Saturday 9: Baby's in Black

Sam’s Saturday 9: Baby's in Black (1964)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…



Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
 From our archives.

1) Black is this week's signature color because Fridaywas "Black Friday," the day when retailers cut their prices and consumers flock to the stores. Did you score any "Black Friday" bargains?
Nope, I didn’t even try. Last year I scored on Cyber Monday, I got a 128G USB drive for under $20.

2) Feasting and football are also popular Thanksgiving weekend pastimes. Do your Thursday-Sunday plans include pigging out or watching a game?
Nope. I sometime wonder why I travel down to my niece’s house where everyone sits around watching football.

3) At Thanksgiving dinners, Crazy Sam's homemade gravy is always a hit. (Probably because she's so generous with the cognac, which gives the gravy a nutty taste.) What was particularly delicious at your Thanksgiving table?
Everything but the green beans

4) Among the biggest the Black Friday advertisers are Target, Kohl's, Macy's and Best Buy. If you could have a $100 gift card to any one of those stores, which would you choose?
Probably Target because they are only a couple of miles down the road.

5) This week's song, "Baby's in Black," is about a girl who wears black because she's in mourning. Do you find that the color you're wearing reflects your mood?
No, I usually just wear the next item in my closet. Wash them at the end of the week and put them back in the closet, a never ending cycle (well I sincerely hope it doesn’t end soon)

6) The woman who inspired this song, Astrid Kirchherr, has been friends with Paul McCartney since he and his bandmates (John Lennon, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best) met her in Hamburg back in 1960. Tell us what you believe are the components of a strong, lasting friendship.
I think thing there is any common components in a relationship, I think each one is unique. That we are drawn to somebody for different reasons otherwise our relationships would be homogeneous rather than heterogeneous

7) In the early days of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon began writing a play but abandoned it. Do you have a novel, painting, play, song or poem that you're going to finish "someday?"
I have a number of poems that I wrote, all finished

8) When he was 16, George Harrison dreamed of moving to Canada, Australia or Malta. In just a few years, he would visit all those places with Beatles and eventually decided there was no place like home and stayed in England (though he did also maintain a home in Hawaii). Have you ever thought about moving to another country? If so, where?
Nope, I am born, raised, and will die a Nutmegger.

9)  Random question: Finish this sentence -- If you want me to give you "yes" for an answer, the best time to approach me is _____________________.
Is at 3 AM
Hee, hee… That way no one will bother me. I doubt anyone would wake up to ask me a question.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Beat The Gay Out Of You

We see it all the time where Republicans are pushing bill to prevent trans children from transitioning, meanwhile the Democrats are pushing bills to ban conversion therapy.

I was reading post on Facebook when I came across a post about the “UCLA Sissy Boy experiment” and it raised my curiosity so I googled it and found the research paper on the experiment.

This study demonstrated reinforcement control over pronounced feminine behaviors in a male child who had been psychologically evaluated as manifesting "childhood crossgender identity". The clinical history of the subject paralleled the retrospective reports of adult transsexuals, including (a) cross-gender clothing preferences, (b) actual or imaginal use of cosmetic articles, (c) feminine behavior mannerisms, (d) aversion to masculine activities, coupled with preference for girl playmates and feminine activities, (e) preference for female role, (f) feminine voice inflection and predominantly feminine content in speech, and (g) verbal statements about the desire or preference to be a girl. The subject was treated sequentially in the clinic and home environments by his mother, trained to be his therapist. The mother was taught to reinforce masculine behaviors and to extinguish feminine behaviors, by using social reinforcement in the clinic and a token reinforcement procedure in the home. During this treatment, his feminine behaviors sharply decreased and masculine behavior increased. The treatment effects were found to be largely response-specific and stimulus-specific; consequently, it was necessary to strengthen more than one masculine behavior and weaken several feminine behaviors, in both clinic and home settings. A multiple-baseline intrasubject design was used to ensure both replication and identification of relevant treatment variables. Follow-up data three years after the treatment began suggests that the boy's sex-typed behaviors have become normalized. This study suggests a preliminary step toward correcting pathological sex-role development in boys, which may provide a basis for the primary prevention of adult transsexualism or similar adult sex-role deviation.

So what did he do to the children to make them straight?

Oh by the way the research was… “supported by United States Public Health Service Research Grant 21803 OlAl from the National Institute of Mental Health.”

RESULTS
The treatment results on Kraig may be summarized as follows. Kraig's sex-typed behaviors in the clinic were strongly controlled by his mother's attention; his mother was trained to use her attention successfully in a therapeutic manner, so as to decrease feminine and increase masculine behaviors in the clinic. More than one feminine behavior had to be suppressed and more than one masculine behavior increased. Similarly, it was necessary to treat his behavior in more than one environment in order to observe the generalized change across situations found in the follow-up reports. When differential reinforcement was discontinued early in the treatment, Kraig quickly reverted to feminine behavior. With the continuation of treatment, the change in Kraig's behavior became more permanent. Follow-up data 3 yr after the treatment began suggest that his sex-typed behaviors have become normalized. Since we treated Kraig first in the clinic and subsequently in the home, the results are presented separately by setting.

In a CNN article they write about what happen to “Kraig.”

Therapy to change 'feminine' boy created a troubled man, family says
AC360
By Scott Bronstein and Jessi Joseph, CNN
June 10, 2011

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Kirk Andrew Murphy seemed to have everything to live for.
He put himself through school. He had a successful 8-year career in the Air Force. After the service, he landed a high profile position with an American finance company in India.

But in 2003 at age 38, Kirk Murphy took his own life.
[…]
"Well, I was becoming a little concerned, I guess, when he was playing with dolls and stuff," she said. "Playing with the girls' toys, and probably picking up little effeminate, well, like stroking the hair, the long hair and stuff. It just bothered me that maybe he was picking up maybe too many feminine traits." She said it bothered her because she wanted Kirk to grow up and have "a normal life."
[…]
The doctor was on TV that day, recruiting boys for a government-funded program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"Well, him being the expert, I thought, maybe I should take Kirk in," said Kaytee Murphy. "In other words, nip it in the bud, before it got started any further."
[…]
Kaytee Murphy took Kirk to UCLA, where he was treated largely by George A. Rekers, a doctoral student at the time.

In Rekers' study documenting his experimental therapy (PDF), he writes about a boy he calls "Kraig." Another UCLA gender researcher confirmed that "Kraig" was a pseudonym for Kirk.

The study, later published in an academic journal, concludes that after therapy, "Kraig's" feminine behavior was gone and he became "indistinguishable from any other boy.

Yes that’s right, Kraig was Kirk… the young man who took his own life.

Oh so what happened to the doctoral student George A. Rekers?

Why he became the  a founding member of the Family Research Council and was on the Board of NARTH!

Yup the Family Research Council the same anti-LGBTQ organizations that is working with Trump to pick anti-LGBTQ federal judges!

And what happened to Rekers?

According to LGBTQ Nation…

In May 2010, Rekers was exposed for vacationing with a 20 year-old gay escort he met online at RentBoy.com.

After the scandal broke, Rekers resigned from NARTH. And the Family Research Council said in a statement they hadn’t had contact with Rekers in “over a decade.”

---

In another article they mention another study subject.

UCLA study tried to change children’s gender identity starting in the 1960s, say two educators
Orange County Register
By Susan Christian Goulding
November 19, 2019

Karl Bryant had no idea he was the main character in someone else’s book. He discovered his biography in the late 1980s while poking around a San Francisco bookstore.

