did quite well, wielding that speculum like a pro, making this the most painless internal exam and pap smear i’ve had. well, it’s not actually a pap smear, since i don’t have a cervix – they’re just testing to make sure there are no abnormal cells floating around in there.

anyway, it seems i’m doing my part in helping to educate the next generation of medical personnel in trans health care. perhaps they should pay me next time

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.