This And That In The News… I Am a Woman Now

"This And That In The News" is about articles in the news that have caught my eye and I want to comment about.

Over the years the trans-community has made great strides. I remember reading an article in either Time or Newsweek about gender confirming surgeries that were being done in Casablanca. I reread the article over and over, dreaming of going to Casablanca.

I Am a Woman Now
Michiel van Erp, Nederland

synopsis
The 1956 from a con game all undergo sex-change operation go to Georges Burou gynecologist in Casablanca - psychological research without prior notice. The one time with the help of their seemingly impossible dream Burou condensed deliver, are now elderly. Michiel van Erp Filmmaker asks some of the pioneer or the choice at that time changed their lives as they hoped. How did the outside on this first generation of transsexual? Is That a charming Flemish Burou died late eighties, thanks in cash. It's a secret between hair always possible partner state, they take for granted. A stately British, after a most hair transformation in Paris, still regularly experiencing rejection. S solitude: "When would you ever are gray, ever invisible." That endorses a German, "I never thought of myself as that old lady is not what part of the imaginative .." As you young what they got married, when opportunity presented itself operation "When I went to a sudden Dress in the Window's staring me wonder how he could stand me, I knew: this is never over." Seeds with other women and for those visiting Van Erp important places and people he's let them, using old photographs and home videos reflect on their eventful lives.(Translated from Dutch by Google)

What had it been like back then, what discrimination did they face? These fabulous brave women were the pioneers that lead the way where we are now.

The next article looks into Trans-Rights, the story is about Vandiver Elizabeth Glenn, who won the Federal Appeals court ruling about her being fired from her job as a Georgia General Assembly editor…

Transgender People: The Next Frontier in Civil Rights
Being fired for "gender non-conformity" is a violation of the constitution, an important court recently found
Time
By Adam Cohen
December 12, 2011

Since there is no federal or Georgia state statute that protects transgender people from job discrimination, Glenn went a different route. She sued under the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, claiming that she was a victim of sex discrimination, since she had been fired for failing to conform to the sex that her boss assumed her to be. It was a creative strategy, but there was legal precedent: in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that it is sex discrimination to turn down a woman for partner in an accounting firm for coming off as too “macho.” Invoking this theory, Glenn argued that she had been fired for “gender non-conformity.”

A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit agreed. Discrimination of the kind Glenn was subjected to, the court said, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. At least three other federal appeals courts have reached similar conclusions, but this is the first appeals court in the Deep South to do so. The ruling is also notable because of one of the judges who signed on: William Pryor, a former Alabama Attorney General who was appointed to the court by George W. Bush. When Judge Pryor was nominated, gay-rights groups opposed him, in part because he had argued in 2003 that the Supreme Court should uphold state sodomy laws. Perhaps even more so than the opinion itself, the fact that judge Pryor agreed with it is an indication of how far transgender legal rights have come.
[…]
Transgender people have long been on the margins of society. That has even been true in the LGBT — or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender — community, where debates have raged over how hard and how fast to push for transgender rights, which remain controversial. But that is true of any group that is still in the early stages of its civil rights struggle. If two of the nation’s most powerful institutions, federal courts and major corporations, are increasingly lining up behind transgender people, then change is undoubtedly on the way.

This year three states passed gender inclusive anti-discrimination laws and one state added to the categories that were already covered, bring the total to 16 states* and the District of Columbia. The opposition is getting harder, they now know our weakness and are exploiting it with lies, innuendos and fear.

The next article is from the Huffington Post about discrimination and white male privilege,

Transgender Rights or Deviant Behavior?
Huffington Post
By Chris Tina Bruce
Posted: 12/12/11 01:38 PM ET

As a white, heterosexual, college-educated male living in suburbia, the sky was the limit when it came to where I could go or what I wanted to do with my life. I still needed to work diligently and attack every opportunity or challenge at full speed, although all barriers were ones I could control. During the first 40 years of my life, I graduated from Georgia State University, relocated to a new city, and entered the corporate world to then start multiple successful and profitable organizations. I had the American dream, a wonderful wife, two healthy and happy children, a loving mother and sister, and a successful career, but I was not being true to myself.
[…]
Now two years into living my life as a transgender female, I understand the true meaning of discrimination. I understand the impact of being judged solely based on my appearance and not my substance.
[…]
Being transgender is one of my unique characteristics as a person, although it does not define who I am. I am a bodybuilder, business owner, private pilot, writer, and father of two amazing children. These are the things that define who I am, not my gender, sex, or sexual orientation.

What difference does it make about my gender, sex, or sexual orientation? Judge me by my heart, behavior, and actions, then decide if I am someone you wish to have in your life. If I am not, then why waste your time and energy on hate? Move on and invest in doing something for others, our planet, or even yourself. It really is that simple.

All the laws on the books will not make a difference, it will only be through education that change comes about. Educating people not to judge people by who they, but on their abilities and not just trans-people but all people. Give them a chance to show you what they can do, you will be amazed.



*15 states laws cover: employment, housing, public accommodation and credit and one state law covers employment, housing and credit.