Jarringly, the tome was titled, “The ‘Sissy Boy Syndrome’ and the Development of Homosexuality.” But it was the author’s name that caught Bryant’s attention: Richard Green, a psychiatrist who evaluated him for 15 years at UCLA’s Gender Identity Research Clinic.

“Sure enough, there I was,” Bryant said.

A UC Irvine seminar held Nov. 12 brought together Bryant and another subject of the clinic’s three-decade study. Sé Shay Sullivan and Bryant knew about each other but had never met in person.

Both call themselves “survivors” of what they consider harmful research that left them feeling shame and humiliation with each session.

Bryant, a professor of sociology and women’s studies at SUNY New Paltz University in New York, identifies as gay. Sullivan, a carpenter who teaches in the sociology department at Gavilan College in Gilroy, identifies as gender fluid. Both are now 57.
Eight years ago, Sullivan, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, requested files on their case from UCLA. Sullivan received a 68-page transcript of doctor-patient interviews that now seem misguided and insensitive.

I wonder how many lives were affected by the homophobic research?

---

This study was done in the thirties, forties, fifties, sixties and early seventies just around the time the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male was uncovered.

When the study was started in the 1930s there was no treatment for syphilis but when penicillin was discovered they didn’t treat any of the men taking part in the research project.

As a response to the outcry for the inhuman and unethical treatment of the black men Health and Human Services and the National Institute of Health came up with guideline for federally funded research that involves human subjects.

I was part of a team that received a grant to study HIV/AIDS in 2009 in the transgender population around the greater Hartford area (We gave the study the cute name Transgender Regional Area Network Survey (T.R.A.N.S.)).

I had to be certified to work with human subjects and go before an Institute Review Board (IRB) before we could do our research.

Will the NIH policies stop research abuse… no. But it should help to reduce the abuse.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am away today at my niece's in New Jersey, but for many people Thanksgiving and the Holidays are an especially lonely time, they might have been estranged from their family since they came out to them or their families and children have disowned them and for them Thanksgiving is a time when they feel their loss the greatest. Thanksgiving is a time where we reflect on all that we have been thankful for the year but for those of us it could also be a time a great sadness while they see others around them celebrating during the holiday seasons. So let us open our hearts and doors to them and invite them to the table.

I want to thank all the military men and women who are away from their loved ones this holiday... thank you for your service.

On the lighter side... I leave you with some Thanksgiving cartoons ans what would Thanksgiving be without "Alice's Restaurant" and "WKRP" turkey drop.

One of my favorite sitcom skits was from WKRP in Cincinnati, "Turkey Drop"

A Mother’s Love

Research has shown that having family support reduces all the negative side effects of transitioning…

Annette Bening opens up about her transgender son Stephen: 'I'm very, very proud of him'
Yahoo News
By Suzy Byrne Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
November 26, 2019


Annette Bening is a proud mother.

The American Beauty actress, 61, made rare public comments about her transgender son Stephen Ira’s transition, praising him for doing something “very challenging” with “great style” and “great intelligence.”

Bening spoke about her son with husband Warren Beatty in a new interview with AARP, telling a story about the now 27-year-old writer giving her a novel called Little Fish by Casey Plett. The book tells the story of a 30-year-old who finds evidence that her late grandfather, a devout Mennonite farmer, might have been transgender himself.

Of Stephen, who was born Kathlyn and began his transition journey at 14, Bening said, “He's managed something that's very challenging with great style and great intelligence. He's an articulate, thoughtful person, and I'm very, very proud of him."

It is really beautiful when parents support their child.

How much better is this than the fighting over a child’s transition like down in Texas

In an article in Insider they point out that,

Previous studies have pointed to a connection between not allowing transgender kids to socially transition and elevated rates of depression and suicide.

The PubMed research study cited concluded that,

Socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group. Especially striking is the comparison with reports of children with GID; socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex.

Meanwhile in the states of Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky there have been legislation introduced by Republican legislators banning doctors from treating trans children. 

We Are Being Erased.

We are being systematically erased from the government websites… one page at a time.

Pink News reported that,

Researchers have revealed that under the Trump administration LGBT+ language, data, resource pages and anti-discrimination information has been disappearing from government websites.

The research was conducted by the Sunlight Foundation’s Web Integrity Project (WIP) which says its “mission is to monitor changes to government websites, holding our government accountable by revealing shifts in public information and access to Web resources, as well as changes in stated policies and priorities.”

Researchers combed 142 government websites that included LGBT-related information, all created before Trump took office, to create a report looking at how LGBT+ content and language had changed during Trump’s presidency.

Compared with previous versions of the pages accessed via Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, the WIP found that 57 percent pages had altered LGBT+ terms.

Their hate for us is so great that they are removing all references about anything trans, lesbian, gay, queer, or bi. Over the years various Republicans have called for us to be murdered, put concentration camps, and criminalized.

Down in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Kentucky there have been legislation introduced banning doctors from treating trans children even through every major medical and psychiatric professional association has denounced the bills. Research has shown that denying proper healthcare for trans children leads to higher suicide rates in the children. It is almost like that is the goal of the Republicans.

NBC news…

The statements made by Ehrhart and a number of other lawmakers, however, perpetuate the false notion that transgender and gender-expansive children are routinely subjected to, as Erhart put it, “life-altering, irreversible surgeries and drug treatments that render them sterile and permanently disfigured.” In fact, medical guidelines call for treating gender dysphoria in pre-pubescent youth with a social transition, like the use of new pronouns, names and attire. Ehrhart said her bill would not impact social transitions.

The Republicans have no qualms about lying; from Trump on down to the state and local levels. If lies serve their purpose they will lie through their teeth.

Vox wrote that,

But Condon [Colleen Condon, board president of the South Carolina LGBTQ rights group Alliance for Full Acceptance] fears Jones’s efforts will have the opposite effect. “It feels like he’s trying to drive our trans teens to the grave,” she said.
[…]
And overall, the ban could be very dangerous for trans young people, who are already at high risk of attempting suicide, Condon said. In one recent study, over 50 percent of trans male teens said they had tried to end their own lives, along with nearly 30 percent of trans female teens.

The administration is using the full weight of the government to kill us. You think that is an exaggeration? Well read on.

---

Another government website that we are being erased from is the CDC website any reference to trans people has been taken down.

Trump War Against Trans Americans Continues as CDC Replaces LGBTQ References with LGB
Medium
By Phaylen Fairchild
November 24, 2019

In the ongoing war on transgender and non-binary Americans, the Trump administration has scrubbed the official website of the Center for Disease Control of all references to transgender and non-binary identities on specific pages related to queer youth, while also deleting transgender statistics from the 2015 and 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys.

But that is not the only place we have been attacked by the Trump administration, this one is even more draconian.

Just yesterday, the Trump administration stripped all policies for transgender prison inmates that protected them from rape and abuse.
[…]
The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is actively seeking to remove protections for trans people which once prevented them from being evicted on the basis of their gender identity. They have already exchanged the word “Gender” with “Sex” in their policies.
[…]
The Trump Administration currently has a 90% approval rating among Republicans and Evangelicals. This has only increased during the recent impeachment inquiry leading many political experts to predict that Donald Trump will win his re-election bid in 2020.

The Republicans don’t care if we die because they know that we don’t vote Republican, all they care about is that our deaths get them elected and campaign contributions.

Are We Overachievers?

I sometimes think that all trans people are overachievers, that we want to show the world that we are not living in the dregs of society.

