the gay, lesbian, and straight education network released the first comprehensive study on transgender students. they call their study harsh realities: the experiences of transgender
youth in our nation’s schools (links to a pdf). a recap is here. one of the issues they found as result of the study is that trans youth face an extremely high level of victimization in school, even more than their lbt peers.

did they really need a study to discover that?

so we had a department meeting today at work with one of the executives who flew in from hq. at the end, we had a q & a during which i asked a question. apparently, a couple of women took issue with me, which i found out about later from a friend who was sitting close to them. there was some talk that they’d better not see me in the women’s restroom…

so yeah, apparently i’m out at work. at least to some. fortunately, we have a strict policy on diversity, and i’m fortunate to work for a company that is quite progressive on glbt rights. i’m not worried.

it’s funny, i’m so over being trans. it’s ancient history. so i was a bit surprised to hear that it was still an issue for these two women. frankly, i’d be interested to see how they handle seeing me in the restroom. it’s bound to happen sooner or later. so yeah, panty check? i.d.? whatever.

first of all, they really need to come up with a better name than “the radical transgender agenda”. it just doesn’t roll of the tongue like “the radical homosexual agenda”. but i digress.

apparently, the clara barton elementary school in oxford, massachusetts employs a night custodian who has transitioned over the summer break this past year. this has been seen as “unthinkable” and “mind-numbing” according to this article from massresistance, a radical reactionary “christian” organization, that would apparently rather hate and discriminate against their brothers and sisters.

part of the headline exclaims that the children will be told about the custodian (if they should ask about her) in a “simple and straightforward” manor. of course the radical reactionary christian groups would protest, because they are so used to explaining things in a complex and convoluted manor to keep their flocks, well, confused and uninformed. so yeah, i can see how being clear might cloud their issue. or something.

they also take issue with the letter that was sent out to parents, because the letter was written in “an eerie informational style”, and they go on to call it “orwellian”. i suppose when your head in buried in a single text that was written thousands of years ago, translated dozens of times, and used thou’s and “ye shall’s”, an informational style would be viewed as “eerie”. and when you’re used to twisting things around, being simple and straightforward would be viewed as “orwellian”.

far be it for an educational institution like the clara barton elementary school to, you know, educate.

it seems that every time i read through my trans news feed, someone makes a derogatory joke about trans people, or calls us freaks, or compares our existence as being equal to destroying rain forests. so when i read this article entitled “Has being Transgender become the new punch line in America?”, i think “become the new punch line?. we’ve been the punch line now for years.” it contributes to the perception that we’re disposable, that our lives have no worth.

i don’t blog enough about how many trans people are murdered, or disparaged, or insulted, or joked about. i suppose it’s one of my coping mechanisms to gather the motivation to move through the world as my authentic self. you know, sorry for being a freak, or “funny”, or living an existence that’s as destructive as the loss of our rain forests, but this is really getting old.

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.

david moore, co-owner of crew’s inn in dallas, issued an apology in the dallas voice.

“We at the Crews Inn do not discriminate. We appreciate all of our customers. If anyone has felt offended or discriminated against, we certainly did not intend to do so.

“We believe that all customers should have a good experience at the Crews Inn, and we take our responsibility to ensure that seriously.”

apparently, the women banned accept his apology. personally, when the apology includes language like “If anyone has felt offended or discriminated against, we certainly did not intend to do so.”, that puts a damper on the sincerity. you know, i’m sorry i banned your ass, i didn’t mean to offend you. wtf?

in other news, hospital technician daniel i. alawoya rapes a transgender “male” patient and gets time served and three years probation. (though the article refers to the victim as a “transgender male patient”, i’m inclined to believe she’s a trans woman, despite the pronouns.) i find it interesting that:

“If you scream, I’ll kill you,” the victim said Alawoya told him while choking him. The sexual activity lasted between 15 and 40 minutes.

translates to “committing a lewd act”. of course i’m just a mere trans woman, but to me, that sounds like rape. thank god for plea bargaining.

and finally, if a school is set up to create an environment that’s safe for lgbt people, it’s considered to be all about sex. never mind that the kids can’t attend school without getting their heads bashed in on a daily basis. just “get out of the bedroom” and the head bashing is ok. another wtf moment.

and special thanks to marti for fixing my template and restoring my blog roll and categories!

i came across this article on the canadian which reviews isis tsunami’s appearance in america’s next top model. this paragraph caught my eye:

Yet while she looks and acts like a woman, which might serve to educate the mainstream as to the difference between a transsexual woman and a drag queen (man in a dress), the question remains as to whether that will help reduce discrimination against transsexual woman — or just raise the bar so that all other transsexual women will have look like a model in order to be seen as a woman.

so, how exactly does a woman act? is participating in a modeling contest “woman behavior”? and do they really think that the mainstream really cares about the finer points that distinguish between a “drag queen” or “man in a dress” (i’m calling them out on nexy’s law for that one) and a “transsexual”?

and really, don’t regular type women have to look like a model in order to be seen as a woman? after all, as much as half of the male population would rather fuck a tranny than a fat woman. and everyone knows that transwomen are just men in dresses.

kinda makes me wonder if half the male population is gay.