First transgender Rhodes scholar named in diverse 2020 class
Hera Jay Brown among the 32 selected in the program, in which minorities make up the majority of the latest group
The Guardian
By Associated Press in New York
24 November 2019

Minorities make up the majority of the latest group of US college students to be named Rhodes scholars, and the class includes the first transgender woman selected for the prestigious program.

The Rhodes Trust announced the 32 selections late on Saturday after two days of discussions over 236 applicants from 90 colleges and universities across the US.

Along with University of Tennessee graduate Hera Jay Brown, the first transgender woman in the program, the class includes two non-binary scholars.
[…]
Rhodes scholarships were created in 1902 in the will of Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman and Oxford graduate who was a prime minister of the Cape Colony in present-day South Africa.

Everywhere you look trans people have a hand in the creative process, from science, to engineering, to the arts, and music.

What do you think? Are we overachievers? Do we feel that we have something to prove?

It Wasn’t Always That Way.

Over in France a trans race car driver made history by planning to drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans,

Trans racer looks to break barriers at 24 Hours of Le Mans

Charlie Martin: ‘Being visible as a trans woman at Le Mans – a lot of good can come from that’
Stonewall spokeswoman aims to become the first transgender driver to contest the French classic, seven years after facial and reconstruction surgery
The Guardian
By Giles Richards
November 21, 2019


Charlie Martin is a driver with grand ambition, her aspirations undaunted by anything the world of motor racing can throw at her. Martin has faced the very heart of darkness in preparing to take her own life before choosing to embrace a new one through the arduous process of gender transition. Now she stands as a role model, one of the latest “champions” chosen by Stonewall to promote its LGBT Rainbow Laces campaign.

Martin lives and drives with the passion and exuberance of someone who has already decisively conquered their greatest fears and for whom every moment is simply a joy to be seized. Unsurprisingly she has embraced her new position as a spokesperson for Stonewall’s campaign, which begins on Friday, aimed at encouraging the LGBT community into sport.

“I am trying to help create a positive change on society,” she says. “To inspire other people to live without fear and live with their true selves, to take those steps on their own journey. Working with Stonewall really helps, I hope we can together reach more people. I am very proud to be their first sport champion from motor sport. It is a huge opportunity to do good.”

She said transitioning was the hardest thing that she did and the second hardest…

Returning to racing proved perhaps her second bravest decision. “I was concerned people would not accept me,” she says. “The thing I loved would become the thing that I hated, that was my fear. I was shaking going into the paddock.”

Another trans race car driver from Corinth, Mississippi didn’t find that acceptance,

A NASCAR RACER ON HER SEX CHANGE
By Newsweek Staff
May 12, 2007

J. T. Hayes won over 500 regional and national championships in go-kart, midget and sprint racing and competed in NASCAR Winston Cup before undergoing sex-reassignment surgery in 1994 at age 30. During the two years she transitioned from man to woman, the Corinth, Miss., native raced throughout the South and California, wrapping an Ace bandage over her breasts to flatten them out ("Boys Don't Cry"-style), wearing baggy T shirts and tucking her long hair under a baseball cap. Now as Terri O'Connell, she's had very little luck breaking back into the racing world. O'Connell still lives in Corinth with her elderly mother and is working on a clothing line for female NASCAR fans. The petite redhead is also writing a memoir, "Dangerous Curves," (due this fall). She'd like to get back on the track and is currently looking for a sponsor.
[…]
It did. I had two roommates who outted me. After my story broke in the Charlotte press, NASCAR officials went nuts. In fact more than nuts. They were putting their TV contracts in place with Fox, NBC and TNT at the time and they were hell bent on killing the story. I was the last thing they wanted in their midst. But I had been living with those bubbas for four years, socializing, doing business, drinking coffee and eating donuts, and dating a few of them. I really pissed them off at the highest level. They just want me to go away. Not doing it! Some people said if you can get a sponsor you can come back and race, but they know how difficult that is. You need more than $100,000 just to get out on track. Maybe someone will sponsor us at some point. Maybe I just need to get more aggressive and do it.

Maybe times have changed, maybe NASCAR has changed, maybe pigs can fly.

---

Last Wednesday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance and a friend who is a LCSW posted this article that I want to share.

What is International Transgender Day of Remembrance and why is it so important?
Pink News UK
By Emma Powys Mauruce
November 20, 201

Trans allies across the country will be marking the day with a series of events to highlight the suffering experienced by the transgender community worldwide.

In Leeds, several LGBT+ organisations have joined forces with the NHS to host a pop-up exhibition and a candlelight vigil.

Another candlelight vigil will be be held at The Queens Peace Fountain in Southampton, hosted by Hampshire Feminist Collective and The Art House.

It stated off as a just another article on the TDoR but what caught my attention was,

Being at the unfortunate intersection of homophobia, transphobia, racism and sexism, black transgender women are disproportionately targeted by this violence – so much so that the average life expectancy for a black trans woman in the US is just 35 years old.

And…

She [Laverne Cox] said: “I think the people who are attacking trans women, what I say to men, is that your attraction to me is not a reason to kill me. There’s this whole myth that trans women are out there tricking people and deserve to be murdered, and that’s not the case.

“There’s been a market for trans women in the realms of dating and sex work for a very long time, we don’t have to trick anyone… We have to lift the stigma around attraction to trans people, and we have to lift the stigma around trans people existing.”

Many of the murders were seeking to have sex with trans women and then their homophobia guilt kicked in, or they were knowingly dating a trans woman and their friends found out so he killed her.

Saturday 9: No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

Sam’s Saturday 9: No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) 1979

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…



Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This lyrics use weather as metaphor for romance. Here at Saturday 9, we're more literal. How do the skies look where you are this morning?
Clearing, it is tomorrow that is supposed to be rainy.

2) According to Merriam-Webster, "enough is enough" is what you say when you want something to stop because you "can no longer accept or deal with it." When did you recently say -- out loud or to yourself -- "enough is enough."
When I got over 30 spam emails yesterday.
Spam is getting out of control, never mind the spammers they should start going after the produces that try to sell.

3) Grammy winner Luther Vandross began his career as a background singer and performed on "No More Tears." Tell us about one of your early jobs.
My summer job in high school was to drive around the state taking inventory of state owned equipment in high schools. It really helped me learn where towns are in the state. For an example the city of Winsted is located in the town of Winchester.

4) Both Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand made slight changes to their first names. Summer was christened "LaDonna," while Streisand's parents spelled her name the more conventional "Barbara." When she was in high school, meme mistress Samantha Winters went from "Sammy" to "Sam." Did you ever make a similar change to your first name?
Well… Um… I… Um… I made a really big change to my first name, I changed it completely.

5) Hair was higher maintenance in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Streisand and Summer are both sporting styles that would require chemical treatment, like a perm or relaxer. Today's looks are less rigidly styled and tend to be smoother or slightly messy. How often do you change your look?
I had the same hair style for the last 20 years.

6) In 1979, it seems every kid was asking Santa for Star Wars toys. Some things don't change, since the Star Wars franchise remains popular with children and toymakers after more than 40 years. What book or toy did you love as a child that remains popular today?
My toboggan, I got it as a Christmas present and I still have it. Right now it is collecting dust out in the garage.

My parents house was at the bottom of a hill and we used to go sliding down all four backyards. The drop was about 80 feet from the first backyard to the last backyard and we would be out sliding from morning until in the night. Everyone would turn on the spotlights so we could go sliding after dark.

Now I drive through the old neighborhood and all the houses now have stockade fences across their backyards and all the children don’t play outdoors or they are in organized sports.

Sad.

7) Thinking of things that endure ... In 1979, the #1 show in the ratings was 60 Minutes. It's still on, every Sunday night, and in the summer of 2019 it came in at #4 in the Nielsen ratings. What's the most recent show you watched? Was it news, sports or entertainment?
The morning news shows.

8) In 1979, the price for a dozen eggs averaged 85¢. Today, it's about twice that. Are you more likely to use eggs to prepare a main course (like an omelet or Eggs Benedict) or as part of a recipe (anything from a cake to a meatloaf)?
Yes.
Yes.
I use eggs for both.

9) Random question: You’re alone in your car, driving through your neighborhood on a bright, sunny day. You get a flat tire. You have a spare and a jack in your trunk. Would you fix it yourself or call for help?
Well new cars are not coming with spare tires so that is why I am a member of AAA. What Toyota gave me was an air compressor and a can of “fix-a-flat.”

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Umbrella Or A Pyramid?

How do you define “Transgender” as inclusive or exclusive? Do you look at it as an umbrella where anyone who crosses the gender norms or do you look at it as just those of us who are on the transition track?

'We are not drag queens': For transgender people in 2019, a conflicted reality of breakthroughs, barriers
USA Today
By Susan Miller
November 19, 2019

2019 is the year Ash Penn, a passionate transgender resident of Spartanburg, South Carolina, was able to “come out as a whole” and feel the warm embrace of acceptance.
[…]
“There is a mix of incredible opportunities and advancement and also increased regression and hostility,” said Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that researches LGBTQ issues.

The visibility of trans people as backbones of communities has been remarkable in the past year, said Taylor Brown of advocacy group Lambda Legal. “We are people doing normal things. We are not drag queens. We aren’t doing this part-time.”

For me this sends up red flags! Especially coming from a Lambda Legal advocate.

“We are not drag queens” I say yes we are, we are also crossdressers, we are also post-ops, we are anyone who crosses the gender norms.

And it puts a spotlight on the community’s presence, particularly in rural areas. “Trans people are ordinary people who mow the lawn, do the dishes, walk the dog – and want to have a normal life,” Mushovic said.

That is true not just for those who have transitioned but also for drag queens and crossdressers.

This is the section of the Connecticut law that protects us here, the definition of gender identity and expression says,

(21) "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose. [The bold print is my emphasis.]

Notice that nowhere does it say anything about transitioning, medical intervention, surgery, or anything  that limits the law to just those who transitioned or are transitioning.

I was at the meeting when we were planning on introducing the bill to the legislature and one thing that everyone sitting around the table agreed upon was that this bill had to be inclusive. It had to cover crossdressers, drag queens and kings, and even non-trans people. Yes, it even covers people who are not trans, it covers people who have been perceived as trans.

How did this shift in definition come about?

I think in part because of activists like me. We always talked about the “trans community” and never really defined what we meant. Also it is in part because the press didn’t do its homework. Here we were talking about “trans” meaning the umbrella term while the press heard “trans” as meaning those who transitioned or are planning on transitioning.

I think that also there are trans people who want to be dissociated from crossdressers and drag queens… “I’m not like them, they are JUST crossdressers.” I think it is the result of internalized transphobia.

What do you think?
(This is a poll I did earlier)

web polls

You Worry About Using The Self-Checkout Line

Well my dear there is a lot more to worry about than the self-checkout lane… AI or Artificial Intelligence is coming to the workplace and it is making inroads in the HR department.

Ten HR Trends In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence
Forbes
By Jeanne Meister
January 8, 2019


The future of HR is both digital and human as HR leaders focus on optimizing the combination of human and automated work. This is driving a new priority for HR: one which requires leaders and teams to develop a fluency in artificial intelligence while they re-imagine HR to be more personal, human and intuitive.

As we enter 2019, it's the combination of AI and human intelligence that will transform work and workers as we know it.

The question is, will it be for the better?

1. AI Plus Human Intelligence Enhances the Candidate Experience

For many companies the first pilots of artificial intelligence are in talent acquisition, as this is the area where companies see significant, measurable, and immediate results in reducing time to hire, increasing productivity for recruiters, and delivering an enhanced candidate experience that is seamless, simple, and intuitive.

The question begs to be asked… will the AI have a built-in prejudices?

The National Law Review said this about AI biases,

The Growing Use of AI
AI is often used in the workplace to assist employers with recruitment through the use of algorithms to make hiring decisions. Notably, although common sense would suggest that AI would help eliminate unconscious (or conscious) bias in the hiring process, it has quickly become apparent that the risk of bias persists.

The Potential for Implicit Bias and Disparate Treatment  
[…]
When companies train computer programs to filter out the best candidates for interviews, the learning is often based on prior resumes or attributes of previously hired successful candidates.  Given the disparity between genders or even races in certain professions, using past data will only perpetuate the problem, as algorithms are taught to favor specific characteristics or experience.

Okay so what does this have to do with trans people?

On the website Daze a trans woman talks how trans people are affected by AI,

As a transgender woman who researches machine learning and artificial intelligence, I want people to understand how algorithms and automation can impose a model of the world that negatively affects people like me. When we deploy algorithms in large systems that affect millions of people, their harmful effects cascade and multiply. Regardless of the creator’s good intentions, they can function to benefit the powerful, privileged and well-off, while causing devastating impacts on the most vulnerable among us – immigrants, people of colour, trans and gender-nonconforming folks, and other marginalised groups.

One worrying example is the field of ‘gender recognition’, a sub-category of face recognition which seeks to create algorithms that determine a person’s gender from photographs of their physical bodies. Of course, gender isn’t something that can be determined from a person’s physical appearance alone. And transgender people like me frequently face discrimination, harassment and violence when our appearance doesn’t conform with mainstream, cisgender expectations of ‘male’ or ‘female’.

The article goes on about how some researchers used YouTube videos to identify trans people.

The harm to trans people, however, is very real. Not only did the researchers create their dataset from videos without the consent of their trans creators, they did it to train predictive algorithms that effectively ‘out’ trans people using archived photos. If the researchers had consulted any trans people prior to beginning the project, they would know that many of us transition because we don’t want to be linked to our past name or appearance. We want to live our truth in the present and define our own future – not be algorithmically chained to false identities we were forced to wear in the past.

Now think about a company that uses AI in hiring and the AI can spot trans people will it have a built in bias against us?

These faulty experiments ignore social and economic realities, like the fact that poor people, immigrants and people of colour are policed and incarcerated at disproportionately high rates. Most frighteningly, they effectively revive the practice of physiognomy, a long-debunked and infamously racist pseudoscience that used subtle differences in human faces and bone structure to justify discrimination.

The ACLU said this to say about using AI in hiring.

Algorithms that disproportionately weed out job candidates of a particular gender, race, or religion are illegal under Title VII, the federal law prohibiting discrimination in employment. And that’s true regardless of whether employers or toolmakers intended to discriminate — “disparate impact discrimination” is enough to make such practices illegal. 

But it can be difficult to sue over disparate impact, particularly in “failure-to-hire” cases. Such lawsuits are very rare because it’s so hard for someone who never got an interview to identify the policy or practice that led to her rejection.

Suppose you go for a job interview and an AI reviews your resume and an AI looks at the video of your interview with HR and the AI decides you are not the person listed on your resume because it misgenders and you do not get the job.

How do you prove that it was AI bias?

How do prove it in court?

Welcome to the “Brave New World” where you are discriminated by a computer.

---

This afternoon I am on a panel at the University of Connecticut’s School of Law discussing trans health the other person on the panel is a lawyer from GLAD (with one “A”).

I got a chuckle out of the bio they wrote up for me, I know exactly where they got it from

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Every November 20^th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance is when we memorize the trans-people who were murdered in the last 12 months.  We remember trans people who were murdered for who they were; not for money or passion but were murdered but because of hate. They were killed because they had the courage to live their lives as the person they were.

On a personal level I went to my first TDoR on 2001 and it was very emotional for me as I read the name of Ontwon Curtis, I cried while I read her name. She was a stranger to me but we shared a common trait, we were both trans. It never gets easy reading the names.

The vigil is held all around the U.S. and the world and you can find a place for where you can attend a TDOR here.

A list of the names of the people who were murdered this year can be found below along with a list the TDOR locations in Connecticut. I will be attending the Hartford services.

---

Hosted by City of Hartford
Flag raising
City Hall from
10:30am-11:00am
Reading of the names ceremony will take place at Burr Mall (Stego)
5:30pm-6:00pm

Hosted by the Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford
155 Wyllys Street,
Hartford CT 06106
(Parish House, Church of the Good Shepherd, entrance in the back)
November 20, 2019
7 PM

Hosted by New Milford United Methodist Church
68 Danbury Rd,
New Milford, Connecticut 06776
November 20, 2019
7 PM – 8:30 PM

Hosted by the Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford
155 Wyllys Street,
Hartford CT 06106
(Parish House, Church of the Good Shepherd, entrance in the back)
November 20, 2019
7 PM

Hosted by OutCT
New London Parade Plaza
50 State Street
New London, CT 06320
November 20, 2019
6 PM – 7 PM

Hosted by New Haven Pride Center
372 Elm St
New Haven, CT 06511
November 25, 2019
7 PM

---

Memorializing 2019

Gabriella Torres
Manaus, Brazil
20-Nov-18
2018
shot

Perlita de Guerrero
Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
22-Nov-18
2018
shot

Nahomy Alexandra López Orellana “La Pepita”
Sacacoyo, El Salvador
25-Nov-18
2018
strangled

Fábia Ju Dias
Manhuaçu, Brazil
26-Nov-18
2018
beaten

Mikaela Africana Sanhes
Salvador, Brazil
26-Nov-18
2018
shot

Tydi Dansbury
Baltimore, MD, USA
MD
28-Nov-18
2018
shot

Rajni
Gurugram, India
28-Nov-18
2018
shot

Duda
Marabá, Brazil
1-Dec-18
2018
shot

Karliane Vitoria Rodrigues
Taguatinga Sul, Brazil
4-Dec-18
2018
shot

Luisa Fernanda Hernandez
Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico
4-Dec-18
2018
shot

Nancy de Monza
Milan, Italy
5-Dec-18
2018
beaten

J.C. Pereira de Lima
Itanhaém, Brazil
5-Dec-18
2018
beaten

Keanna Mattel, aka Kelly Stough
Detroit, Michigan, USA
MI
7-Dec-18
2018
shot

Name Unknown
Villa Nueva, Guatemala
7-Dec-18
2018
not reported

Jéssica Dimy
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
7-Dec-18
2018
burned

Victória Landeiro
Rondonopolis, Brazil
9-Dec-18
2018
shot

Scarlety Mastroianyy
Londrina, Brazil
10-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Manuel Luna
Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico
11-Dec-18
2018
not reported

Name Unknown
São Vicente, Brazil
11-Dec-18
2018
asphyxiation

Name Unknown
Parnamirim, Brazil
12-Dec-18
2018
beaten

Name Unknown
Klang, Malaysia
12-Dec-18
2018
beaten

Gabi Blak
Brasilandia, Brazil
12-Dec-18
2018
strangled

Scarlett Cedeño
Cali, Colombia
14-Dec-18
2018
not reported

Marilin
Buenos Aires, Argentina
16-Dec-18
2018
run-over by car

Valquiria
Imperatriz, Brazil
17-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Litzy Hurtado
El Alto, Bolivia
17-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Name Unknown
Guerrero, Abasolo, Mexico
19-Dec-18
2018
shot

Márcia Rodrigues Pereira
Camapuã, Brazil
20-Dec-18
2018
strangled

Gaby
Playa Del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
23-Dec-18
2018
stoned

Jéssica Bracamonte
Veron, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
25-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Denisse Hernández Rivero
Tixtla, Guerrero, Mexico
26-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Nicolly Banks
Uberlândia, Brazil
28-Dec-18
2018
shot

Valentina Herrera Guzman
Cali, Colombia
28-Dec-18
2018
not reported

Melissa Brunely
Linhares, Brazil
28-Dec-18
2018
run-over by car

Rogéria Paiva
Maracanau, Brazil
29-Dec-18
2018
shot

Sabrina Santos Vidal
Taperoá, Brazil
31-Dec-18
2018
stabbed

Devora Montolio
Maimón, Dominican Republic
1-Jan-19
2019
stabbed

Mikinho Lima dos Santos
Lajeado, Brazil
1-Jan-19
2019
shot

Name Unknown
Klang, Malaysia
1-Jan-19
2019
other

Name Unknown
Gravataí, Brazil
1-Jan-19
2019
other

Laura Muñoz Arcila
Cali, Colombia
1-Jan-19
2019
stabbed

Name Unknown
Quintana Roo, Mexico
4-Jan-19
2019
shot

Dana Martin
Montgomery, Alabama, USA
AL
6-Jan-19
2019
shot to the head

Carla Girón Lodoño
Tulua, Colombia
6-Jan-19
2019
shot

Hande Seker
Anatolia, Turkey
9-Jan-19
2019
shot

Amy Griffiths
Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom
14-Jan-19
2019
not reported

Name Unknown
Tamaulipas, Reynosa, Mexico
14-Jan-19
2019
asphyxiation

Alka
Tatapani, India
16-Jan-19
2019
tortured

Sussy Montalván
Copiapó, Chile
17-Jan-19
2019
strangled

Sheilla Prado
Tubarão, Brazil
20-Jan-19
2019
other

Quelly da Silva “Jeninha”
Campinas, Brazil
21-Jan-19
2019
stabbed

Yara Serena Camargo
Recife, Brazil
22-Jan-19
2019
stabbed

Nashley Delgado Segovia
Aldama, Mexico
23-Jan-19
2019
shot

Jésica Benevidez “Nicky”
Parana, Argentina
24-Jan-19
2019
not reported

Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
24-Jan-19
2019
not reported

J. da Silva dos Santos
Camaçari, Brazil
25-Jan-19
2019
shot

Aysla Souza
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
25-Jan-19
2019
beaten

Pamela Sandoval Ramírez
Chimalhuacán, Mexico
27-Jan-19
2019
not reported

Mirna Antonella Di Marzo
Salta, Argentina
28-Jan-19
2019
beaten

Jehangir
Jatta Ismail Khel, Pakistan
29-Jan-19
2019
shot

Ana Paula da Costa Ribeiro
Tramandaí, Brazil
30-Jan-19
2019
stabbed

Ellie Marie Washtock
World Golf Village, Florida, USA
FL
31-Jan-19
2019
shot

Name Unknown
Kohat, Pakistan
1-Feb-19
2019
other

La Joha González Leal
Maracaibo, Venezuela
2-Feb-19
2019
beaten

Camila Diaz Córdova “Aurora”
San Salvador, El Salvador
3-Feb-19
2019
beaten

Laly Heredia Escobar “Sonia Laly”
La Matanza, Argentina
3-Feb-19
2019
shot

Mellyssa Rodrigues dos Santos
Piracicaba, Brazil
4-Feb-19
2019
beaten

Miriam Rivera
Hermosillo. Sonora, Mexico
5-Feb-19
2019
strangled

Daniele Azevedo
Manaus, Brazil
8-Feb-19
2019
not reported

Fabi Cortes Morales
Las Chopas, Veracruz, Mexico
8-Feb-19
2019
shot

Lolita
Sonsonate, El Salvador
8-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

Miúda
Niterói, Brazil
11-Feb-19
2019
shot

Kayla Alves
Nova Ipixuna, Brazil
11-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

Meg Duran
São Paulo, Brazil
15-Feb-19
2019
shot

Samira Morena
Sorocaba, Brazil
16-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

Rajathi
Thoothukudi, India
18-Feb-19
2019
dismembered

Nathyelly Cruz
Uruaçu, Brazil
21-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

V. Barbosa de Aquino
Palmas, Brazil
21-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

Minerva Rubio
Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico
21-Feb-19
2019
shot

Verito
Quito, Ecuador
22-Feb-19
2019
stabbed

Mirlla Vasques Arcanjo
Manaus, Brazil
23-Feb-19
2019
stoned

Name Unknown
Castellón de la Plana, Spain
24-Feb-19
2019
asphyxiation

Aghata
Manaus, Brazil
25-Feb-19
2019
other

Ana de Lima
Pacatuba, Brazil
26-Feb-19
2019
shot

Name Unknown
Guaiúba, Brazil
26-Feb-19
2019
shot

Sayonara
Carapicuiba, Brazil
27-Feb-19
2019
dismembered

Pamela Arenceli
La Matanza, Buenos Aires, Argentina
28-Feb-19
2019
shot

Maxim Brizuela
La Matanza, Buenos Aires, Argentina
28-Feb-19
2019
shot

Laura Gentle Argueta
Rotan, Isla De La Bahia, Honduras
2-Mar-19
2019
stabbed

Brigitte Galván
Yucatán, Mexico
3-Mar-19
2019
other

Maylla dos Santos
Coari, Brazil
4-Mar-19
2019
strangled

Pamela
Santa Luzia do Pará, Brazil
5-Mar-19
2019
shot

Maria Paula Murillo Reyes
Costa Rica, Costa Rica
5-Mar-19
2019
not reported
                       
La Mariposa
Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico
6-Mar-19
2019
strangled
                                             
Flavia Santana
Anapolis, Brazil
8-Mar-19
2019
strangled

Perla
São Paulo, Brazil
8-Mar-19
2019
shot

Renata Spencer
Tepeji Del Rio, Hidalgo, Mexico
9-Mar-19
2019
stoned

Name Unknown
Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico
10-Mar-19
2019
stabbed

Nazab Abid Shaikh Date of death:
Maharashtra, India
11-Mar-19
2019
throat cut

Junu
Kathmandu, Nepal
11-Mar-19
2019
beaten


Pollita Ruiz
Jiutepec, Oaxaca, Mexico
13-Mar-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
13-Mar-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
13-Mar-19
2019
not reported


Zaira Betancur
Bogotá, Colombia
14-Mar-19
2019
throat cut


Caio Dantas Monteiro
Angra dos Reis, Brazil
16-Mar-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
Alcaldia Gustavo A. Madero, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
16-Mar-19
2019
stabbed


Mara da Silva
Mossoro, Brazil
17-Mar-19
2019
shot


Alessandra Date of death:
Buritis, Brazil
17-Mar-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
17-Mar-19
2019
stabbed


B.J.P.
Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico
20-Mar-19
2019
asphyxiation


Lara
Belém, Brazil
23-Mar-19
2019
beaten


Name Unknown
Manaus, Brazil
23-Mar-19
2019
stoned


Fabricia de Moura Lima
Goiânia, Brazil
24-Mar-19
2019
shot


W. Adalí Hernández Rápalo
Villanueva, Honduras
24-Mar-19
2019
not reported


Jazzaline Ware
Memphis, Alabama, USA
AL
25-Mar-19
2019
not reported


Celaya Méndey Yelada
Aguadulce, Veracruz, Mexico
25-Mar-19
2019
not reported


Amma Hajjani
Sindh, Pakistan
26-Mar-19
2019
beaten


Marisol Montenegro
Puerto Montt, Chile
27-Mar-19
2019
strangled


Ashanti Carmon
Fairmount Heights, Maryland, USA
MD
30-Mar-19
2019
shot


Paty Santos
Manaus, Brazil
30-Mar-19
2019
strangled


Patricia Rafaela dos Santos Camargo
Maringá, Brazil
30-Mar-19
2019
run-over by car


Claudia Vera
Independencia, Lima, Peru
30-Mar-19
2019
shot


Crysllaine Guedes da Silva
Juazeiro do Norte, Brazil
1-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Eduarda Albuquerque
Angra dos Reis, Brazil
3-Apr-19
2019
beaten


Barbara
Itabuna, Brazil
5-Apr-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Jacareí, Brazil
5-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Shalu
Kozhikode, India
5-Apr-19
2019
strangled


Sandrielly Vasconcelos
Boa Vista, Brazil
6-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
Franca, Brazil
7-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Kasandra Solórzano Romero
Huila, Colombia
8-Apr-19
2019
asphyxiation


Brenda Plaza Vallejos
Valaparaiso, Chile
8-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Marqueza
Campo Grande, Brazil
9-Apr-19
2019
shot


Malaj Islas
Puerto De Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico
10-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Juju
Sapezal, Brazil
12-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Ainee Khan
Sindh, Pakistan
13-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Sabrina
João Pessoa, Brazil
13-Apr-19
2019
shot


Claire Legato
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
OH
15-Apr-19
2019
shot


Kenia Hilton
Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
15-Apr-19
2019
other


Nina Surgutskaya
Kursk, Russia
15-Apr-19
2019
strangled


Tamara
Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
17-Apr-19
2019
not reported


Becky
Minatitlan, Veracruz, Mexico
19-Apr-19
2019
shot


E. dos Santos da Rosa
Paraná, Brazil
19-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Jessica Gómez Rúa (Pajarita)
Bucaramanga, Colombia
21-Apr-19
2019
stabbed


Natalia Delgado Rubio
Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico
21-Apr-19
2019
dismembered


Haji Noori
Jhansi, India
21-Apr-19
2019
beaten


Name Unknown
Fortaleza, Brazil
22-Apr-19
2019
not reported


Rica Reyes
Cebu, Philippines
23-Apr-19
2019
beaten


Rayssa dos Santos
Caucaia, Brazil
23-Apr-19
2019
shot


Catalina Casquete Holguín, Cata
Ciudad Cuenca, Provincia Guayas, Ecuador
25-Apr-19
2019
run-over by car


Name Unknown
Salamanaca, Guanajuato, Mexico
27-Apr-19
2019
shot


Yaritza Angélica Millones López
Buenos Aires, Argentina
28-Apr-19
2019
asphyxiation


Jasmynne Fontile de Brito
Guarapes, Brazil
30-Apr-19
2019
shot


El Choco
Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico
2-May-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Grajau, Brazil
2-May-19
2019
stabbed


Melissa
Bacabal, Brazil
4-May-19
2019
tortured


Larissa Rodrigues da Silva
São Paulo, Brazil
4-May-19
2019
beaten


Heart Pontanes
Malabon, Philippines
6-May-19
2019
stabbed


M. Dantas da Silva
Guariba, Brazil
6-May-19
2019
stabbed


Yara Souza
São Paulo, Brazil
10-May-19
2019
strangled


Luana Date of death:
Maranhao, Brazil
11-May-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
11-May-19
2019
asphyxiation


Talia Silveira Pacheco Santos
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
12-May-19
2019
stabbed


Gökçe Naz Saygi
Antalya, Turkey
13-May-19
2019
stabbed


Natalia
Mexico City, Mexico
13-May-19
2019
beaten


Dulce
Alcaldia Benito Juarez, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
14-May-19
2019
not reported


Bibiu
Fortaleza, Brazil
15-May-19
2019
shot


A. A. Silva Costa Date of death:
Mineiros, Brazil
16-May-19
2019
shot


Alana Ferreira
São Paulo, Brazil
16-May-19
2019
beaten


Muhlaysia Booker
Dallas, Texas, USA
TX
18-May-19
2019
shot


Angela Paola Fajardo
Mixco, Guatemala
18-May-19
2019
stabbed


Michelle ‘Tamika’ Washington
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
PA
19-May-19
2019
shot


Thaylla Rodrigues de Moura
Campo Grande, Brazil
19-May-19
2019
stabbed


Jesusa
Fortin De Las Flores, Veracruz, Mexico
20-May-19
2019
dismembered


Reva Desai
Mumbai, India
21-May-19
2019
stabbed


Paris Cameron
Detroit, Michigan, USA
MI
25-May-19
2019
shot


Britany
Misantla, Veracruz, Mexico
26-May-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Old Hyderabda City, India
26-May-19
2019
beaten


Gala Estefanía Perea
San Isidro de Lules, Tucumán, Argentina
26-May-19
2019
strangled


Elaynne Marques
Lucas do Rio Verde, Brazil
27-May-19
2019
shot


R. Adelso Rodriguez Alonzo
Usumatlán, Zacapa , Guatemala
28-May-19
2019
shot


Jahy Bianchini
Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Espírito Santo , Brazil
30-May-19
2019
shot


leleco
Lucena, Brazil
30-May-19
2019
beaten


Rosinha do Beco
Morro do Chapéu, Brazil
30-May-19
2019
beaten


Rose
Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil
31-May-19
2019
shot


Johana Medina León (“Joa”)
El Paso, Texas, USA
TX
1-Jun-19
2019
other


Chynal Lindsey
Dallas, Texas, USA
TX
1-Jun-19
2019
asphyxiation


Fabiola
Quimistan, Santa Barbara, Honduras
2-Jun-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Barranquilla, Colombia
3-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Miranda Pilar Ruiz
El Empalme, Ecuador
3-Jun-19
2019
shot


Mayte Castro Anay
El Empalme, Ecuador
3-Jun-19
2019
shot


Cecelia Cranko
South Orange, New Jersey, USA
NJ
5-Jun-19
2019
burned


Chanel Scurlock
Lumberton, California, USA
CA
6-Jun-19
2019
shot


Layleen Cubilette Polanco Xtravaganza
Rikers Island, New York , USA
NY
7-Jun-19
2019
other


Shakira (La Moy)
Choloma, Cortés, Honduras
8-Jun-19
2019
stoned


Pamela
Maringá, Brazil
10-Jun-19
2019
shot


Alex Milkovich
Nytva, Russia
10-Jun-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Queretaro, Mexico
11-Jun-19
2019
beaten


Zoe Spears
Fairmonut Heights, Maryland, USA
MA
13-Jun-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Municipio Coatzintla, Veracruz, Mexico
14-Jun-19
2019
beaten


Nahara
Fortaleza, Brazil
16-Jun-19
2019
shot


Maycon Clebes dos Reis
Coromandel, Brazil
16-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Dafne Yilmaz
Afyonkarahisar, Turkey
16-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Pollyane Weneck
Coromandel, Brazil
16-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Lohane (Jasmine)
Palmares, Brazil
17-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Monica Devain
Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico
18-Jun-19
2019
stabbed


Doris Hernandez
Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
21-Jun-19
2019
not reported


Brooklyn Lindsey
Kansas City, MO, USA
MO
25-Jun-19
2019
shot


J.P. Moreno
Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico
25-Jun-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Multan, Pakistan
28-Jun-19
2019
tortured


Name Unknown
Multan, Pakistan
28-Jun-19
2019
tortured


Maya
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan
1-Jul-19
2019
shot


Jessica
Araguaina, Brazil
2-Jul-19
2019
shot


Antonia Laínez Larios
El Negrito, Yoro, Honduras, Honduras
3-Jul-19
2019
shot


Santi
Puerto Cortés, Honduras, Honduras
6-Jul-19
2019
shot


Shakira Fernandez de la Hoz
Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
7-Jul-19
2019
stabbed


Bessy Michelle Ferrera
Comayaguela, Honduras
8-Jul-19
2019
shot


Carly
Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
10-Jul-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
San Luis, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
10-Jul-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
San Luis, San Luis Potosi, Mexico
10-Jul-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Alcaldia Xochimilo, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
12-Jul-19
2019
not reported


Lucia Barrera Date of death:
Parana, Entre Rios, Argentina
14-Jul-19
2019
stabbed


Angie Digiacomo
Buenos Aires, Argentina
17-Jul-19
2019
other


S. Medina
Salta, Argentina
18-Jul-19
2019
asphyxiation


Denali Berries Stuckey
North Charleston, North Carolina, USA
NC
20-Jul-19
2019
shot


Tracy Single
Houston, Texas, USA
TX
20-Jul-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
Nagrakata, India
24-Jul-19
2019
beaten


Sandy
Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico
24-Jul-19
2019
shot


Bubba Walker
Charlotte, United States of America
27-Jul-19
2019
burned


Muskan
Multan, Pakistan
27-Jul-19
2019
tortured


Nadia
Multan, Pakistan
27-Jul-19
2019
tortured


Marquis “Kiki” Fantroy
Miami, Florida, USA
FL
31-Jul-19
2019
shot


Jordan Cofer
Dayton, Ohio, USA
OH
4-Aug-19
2019
shot


Pebbles LaDime “Dime” Doe
Allendale County, South Carolina, USA
SC
4-Aug-19
2019
shot


Rosalinda Pérez Berigüete
San Juan Maguana, Dominican Republic
4-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Gabriele Oliveira
Belo Jardim, Brazil
5-Aug-19
2019
shot


Karla Fernanda Silva
La Maná, Cotopaxi, Ecuador
5-Aug-19
2019
other


Name Unknown
Tecoman, Colima, Mexico
6-Aug-19
2019
shot


J. A. Cermeño Medina
Caracas, Venezuela
7-Aug-19
2019
shot


Angi García “La Gata”
Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, Ecuador
7-Aug-19
2019
strangled


Alondra García
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
8-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Aylin Hernández Gómez
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico
11-Aug-19
2019
strangled


W. Félix de Oliveira
Maracanaú, Brazil
11-Aug-19
2019
stoned


Sara Miranda de Souza
Frutal, Brazil
12-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Abril Navarro Salazar
Alvaro Obregon, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
15-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Nathacha Ruby Flores
Quito, Ecuador
19-Aug-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
19-Aug-19
2019
not reported


Aline da Silva
Arcoverde, Brazil
20-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Kate Maikelly de Jesus Barbosa
Teixeira de Freitas, Brazil
21-Aug-19
2019
not reported


Ashley
Huajuapan De Leon, Oaxaca, Mexico
22-Aug-19
2019
not reported


Daniela Martinez
Cicuco, Colombia
22-Aug-19
2019
beaten


Name Unknown
Iztapalapa, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
24-Aug-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico
24-Aug-19
2019
shot


Hani
Mansehra, Pakistan
26-Aug-19
2019
shot


Roberta “Xirrara” Rodrigues
Inhumas, Brazil
30-Aug-19
2019
shot


Sana Khan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
30-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Brigitte Escalona Escobar
Caracas, Venezuela
31-Aug-19
2019
asphyxiation


Name Unknown
Santiago, Chile
31-Aug-19
2019
stabbed


Bailey Reeves
Baltimore, Marylnd, USA
MD
2-Sep-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Ziguatanejo, Guerrero, Mexico
3-Sep-19
2019
shot


Andra Mora López
Tequendama, Colombia
3-Sep-19
2019
run-over by car


Bee Love Slater
Clewiston, Florida, USA
FL
4-Sep-19
2019
burned


Victoria Santos Falcão
juina, Brazil
5-Sep-19
2019
shot


Yuri Gabriel Castro Farias
Fortaleza, Brazil
6-Sep-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
7-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
7-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Ana Paula
Jiutepec, Morelos, Mexico
7-Sep-19
2019
beaten


Carolinne Dias
Santa Maria, Brazil
7-Sep-19
2019
shot


Nemer da Silva Rodrigues
Santa Maria, Brazil
7-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
10-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Name Unknown
Cartagena, Colombia
10-Sep-19
2019
not reported The victim’s body was found in a state of decomposition near a drainage channel.
Ja’leyah Jamar
Kansas City, Kansas, USA
KS
13-Sep-19
2019
shot


Shokir Shavkatov
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
13-Sep-19
2019
dismembered


Luana Piovani
Senador Elói de Souza, Brazil
15-Sep-19
2019
stoned


Bruna Torres
São Carlos, Brazil
15-Sep-19
2019
other


Elisha Chanel Stanley
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
PA
16-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Reena
Baiyapur, India
16-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Jessa Remiendo
Bolinao, Philippines
17-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Name Unknown
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
17-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Emmanuelle Agostinho da Silva Barros “Manu”
Santo André, Brazil
19-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Leandro Parra Hermosilla
Coyhaqye, Aysen, Chile
19-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Itali Marlowe
Houston, Texas, USA
TX
20-Sep-19
2019
shot


Médely Razard
Itaquaquecetuba, Brazil
20-Sep-19
2019
strangled


Bruna Surfistinha de Freitas
Chorozinho, Brazil
20-Sep-19
2019
shot


Paloma Barreto
Avilés, Spain
21-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Mhelody Polan Bruno
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales , Australia
21-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Itzayana López Hernández
Alcaldia Alvaro Obregon, Ciudad De Mexico, Mexico
22-Sep-19
2019
asphyxiation


Yoselin Martín Velasco
Ciudad Modelo, Valle Del Cauca, Colombia
28-Sep-19
2019
shot


Name Unknown
Registro, Brazil
28-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Chhaya
Durg, India
29-Sep-19
2019
not reported


Júnia Franco
Uberlândia, Brazil
29-Sep-19
2019
stabbed


Brianna “BB” Hill
Kansas City, Missouri
MO
14-Oct-19
2019
Shot to death

Presented by the Remembering Our Dead Project, http://www.tdor.info

Additional sources provided by TvT research project, http://transrespect.org/en/trans-murder-monitoring/tmm-resources/

We Know.

You have probably read about the court fight down in Texas for a trans child, the father denies that he has a daughter and is trying to prevent her transition. Then the governor of Texas and other politicians stepped in and are mucking up her life by trying to pass a law making it a crime for a child to transition.

Well now a new report came out showing that we know at a very early age that we’re trans.

Trans children have 'strong sense of identity' from early age, study finds
Reuters
By Rachel Savage
November 18, 2019

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Transgender children are no more or less likely than other children to conform to gender stereotypes in how they dress and play, suggesting they have a strong sense of identity from an early age, according to a study published on Monday.
[…]
The project marked the first time that transgender children - those who do not identify as the gender they were born with - had been studied from such a young age, according to the researchers.

It comes amid fierce debate in several Western countries over the number of children being referred to gender identity clinics and sometimes going on to have hormonal treatment in adolescence that affects how they develop.

“Our data thus far suggest that the act of transitioning probably isn’t affecting gender identity one way or the other,” said Kristina Olson, a psychology professor who leads the TransYouth Project at the University of Washington.
[…]
The study concluded that children “develop a strong sense of identity at an early age, that this identity is not necessarily determined by sex assigned at birth, and that children may hold onto this identity even when it conflicts with others’ expectations”.

For me I think that knew around the age of seven that I should have been a girl.

Back then there was no terminology for how I felt, and if I said anything I probably would sent to therapy because being “Gay” was a psychology condition, but then I wasn’t gay, I just wanted to be a girl. However, back then that was considered the same thing.

The article goes on to say,

 The researchers noted several limitations to their results: all children had transitioned with the support of their parents and were American or Canadian. A majority had wealthy, white, highly-educated parents.

“We do not know how the results may have differed if we had studied children who identify as transgender but have not yet transitioned, or children who live in less supportive environments,” it said.

Intersectionality.

Like most studies intersectionality is not taken into consideration, how race, religion, nationality, and socioeconomic status effect us when we transition. Also the study didn't look at how having a supportive family affects the transition and creates a positive or negative outcome.

An Adventure On The High Seas!

Yesterday turned out to be an adventure, it started out simple enough; visit some friends on Long Island  for a leisurely luncheon afternoon. Well that was the plan.

Forecast was a little ominous, cloudy and windy with possible snow Monday morning… the weather should be good enough to travel over on the New London - Orient Point ferry to Long Island.

Ten o’clock Sunday morning at the ticket office after I buying my ticket… the clerk says if the weather gets too bad they will stop the ferry… What? Hey? Hun? What happens if I’m stuck on Long Island?

I guess you’ll have find a place to sleep.

I decide to still go on the 10:30 ferry, the weather report still said that it was just going to be cloudy and windy.

When the ferry got out of the wind shadow of Fisher Island and in the open waters of the sound we start rocking and rolling. The waves were probably 2 to 4 foot… interesting.

****

I remember once I went to SUNY at Stony Brook for a conference on grassroots organizing and I was planning on taking the Bridgeport – Port Jefferson ferry over to Long Island. Some people from a non-profit asked if they could go to the conference with me, now bear in mind that these people have never been out of the city of Hartford before.

I told them that I would be taking the ferry over and were they okay with that? Sure no problem.

Well I knew I was in trouble when we pulled up to the ferry… We’re going on that big ship! They freaked out… and then when I drove up into the ship they were amazed.

The waves were only about 1 to 2 feet. Well they turned an amazing shade of green. I always thought that fictional… nope people do turn an interesting shade of green.

****

So yesterday I was meet by my friends at the dock at noon and I ran into the ticket building, to ask about if they were canceling the ferry service later in the day. The clerk said only after 8 o’clock so that wasn’t bad, but we deciding I would go back on the 3 pm ferry.

We went to eat at a lovely Greek restaurant and I had a leg of lamb. For dessert it was Baklava… oh that was so excellent!

So we made it back for the 3 pm ferry just in time... I was the last one on the ferry.

Well it got a lot rougher… I mean a lot rougher!

It made a very interesting crossing and now I know that I don’t get seasick.

On the way over and back I listened to an audio book that I downloaded from the library,
Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion.