Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Your Papers Please...

Or traveling in peace. As I have written in the past different countries impose different laws on us and Forbes has an article about the countries where we are protected and countries where we are not protected.
This Is Where It’s Illegal To Be Transgender In 2020
By Jamie Wareham
September 30, 2020


Transgender people in thirteen countries live under specific laws that criminalise them, punishing them with prison, corporal punishment and, where anti-gay laws are also used against trans people, even death.

However, a new report has also found defacto criminalisation of trans people under laws in 37 countries.

The latest Trans Legal Mapping Report, released by IGLA World today, also finds only 96 countries have processes to allow trans people to change gender legally. But crucially, only 25 are described as not having “prohibitive requirements.”

That means it’s not possible to legally change your gender in at least 47 UN member states.

The 13 countries who specifically criminalise transgender people, mostly using “cross-dressing” laws, are Brunei, the Gambia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, South Sudan, Tonga, and the United Arab Emirates. Iran’s Islamic Penal Code also has severe punishments for bending gender norms in your expression.

The punishments for these ‘cross-dressing’ laws range from fines to extensive prison sentences and in Malawi can even include corporal punishments
[…]
This has led ILGA to categorise 37 countries as having laws which are by de-facto a criminalisation of transgender people, and 11 countries with anti-trans de jure (a specified position by legal right) laws. The report authors tell me, there could be many more too, with criminal law – and evidence of it being used against trans people – being hard to obtain.
The latest report by the ILGA can be read here.

While reading the report I had a flashback of a booklet about where we could pee without being harassed, the Transgender Law Center has the booklet “Peeing In Peace” and when I traveled down to North Carolina I was a little concerned about Virginia and North Carolina. Even though I never was hassled it still was a nagging concern for me in the Southern States.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Advice

We are always getting whether it is from within the community or from friends or strangers, wanted or unwanted. Then we have advice from the professional advice giver…
Dear Abby: Should grandma tell girl, 7, that her playmate is transgender?
Woman doesn’t disapprove of the child’s gender status but also doesn’t like keeping secrets.
Chicago Sun Times
By Abigail Van Buren
September 23, 2020


DEAR ABBY: My 7-year-old granddaughter, “Leyla,” has a playmate who is a transgender girl. My fear is that she may find out the truth and feel betrayed by her playmate as well as me. Should I explain it to her?

It doesn’t matter to me that her friend is transgender because I have always believed that a person’s most important trait is having good morals. I’m an upfront and honest person. However, with respect to this subject, I feel that if I remain silent, it’s as though I’m somehow betraying my granddaughter.

To me it sounds like it does matter to her otherwise she wouldn’t be a “Buttinsky.”
DEAR GRAN: Do Leyla’s parents know about the friendship? Assuming they do, have a chat with them, as well as the playmate’s parents, to make sure you’re all on the same page. I do not think you should “out” Leyla’s playmate to her. But I DO think it is time you start talking to your granddaughter about gender and what makes a girl a girl and what makes a boy a boy.

We face this predicament everyday, do we tell or don’t we out ourselves?

For many of us we don’t have a choice, there is no way that we can not be “read” as trans but for many others they can integrate into society.

What about you, do you think that the girl should be told or do you think Dear Abby made the right call?

Judges

I was reading an article about Trump’s nominee and she said…
“A judge must apply the law as written,” Barrett said. “Judges are not policy makers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”
Which is true of all judges but the problem is what color are the judge’s lens.

Take the word “sex.” As in Title VII “No person in the United States shall, based on sex…”

Conservatives see it as narrowly defined as what is between your legs at birth. While liberals see it as a boarder definition of sex to mean the state of being male or female.

Law can be interpreted many ways, it all depends upon the lens that you look through.

In 1989 the Supreme Court ruled in the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins landmark ruling that “sex” also covered sexual stereotyping and in the Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia...
“The answer is clear,” the court’s opinion, written by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, said. “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex. Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids.”
Five of the justices in the Bostock case saw the word “sex” to be the expansive definition while four of the justices saw it through a narrow lens. So when judge Barrett said “A judge must apply the law as written” words have many meanings it which particular meaning that you want to pick and judge Barrett has blinders on her lens.

Monday, September 28, 2020

This Is What’s At Stake

For homeless trans people there are many laws here in Connecticut that protect us from discrimination and with Trump appointing a new Supreme Court justice it will tip the court on the side of the LGBTQ haters.
The National Law Review
September 24, 2020


Nearly one-third of transgender individuals experience homelessness at some point in their life, and 70% of those who have stayed in a homeless shelter have reported some form of mistreatment, including harassment and refusal of service, due to their gender identity.  Transgender individuals are significantly more likely to end up homeless than the general population because they often face rejection by their family members and discrimination in employment and housing.  The levels of discrimination and income inequality are even higher for transgender women of color, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the rates of unemployment, poverty, and homelessness among the transgender population.

On September 22, 2020, pro bono attorneys filed a public comment letter on behalf of The National LGBT Bar Association and Foundation urging the withdrawal of a Proposed Rule issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that would severely harm homeless transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals by allowing federally funded homeless shelters to discriminate against them on the basis of their gender identity.  The Proposed Rule would eliminate key non-discrimination protections previously afforded to transgender shelter-seekers under HUD’s 2016 Equal Access Rule and would permit single-sex shelters to turn away transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals if the shelter operator determines that the individual is not of the same “biological sex” as the other shelter residents.

The Proposed Rule is premised on the medically and legally indefensible presumption that an individual’s sex can be determined solely on the basis of their external physical characteristics.   In reality, an individual’s “biological sex” is complex, multi-faceted, and primarily determined not by external physical characteristics, but by an individual’s gender identity—which is sometimes referred to as one’s “brain sex.”  The Proposed Rule’s reduction of “biological sex” to physical sex stereotypes such as “height, the presence (but not the absence) of facial hair, the presence of an Adam’s apple, and other physical characteristics,” would not only result in discrimination on the basis of gender identity and transgender status, but would also enable single-sex shelters to arbitrarily provide or deny shelter based solely on a shelter worker’s assessment of whether an individual appears sufficiently “male” or “female” enough to enter.   Denying shelter to transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming individuals on the basis of such physical sex stereotypes constitutes a type of gender discrimination that numerous courts have found unlawful.
We celebrated the Supreme Court ruling this spring were the court determined that “sex” is more than what is between your legs. But that court ruling is now being ignored by the Trump administration.
The Washington Blade
By Chris Johnson
September 16, 2020


Faced with having to enforce the law to prohibit anti-transgender discrimination in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision for LGBTQ rights this summer, the Trump administration has sought to minimize the breadth of the ruling in ways that could still lead to transgender people being denied access to public spaces and activities.

Although the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found anti-transgender discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, thus illegal in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, would in theory apply to all statutes and laws against sex discrimination — the Trump administration is promulgating rules allowing anti-transgender discrimination to persist with respect to sex-segregated facilities, such as homeless shelters and school sports.

It boils down to this legal theory: Denying transgender people access consistently to sex-segregated spaces with their gender identity is not tantamount to discrimination, so long as they’re so afforded entry according to their gender assigned at birth. Forcing transgender people into these spaces inconsistent with their gender identity, however, would be something few would be willing to accept, and may make them more vulnerable to harassment and violence.
[…]
“The administration is arguing that, while bans on sex discrimination encompass gender identity discrimination, they do not, in the administration’s view, require that transgender individuals be treated as the sex with which they identify,” Davidson said.
So we are going to see this back in the Supreme Court and with Justice Ginsberg not longer there to defend us what do we have to look forward to when the case reaches the court… Hint: it is not good.
She once questioned the court’s landmark ruling on marriage equality.
VOX
By Katelyn Burns
September 26, 2020


President Donald Trump nominated federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court Saturday, a choice LGBTQ rights groups are concerned could lead to a reduction in the rights of LGBTQ Americans.

The Supreme Court has historically been important for the advancement of LGBTQ rights, with its rulings giving gay and lesbian people marriage equality and recently, protecting queer and trans people from employment discrimination under federal law.

And there are a number of important cases soon to come before the court; for example, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia is set to be heard the day after Election Day. That case, in which a religious adoption agency is seeking the right to turn away LGBTQ couples, will determine whether taxpayer-funded organizations are allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
[…]
As Vox’s Ian Millhiser has explained, while Barrett has not served long as a federal judge, and thus does not have as long a judicial record as many Supreme Court nominees. However, as a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, “she frequently weighed in on many of the cultural fights that animate religious conservatism.”

One of these is the issue of LGBTQ rights, which has been a long and evolving debate for conservatives, many of whom have fought against policies such as trans people using the bathrooms that align with their gender identity and transition care for trans teens.
Past presidents appointed Supreme Court justices who had a life long who had a long history of rulings from the bench, while judge Barrett has only been on the bench for two years and now she has been nominated to the highest court in the land and she is only 48 years old,one of the youngest justices who have been appointed to the court for life..
Of concern to activists like David is that Bostock isn’t the only trans rights case that will hit the Supreme Court under the next justice’s tenure. The court will be called upon to rule on several big legal battles brewing for years, over issues such as transgender student bathroom rights, or trans women participating in women’s sports.
This is going to be horrible in the coming years.

You know that the court case here in Connecticut on trans athletes is going to the Supreme Court, there are no ifs ands or buts about it. And the way it stands now we will lose the case with a Trump court.



I had dinner with a couple at Max on the Pier in Wellfleet last night at sunset sitting out on the beach. They have picnic table where you can eat out on the beach.

It was a great end for the weekend with friends



 

Sunday, September 27, 2020

It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Supergirl!

Or was Supergirl.

The show has been canceled.
Is the End of ‘Supergirl’ a New Start for Dreamer? Nicole Maines Hints We May See Her Again
The Cheatsheet
By Erika Delgado
September 25, 2020


Arrowverse fans everywhere are lamenting over the end of an era. Supergirl will conclude after the show’s forthcoming sixth season. Social media has been buzzing with reactions from the cast, including Nicole Maines, who brought a little hope for the future of her character.

[…]
Is the end of ‘Supergirl’ a new beginning for Dreamer?
Maines joined Supergirl as a series regular — and television trailblazer — in season 4. The star portrays Nia Nal, a journalist turned superhero who also happens to be transgender.

The character’s Naltorian lineage on her mother’s side gives her the power to dream the future. Hence, she took on the moniker of Dreamer. Aside from her precognition skills, Nia possesses superhuman strength and the abilities to astral project and manipulate energy in the physical world. Many of her storylines inspired, encouraged, and enlightened viewers of the show.

Now that Supergirl is ending, fans are bummed to lose a character they came to adore. But, in an Instagram post, Maines hinted that it might not be the end of the road for Nia Nal.

Maines began by saying, “While I’m sad that this must come to an end, I am beyond happy and proud. I am proud that I have been privileged enough to be able to bring Nia Nal to life, and to have been able to be a part of her evolution into Dreamer. She has meant so much to so many, and it has been my complete honor to get to play her for the past few years. And though she was created especially for Supergirl, I think we can all agree that we haven’t seen the last of her, and I cannot wait to see where she pops up next.”
Is there another amazing escapade for Dreamer?

Will we see her display her super powers again?

Stay tune for the next exciting adventure of Nicole Maines!

But in all seriousness it is nice to see a trans woman have such a following and make it in television.

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Saturday 9: Do You Want to Dance?

Sam’s Saturday 9: Do You Want to Dance? (1972)

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


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

This week, we're inspired by The Divine Miss M's plea for a definitive answer. Here are nine random "yes or no" questions. Naturally you're welcome to elaborate, but if you want to zip through with a Y or an N, that's fine, too.
 
1) Do you check your cellphone first thing in the morning?
No, I usually don’t check it that often. 
 
2) Are there dirty dishes in your sink right now?
Nope, all washed but if I was home that might be a different story. 

3) Have you laughed yet today?
No, since it is 4:00 AM no.

4) Have you written a check in the last week?
Yes, many since it is the end of the month.

5) If you met someone who shared all your strengths and weaknesses, would you like him/her?
Maybe, it would be a interesting situation. One thing,it would be awful quite with  two introverts

6) Is a bride ever too old to have a big wedding?
Could be, it depends upon if it is their first wedding or their fifth wedding.

7) Do you put potato chips in your sandwich to make it crunchy?
No, I never heard of putting potato chips on a sandwich

8) Have you ever taken a nude photo of someone (not a baby)?
NO.

9) On Monday, will you be playing Bud and Mimi's cool new meme, Monday Madness? (Our last shameless plug, I promise.)
No, not because I don’t like it but more because I post other things on Monday

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!



Yesterday I went whale watching with some friends staying at my cottage.

What you are looking at is the most famous humpback whale in the world! 
Salt and her daughter.

"This book is about Salt, the most famous humpback whale in the world. Salt is a female humpback whale that feeds in the cold, productive waters of the Gulf of Maine. In the summer, Salt is often seen feeding off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.'
[...]
 As of "2016 Salt had 14 children, 15 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren."

What makes her famous is she was the first whale that they identified through body markings.

"Much of the research used to study humpback whales utilizes a benign technique called photo-identification, or photo-ID. Here, natural body markings and features are photographed and used to create catalogs of known individuals. Individual humpbacks are then tracked over the course of a season as well as from one season to the next."

See the two white marks on her back? That is how they know that it is Salt.


We went to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary about 20 miles north of Provincetown and when we were nearing the sanctuary I saw a number of whale watching boats and small crafts. Overall we saw about fifteen whales including Salt and her calf.

Friday, September 25, 2020

I Just Don’t Understand It

Why they hate us so much that they want to pass a law that every girl has to undergo a physical examination to prove she is a girl. Or are they doing it for votes?
GOP Senator introduces bill that could require genital exams for girls competing in school sports
Sen. Kelly Loeffler's bill to ban transgender girls from school sports is meant to "protect women," she says. But with federal funding on the line, there could be unintended consequences.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger 
September 23, 2020

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) introduced a bill that would ban transgender girls from competing in school sports with their gender, threatening federal funding to schools that support transgender students.

Loeffler introduced the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in the Senate and said that it “protects [cisgender] women and girls,” presumably from transgender women and girls.

The bill would explicitly state that allowing transgender girls and women to compete with their gender in school sports violates Title IX’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sex in schools, which is the legal theory the Trump administration is already using to threaten funding for school districts.
[…]
Loeffler’s bill is co-sponsored in the Senate by Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), James Lankford (R-OK) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) and her press release announcing the bill quoted several far-right organizations and hate groups, including the Concerned Women for America and the designated hate group Family Research Council.

The Republican party don’t care about the lives they wreck, they don’t care about the hate they generate, they don’t care the long term consequences of their actions. The only thing they care about is… winning.
Terry Schilling of the American Principles Project said earlier this year that transgender girls and women competing in school sports polls well for Republicans and urged Donald Trump’s campaign to make it a wedge issue in order to win reelection.
It is not about protecting girls it is about crushing the Democrats
Trump campaign urged to make transgender youth the wedge issue of 2020
Forget the economy and COVID. Conservative activists say that attacking transgender youth is how to get Trump reelected this fall.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
August 10, 2020


Conservative activists are pushing the Donald Trump campaign and other groups supporting his reelection to focus more ads on attacking transgender youth as a way of getting votes for the GOP this fall.

The American Principles Project (APP), a conservative non-profit organization, will be debuting two ads next week in Michigan that attack Joe Biden for allegedly endorsing “gender change treatments for minors,” citing his support for measures to fight against LGBTQ youth homelessness, school bullying, sexual assault, and suicide.

The Republican party has become the party of hate.



I am going whale watching today with some friends.

I should have some nice photos tomorrow.

Thursday, September 24, 2020

A Hot Football.

We have become a hot football being tossed from one fire to another, trans athletes are being used for political fodder by the Republicans in their campaign to divide America and the media is trying to doa hatchet job on us.

First the possible good news…
Breakthrough Reached On Trans Athletes
The New Haven Independent
By Emily Hays
September 23, 2020


New Haven Public Schools and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights have come to a tentative agreement that would allow transgender athletes to continue to play on teams of their choice — without the city losing millions of federal dollars.

On Tuesday afternoon, New Haven Public Schools received an email from the feds that the office will release a $3 million grant budgeted for the district’s magnet schools this year. The feds had previously vowed to withhold the money from New Haven as punishment for participating in a state athletic league that allows transgender students to play.

A nationally watched showdown ensued. This week it appeared to be ending, pending a needed final sign-off from top federal education officials.

“Based in part on the Title IX assurance you provided earlier today, our Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights has signed a document certifying that New Haven ‘will meet’ its MSAP non-discrimination assurances”  in the context of New Haven’s application for a year 4 grant award,” Richard Foster, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, wrote in an email sent Tuesday at 4:29 p.m. to New Haven Board of Ed officials.

But the battle is not over…
Laubin cautioned in a phone interview that the Department of Education has not changed its policy on trans athletes. It has just agreed to separate the issue back out from the magnet school grant. When the department said in late August that it would enforce what it sees as the rights of biologically female athletes, it threatened to revoke grants and pursue legal action.



Down in Washington the Republicans continue their attacks on us,
GOP senators introduce bill to punish schools allowing biological males to compete in female sports
'Title IX established a fair and equal chance for women and girls to compete'
Fox News
By Sam Dorman 
September 23, 2020


A group of Republican senators is seeking to revoke federal funding from U.S. schools that allow biological males to compete in women's sports.

Introduced on Tuesday, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act would classify that type of participation as a violation of Title IX, the federal government's statute barring sex discrimination in federally-funded schools.

“Title IX established a fair and equal chance for women and girls to compete, and sports should be no exception,” said Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who's sponsoring the bill.

She was joined by prominent conservative Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

“Permitting biological males to participate in women’s sports rejects the very spirit of Title IX, which was intended to create an equal playing field for women and girls," Lankford said in a press release.  "This bill upholds and reiterates congressional intent and promotes actual equality for women and girls in sports by respecting the dignity of biological female athletes across the nation.”
The bottom line is that at the very least, we must maintain control of the House. If the elections turns out to be a disaster we need control of one of the chambers in Congress because this bill can never see the light of day.



Was a hatchet job averted? Did GLAAD stave off a HBO show that would have attacked us?
HBO’s ‘Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel’ pulls planned report on trans student athletes
HBO promoted a report about transgender athletes. But why was the segment suddenly dropped from the show?
Out Sports
By Dawn Ennis
September 22, 2020


HBO pulled a heavily-promoted report from its “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” program on the debate over transgender student athletes Monday evening, fewer than 30 hours before its planned debut. No official explanation was given; a spokesperson had no comment.

A source inside the HBO show, which with this season celebrates its 25th anniversary, told me late Monday that the segment had been sent back for “re-editing.” They said they didn’t know why, or for how long, but I do have a suspicion a leading LGBTQ advocacy group had a hand in this. More about that shortly.
    • Asking leading questions — A trailblazing transgender athlete who was interviewed by Goldberg. NCAA Division I champion runner June Eastwood. said that he pressured her to provide answers that fit a predetermined narrative, such as the tired transgender trope of being “trapped in the wrong body:”
Eastwood told me she complained about it to producer Jake Rosenwasser following the interview. She said Rosenwasser assured her that her words would not be twisted in the editing of the final report. Rosenwasser did not respond to my requests for comment as of press time. If you’re interested in learning more: Toronto-based educator and public speaker Talia C. Johnson has an excellent essay on why it’s important to avoid that trope.
    • Who Goldberg Interviewed — The only expert given a voice in this report was Dr, Emma Hilton, a British biologist who has no experience in sports science, but who is a prominent activist for the campaign to ban trans women from competing in women’s sports. Not one scientist who supports inclusion, nor was anyone with solid experience in sports science heard from.
    • Deadnaming — Goldberg revealed the name Eastwood had since birth to viewers in the report, and not just once, but twice; she said she was pressured to provide consent for this. Using a trans person’s birth name is “a verbally violent offense that attempts to invalidate a person’s authentic gender identity,” I once wrote in The Advocate. If you’d like to know more, read how Laverne Cox explained it in the Washington Post.
“The deadnaming and the framing of the piece are horrendous,” Eastwood told me in an email, after she read a transcript of Goldberg’s report. “Not happy at all — feels very leading and gives transphobes more validity than they deserve. Not very nuanced if you ask me — I feel kinda sick to be honest.”
This hatchet job was derailed…
Following my interview, I did what journalists do: I sought reaction. Members of leading LGBTQ advocate organizations who viewed the transcript, including GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union and others, all reacted with dismay.
[…]
“This pulled segment from HBO’s ‘Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel’ inaccurately and irresponsibly exploited the stories of transgender student athletes during a cultural moment when trans students are subjected to increasingly hostile attacks from the federal government and in state legislatures around the country,” said Adams in his statement to Outsports. “In a story that required the voices of trans people and experts who specialize in the issue of trans inclusion in sports, the producers chose to interview anti-trans activists who are known for spreading misinformation and junk science.”
Thank you Dawn for this great piece of investigating and reporting!

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Unexpected Allies Or You’re Never To Old To Learn Something New.

Sometimes we have allies where we don’t expect them.

One convert at a time and that is the best way to change someone’s mind.
Why Barbara Bush had a change of heart on transgender issues in her 90s
Jenna Bush Hager reveals that her late grandmother believed transgender people are “born that way.”
NBC News
By Alexander Kacala
September 18, 2020


When Jenna Bush Hager was asked what would surprise people most about her grandmother Barbara Bush, the "TODAY" show co-host revealed that the former first lady had some surprisingly progressive views.

During an appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” to promote her new book, “Everything Beautiful in Its Time,” Hager explained that despite being labeled a conservative, her grandmother was actually quite contemporary.
[…]
“One of the things that I learned about her in writing this book is that she changed her views even in her 90s,” Hager added, sharing an anecdote about how her grandmother changed her mind about transgender issues after a lunch conversation with the historian Tim Naftali.

“One of the things that I learned about her in writing this book is that she changed her views even in her 90s,” Hager added, sharing an anecdote about how her grandmother changed her mind about transgender issues after a lunch conversation with the historian Tim Naftali.
Sometimes the best way to change someone’s mind is to just sit and talk to them and get to know them. At my cottage I have to work with contractors many times I can tell that they didn’t know that I am trans until I meet them and most of the times they just don’t that I am trans… my money is green.

As many of you know I was in a minor car accident, literally a “fender bender.” The first time that I brought my car to the auto body shop I could tell the moment he realized that I was trans, his eyes got wider and he took a step back but as we talked he relaxed and we were back to normal social distance (pre-COVID-19). Last week when I walked into his shop again he remembered me.

We can go to marches and rallies, we can be on the news but what does the most good is one-on-one activism. They go home and tell their spouses that I just meet a trans person and you know what she was just like anyone else.

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

I Won’t Take This With Even A Grain Of Salt

We are not a big homogeneous family the LGBTQ community, we are just like the world at large. We are many up of individuals and sometimes they individuals go against others in the community.
Trump applauds poll showing 45 percent support among gay men
The poll, conducted by the gay social network Hornet, includes 1,200 responses from American gay men. Trump trailed Biden by 6 percent.
NBC News
By Sydney Bauer
September 21, 2020


President Donald Trump shared a tweet with his 86 million followers applauding a new poll that found 45 percent of American gay men surveyed plan to cast their ballots for him in November.

“Great!” Trump wrote Sunday in a quote retweet about the survey’s results.

The survey was conducted by the gay social network Hornet. The company said it solicited survey responses from its user base and received 10,000 worldwide responses to its candidate poll. The global results found Trump trailing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, 34 percent to 66 percent, but when breaking out the 1,200 respondents who reported being U.S. citizens, the difference went from 32 points to 6, Trump at 45 percent and Biden 51 percent.

Hornet, which says it has more than 25 million users worldwide, cautioned that the survey was a “voluntary opt-in” exercise and not a representative survey that could predict voter turnout for the 2020 election.

“In effect, the only thing truly measured by Hornet’s results are the opinions of those Hornet users who chose to take the survey, not the broader Hornet user base, not gay American men, and most definitely not the broader American LGBTQ community,” the company’s website stated following media coverage of the poll. “Nevertheless, the data presented below is an interesting peek into a community — queer men — that is rarely surveyed, despite available data concerning the LGBTQ community as a whole.”
And yes there are trans people who support Trump.

Okay first off, this website is for rich white gay men seeking to get laid so the demographics are skewed toward the conservatives. I would imagine that you would find a lot of Log Cabin Republicans on the site and this is just a guest care about themselves rather than the community.

The question is why do they vote against their own interests?

My theory is that they are in the “me” group that thinks more about themselves than others. They are like Scrooge McDuck caring more about preserving their wealth then about others, they despise the “freeloaders” or “welfare queens.” I think many of them are somewhat closeted or have internalized homophobia.

They have blinders on and only see what they want to see. They ignore the thousands on anti-LGBTQ things that Trump has done and only see that their taxes have gone down. 

Today I am doing my first outreach of the fall college semester, of course it will be a video class. For the spring semester I didn't want to do video classes but it looks like there will be no other options for a while. 

Monday, September 21, 2020

Deadnaming!

Ever get an ad in your mail with your deadname on it? It gives you a little twitch.

Well one store is doing something about it.
Left Bank Books' New Checkout System Ends Dead Naming of Trans Shoppers
River Front Times
By Riley Mack
Sep 17, 2020


“Imagine that somebody learned what your name is but kept calling you something else, insisting that’s who you are,” says Jarek Steele, co-owner of Left Bank Books in the Central West End. “It makes you feel like you’re being a fraud, like you’re lying — but you’re not.”

With this in mind, Steele vowed to change the existing online retail system that allows trans people to be invalidated.

On Sept. 9, these ideas finally came to fruition. Left Bank Books became possibly the first indie bookstore to use an e-commerce system that accepts preferred names rather than legal names, specifically aimed at helping trans people checkout with their post-transition identity.

Steele originally came up with the idea when his friend, in the midst of her transition, ordered books from their website. Because she had not legally changed her name yet, all further communications from Left Bank used her former name.
Wouldn’t it be nice if every business did that?

I transitioned almost 20 years ago and I still get mail in my deadname and it tells me that they bought up some old list of names. Once in a while I get a spam call and they use my old name and I tell truthfully that nobody by that name live here.

But national didn’t like that idea… they would rather turn away customers than change.
For a few years, the ABA turned down Steele’s requests, saying that there was too much coding involved. Steele created his own workaround, where the Bookstore’s employees would input preferred names manually. Through each sale, this was how Steele and Left Bank Books advocated for their customers.
[...]
Steele decided this was unacceptable. Reaching out to the ABA again, he argued that the system “needs to work as well for trans people as it does for cisgender people.”

This time, they listened. Now, at the checkout, the system requires a preferred name, which defaults in all the communications to their customers.
You know that it is just not book sellers but every business needs to do this.

One of the state agency committees that I am on is changing the form for when you change nursing homes or hospitals and your medical records need to be forwarded to the other facility. One of the changes that we want added is “Preferred Name,” we had a little push-back but we countered that it is not just trans people who use their preferred name rather than their legal name. For an example Richard might use the name Dick instead of Richard.
However, with the new retail system implemented, Steele knows that his business will never add to the plentiful struggles of trans people. In fact, when the ABA sent news of the successful update, “I practically danced around the room,” Steele says.
It is small battles like this mean so much to us. Yes, it is nice to get anti-discrimination laws passed but we will hopefully never need to file a discrimination complaint but everyday we face microagressions like deadnaming.

Sunday, September 20, 2020

A Time For Mourning, A Time For Fighting.

For the first time in my life a donated to a candidate not representing Connecticut. I donated to Amy McGrath who is running against McConnell in Kentucky.

What did Mitch say yesterday?
"In the last midterm election before Justice Scalia’s death in 2016, Americans elected a Republican Senate majority because we pledged to check and balance the last days of a lame-duck president’s second term," said McConnell, 78, in a statement on the passing of the 87-year-old Supreme Court Justice. "We kept our promise. Since the 1880s, no Senate has confirmed an opposite-party president’s Supreme Court nominee in a presidential election year."

"By contrast, Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary," the statement continued.

"Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate."
We need to keep that from happening but the Republicans control the Senate and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate. There is almost nothing that we can do to stop Trump and Mitch from ramming through Trump's nominee except.

What I see the people’s strategy should be is to put pressure on the Republican senate candidates… we need them to go on record whether they support waiting until after January 20th to hold hearings on the Supreme Court nominee. We have to hold their feet to the fire for a yes or no answer, no wishy-washy answers like we have to wait and see. Yes or No.

These are the toss-up states Arizona, Colorado Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina, Maine, and Montana, and possibly Alaska, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas.

We need to hold these senators to the grindstone for an answer. Sen. Lindsey Graham backed McConnell’s in not holding hearings on President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee now we have to make sure that he sticks to the precedent that the Republicans set in 2016.

We need an answer from Sen. Susan Collins.

We need to call our senators and tell them that the person elected on November 3rd needs to pick the next Supreme Court justice.

We need to make sure that our friends call their senators and them the same thing wait until January 20th when the new senators are sworn in.
The American people may well elect a president who decides to nominate Judge Garland for Senate consideration," he said. "The next president may also nominate someone very different. Either way, our view is this: Give the people a voice."
Mitch McConnell 2016

We need them to take the Pledge...
I promise that I will not vote for a new Supreme Court Justice until after January 20th

Update 4:00PM

We only need to get 4 Republican senators to say that they will not vote for a Supreme Court justice until January 20th.



Then there are the Nuclear Options!

1. Eliminate the legislative filibuster
2. Change the number of Supreme Court justices to 15

The Constitution dose not require that it take 60 votes to pass a bill in the Senate, that is only a Senate rule and it can be changed to a simple majority.

The Constitution also does not define the number of Supreme Court justices it is only set be statue. It originally was 6 justices, then it was, then 7, then 10, then 9, then 10, and then back to 9. So you see the number of judges has been changed a number of times. 

Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living!

Friday, September 18, 2020

Are We Going To Be Thrown Under The Bus Again?

The aggressive persecution of the trans community by the Trump administration and the Republican party that are proceeding in the face of the Supreme Court ruling that included us in Title VII defining “sex” to include us. The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights argues the policy violates the civil rights of girls who are not transgender under Title IX ignoring the court’s ruling.

The Department of Education under DeVos is threatening to withhold federal education funds to Connecticut and the cities because of the state support of trans athletes.
Trump administration threatens to withhold federal funds to Connecticut schools over inclusive transgender athlete policy
Hartford Courant
By Pat Eaton-Robb AP
September 17, 2020


The U.S. Department of Education is threatening to withhold some federal funding from Connecticut school districts if they follow a state policy that allows transgender girls to compete as girls in high school sports.

In response to a complaint filed last year by several cisgender female track athletes who argued that two transgender female runners had an unfair physical advantage, the federal agency’s office for civil rights determined in May that Connecticut’s policy violates the civil rights of athletes who are not transgender.

School districts including New Haven, as well as the Capitol Region Education Council, were asked around the beginning of September to sign a document to receive grants from a program for magnet schools that states they will “not participate in any interscholastic sporting events” unless the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference changes its policy on transgender athletes.
[…]
The ACLU of Connecticut, which is representing the transgender athletes, said the Trump administration is trying to pressure schools into denying transgender athletes an opportunity to compete.

“It’s incredibly mean spirited,” said Dan Barrett, the ACLU of Connecticut’s legal director. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong declined to say how the state will respond but said he is working with the school districts to secure their magnet school funding.

The schools and the state is caught up in the discrimination coming out of Washington DC where anything LGBTQ is coming under fire especially trans people. We are seen as the low hanging fruit for easy picking.

The New York Times wrote…
The move to withhold about $18 million intended to help schools desegregate could have national implications for both transgender athletes and students of color.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights has warned officials at three Connecticut school districts that it will not release desegregation grants as planned on Oct. 1, unless the districts cut ties with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference over its transgender policies. Negotiations among the parties continued Thursday evening.

Officials with the conference, which governs high school athletics in the state, say their policies conform to Connecticut law.

WSHU reported,
School board member Ed Joyner said the district plans to fight the move.

“The Office of Civil Rights — I don’t feel comfortable calling them that now — are using this example to take money from us that really, most of it is devoted to academic learning and the resources we need to educate our kids,” Joyner said.

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the board is ready to fight the move.

“This is effectively extortion, where the federal government is taking away funding from our public schools, which we will fight, in order to put us in a position where we’re going against something that I believe is an important policy that we uphold,” Elicker said.
Connecticut governor Lamont has hinted that he will disobey Connecticut law and allow the discrimination in order to save the federal funds for the state.



Meanwhile out in Colorado the question is will we be included in their quest for equality in the state.
Justice for all: CO transgender rights activists want their community included in fight for equality
Denver Channel Ch 7
By Micah Smith, Stephen McNelis
September 16, 2020


DENVER — As nationwide social justice movements continue to demand justice for marginalized communities, a group of local Colorado activists say the transgender community has been left out of the national conversation.

“We have been marginalized and pushed to the side,” said Rev. Nicole Garcia, the pastor for mission development at Westview Presbyterian Church in Boulder,
[…]
“Even today, we see trans women of color as leaders and activists when it comes to speaking out against police violence and police harassment,” Schultz [Garcia, Sable Schultz, the manager of transgender services at the Center on Colfax] said.

But Schultz said brutality doesn't just come at the hands of police.

Since the start of 2020, the Human Rights Campaign has tracked 26 murders of transgender women and 19 were women of color.

Many perpetrators have tried to justify their actions saying women “passed” or appeared to be women who were assigned the sex “female” at birth.
Last year the governor signed into law banning Conversion Therapy and you may remember that Colorado is the state of Masterpiece Cakeshop case where the court ruled that the state’s Colorado Civil Rights Commission brought religious bias into the decision making.

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Kind of Good & Bad News

Two articles this morning caught my attention, the first is about our favorite punching bag… Facebook and the other is from across the big pond.
Facebook axes political ad saying trans athletes will 'destroy girls sports'
The ad is part of a $4 million swing-state campaign by the conservative American Principles Project.
NBC News
By Sydney Bauer
September 16, 2020


A political ad that takes aim at transgender participation in high school sports has been rejected by Facebook as a paid advertisement and will have a “fact-check” label applied to it if posted organically on the social platform.

The move comes after LGBTQ rights groups condemned the ad, along with two others run by the conservative American Principles Project, and PolitiFact, an independent fact-checking project within the nonprofit Poynter Institute, said that the sports ad in particular was “missing context and could mislead people.”

The ad features a male runner easily winning a race against female competitors, in an apparent swipe at transgender inclusion policies, while decrying the support of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., for the Equality Act, which the ad says would “destroy girls sports.”
That was the good news but the bad news in the article…
The sports ad is part of a larger $4 million campaign from the Michigan-based American Principles Project, or APP, that featured two additional spots denouncing access to gender-affirming health care for people under the age of 18.
The article doesn’t say if all of the 4 million dollar campaign will be on anti-trans ads, I hope not.
A number of conservative groups say transgender girls have an innate advantage in sports because of being assigned male at birth, despite rules in place by both the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the International Olympic Committee that allow trans athletes to compete without restriction after medically suppressing testosterone levels.
I have a bad feeling that they will use us as a wedge issue.



The French high court has issued a ruling on trans parents and it wasn’t good.
French court rules transgender woman cannot be recognised as child’s mother
France’s highest court ruled Wednesday that a transgender woman cannot be officially recognised as the biological mother of the child she conceived with her wife, in a ruling described as “scandalous” by her lawyer.
France 24
September 16, 2020


To become one of the six-year-old girl’s two legal mothers, the 51-year-old transgender woman would have to adopt her, the Cour de Cassation ruled.

Born male, the applicant was recognised as a woman by French authorities in 2011. She then had a child with her wife in 2014, having not undergone the operation to have her male reproductive organs removed.

She has fought ever since to be recognised as the child’s second mother, not father.

In 2018, an appeals court in the city of Montpellier ascribed her the status of “biological parent”, a new category.

But the Cour de Cassation threw out most of that ruling on Wednesday, and refered the case back to a lower court for a new hearing.
[…]
“The ruling is a considerable step backwards towards a concept of parenthood that was believed to be long buried,” said Bertrand Perier of the APGL association of gay and lesbian parents.

Same-sex marriage in France has been legal since 18 May 2013 and if they allow two mothers or two dads on the birth certificates why don’t they allow a trans woman be listed as a co-mother?

I think that they will have better luck when they appeal to European Court of Human Rights.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

48 Days And Counting

More and more trans people are running for office… and getting elected.
You might remember the latest trans candidate from President Obama’s White House.
Sarah McBride Is Set to Be the Nation’s Highest-Ranking Transgender Official
Ms. McBride, who would be the first openly transgender person to serve in any state’s senate, won a primary for a safely Democratic seat in Delaware.
New York Times
By Reid J. Epstein
September 15, 2020


Delaware Democrats on Tuesday nominated Sarah McBride, a transgender rights activist, for a State Senate seat, advancing her bid to become the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender elected official.

Ms. McBride, 30, defeated a token primary challenger and is widely expected to win the November general election — the Wilmington-based seat is safely Democratic and is being vacated by Harris B. McDowell III, who is retiring after representing the district for 44 years.

Ms. McBride said in an interview that she wanted her victory to inspire others. “My hope is that this result can help reinforce for a young kid trying to find their place in this world, here in Delaware or anywhere else in this country, that this democracy is big enough for them, too,” she said.
[…]
In 2016 she became the first transgender person to speak at a major party’s national convention when she took the stage before Democrats in Philadelphia.
[…]
No openly transgender person has been elected to any state’s senate, though four transgender lawmakers currently serve in lower chambers of state legislatures. Like those politicians, Ms. McBride said she had not focused on identity while campaigning. Her would-be constituents, she said, are far more concerned about her views about health care and education policy.
Here in Connecticut we have some elected trans people in office, and I serve on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Health and Human Services Network legislative committee. We have been tasked with “make recommendations to the state legislative, executive and judicial branches of government concerning the delivery of health and human services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer persons in the state.”

                                                         I am over in the back on the right side.

Many other trans people are thinking about running for office and I have a few tip for them.

The first rule of running for office is raising money, the higher the office the more money you will need (I know that stinks but it is a fact of life. You need money to run your campaign office, you need money to run ads).

So where do you begin?

Well it actually begins long before you even begin before you throw your hat in the ring. You need to learn how to run a campaign. I went to Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work Campaign School at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. Through the Campaign School I learned about EMILY’s List. EMILY’s List website says their mission is,
Our vision is a government that reflects the people it serves, and decision makers who genuinely and enthusiastically fight for greater opportunity and better lives for the Americans they represent. We will work for larger leadership roles for pro-choice Democratic women in our legislative bodies and executive seats so that our families can benefit from the open-minded, productive contributions that women have consistently made in office.
When I was taking the workshop the women from Emily’s List tried to talk me into running.

Yeah you can run on your own but it helps to have people at your back who you can ask questions to, questions like “How do I develop my campaign platform?” “How do I register my candidacy?” and “How do I file a campaign finance statement and when do I need to file?” Answers to questions like that I learned at the Campaign School.

EMILY’s List helped Sarah McBride in her run for office.

You need to do it first gathering up your friends and like minded individuals, you need to hit them up for cash and another source of funding for trans candidates is the Victory Fund.
LGBTQ Victory Fund works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ officials at all levels of government.
Another source you should tap into are seminars on how to lobby, here in Connecticut every year Gallo  & Robinson hold a Connecticut Lobbying Conference which I attended twice. Even though it is not about running for office it help in understanding the legislative process and know your way around the capitol.

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

It is Happening Again

Do you remember about ten years ago the ad that the Republicans used against us, the one with the creepy guy following a little girl in to the public bathroom?

Well they are doing it again.
Transgender scare tactics are back on the Republican agenda. Here's why they won't work.
Making a 2020 wedge issue out of transgender lives ignores the real lesson of 2004: Republicans can’t stop human empathy, no matter how hard they try.
USA Today
By Leigh Finke Opinion contributor
September 14, 2020


At this very moment, there is a man sitting in a room deploying a strategy to re-elect the current president based on the belief that it is unacceptable for me, a transgender woman in middle America, to exist. According to this man, the extension of basic human rights to transgender people — specifically transgender children and youth — is so self-evidently repugnant, that posing the question of our humanity will swing voters away from Joe Biden and towards Donald Trump.

This isn’t hyperbole or conjecture. This man’s name is Terry Schilling. He runs the American Principles Project in Virginia. He’s already been profiled in a Politico feature that centers on this very strategy. Schilling, the piece reports, is in the process of rolling out a campaign, starting in Michigan, targeting Biden and Democrats for supporting transgender youth.

Schilling and his supporters want to make transgender rights a “kitchen table issue” in this election. He believes that opposition to transgender rights for young people “should define the Republican Party going forward.”
[…]
Schilling and his supporters want to make transgender rights a “kitchen table issue” in this election. He believes that opposition to transgender rights for young people “should define the Republican Party going forward.”
[…]
This is very scary, I’ll admit. As Schilling moves forward with his national strategy, voters are going to hear a lot of anti-transgender messages that are harmful, cruel, and just factually inaccurate.

The author believes that this will backfire but I don’t, I think that this year is different from when voters defeated Question 3 in Massachusetts in 2018.
In 2004, President George W. Bush narrowly defeated Sen. John Kerry in part by embracing a strategy of fear-mongering about the dire consequences of marriage equality. Bush called for a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage, and conservatives in 13 states put such bans on their November ballots. 

The idea was to help boost turnout by so-called family values voters. And it worked. Sort of.
[…]
Making a wedge issue out of our lives ignores the real lesson of 2004, which is that the Republican Party can’t stop human empathy, no matter how hard they try. In 2004, 31% of Americans supported marriage equality, and their culture war campaign worked. Today, only 31% of Americans oppose marriage equality. It is the majority opinion in the United States that the Republican Party was wrong in 2004. Transgender rights are following in the wake of the marriage equality fight. No matter how hard you wedge us into your campaign, you’re wrong, and whether it’s this year, or next, Americans will realize it.

Okay here is my reason that I worry about the hate ads.

This is a very tight race and they will not need many votes to sway the election toward Trump. Biden is ahead in the polls but… the margin for error in the polls put them almost neck-to-neck. Even if only one percent of the people believe the ads that one percent might be enough to make Trump the winner.

The other thing, it plays to Trump evangelical Christian base and it might energize them to go out and vote while the opposite is not true for Biden.

Lastly there are many avenues of attack… student athletes, bathrooms, and public accommodations. You remember Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court case? I think that is going to be a rallying cry for the haters. Yes, Question 3 in Massachusetts was defeated by a wide margin but that was a liberal state, how do you think it will play out in Tennessee or North Dakota or Kentucky or in another of the swing states? 

Fear is a very hard thing to overcome and this is a wedge issue that divides “Them vs. Us.”

Monday, September 14, 2020

Traveling?

As a trans person we have to be aware of our surroundings and that is even more important when traveling around the US or around the world. Many time I see articles about traveling to different countries but the article are always about gays and never about trans people.

I just came across this article…
15 Most Dangerous Countries For Gay Travelers
Insider Monkey
September 13, 2020


While things have drastically improved across the West for the LGBTQ, even now many countries across the world are not so receptive, including the 15 most dangerous countries for gay travelers. Click to skip ahead and see the top 5 most dangerous countries for gay travelers.

The world is made up of hundreds or thousands of cultures, norms and beliefs. This is why while one culture may believe in one thing, the other decries it. The same is true for homosexuality. While some cultures encourage it, others accept it silently while other still consider it one of the most heinous crimes possible.

However, even a few decades ago, homosexuality was considered taboo and frowned upon across most societies in the world. Even in the global superpower known as the United States, coming out as gay can often still lead to devastating social consequences, despite the LGBT civil rights movement which led to all 50 states legalizing same sex marriage between 2004-2015. However, more and more people are now feeling accepted when they come out, as shown in the percentage of people who knew homosexuals, which was just 24% in 1983 and 73% in 2001. This will steadily keep on improving as its generally the elder population which is more conservative and against homosexuality. The acceptance also varies strongly among states and you’ll have a better idea if you check out 11 states with the biggest gay population in America.

As a trans person I look on this a guide but realize that these are do not hold true for us and that it also depends up how well you can pass, whether you trans or lesbian or gay.

I like to quote the 2015 US Trans Survey
Visual non-conformity is a risk factor in causing anti-transgender bias and its attendant social and economic burdens.
In other words those who can integrate into society will face less discrimination and violence than those who cannot.

The article doesn’t even mention the former Iron Curtain countries nor South America countries. From our Transgender Day of Remembrance the names from countries like Brazil make up the majority of the murders of trans people. It also makes a difference if you are a trans woman or a trans man, at a TDoR how many trans men have you heard that were murdered?

The article The Worst (& Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in Asher & Lyric has tips for trans travelers…
8 tips from a trans travel expert
Aaron Edwards, an FTM trans travel blogger, shares the following helpful tips on staying safe while traveling.

1. Remember to bring all your documents
If possible, try to travel with documents that reflect who you currently are. (Or as close as you can be given the laws where you live) Photo, name, gender marker, etc. AT MINIMUM, make sure your photo reflects how you currently look.

2. Research your destination thoroughly
Read up on local laws regarding LGBTQ+ people. Some places are much more restrictive than others and it is better to know your rights and not need them than to be stuck in a jail cell somewhere.

3. Knowing your next bathroom stop is must
Always know where your next bathroom stop will be or have a backup bathroom plan in case you are not comfortable with the situation.

4. Some destinations are best to avoid
Do your research and know which locations are best to avoid.

5. Have a letter from your doctor handy at the airport
If you are on HRT (hormone replacement therapy), always try to bring a doctor’s note to keep with your medication in your bag in case you have issues with airport security.

6. You will probably be questioned
Brace yourself to be questioned. A lot of cultures are known for their bluntness. Even people who pass extremely well can get stopped and asked questions based on documents, appearance, etc.

7. If possible, travel with a friend or a group
When in doubt, be with people. There is safety in numbers, especially if they are your friends and people who will stand up for you if it is needed. This applies whether you’re on a camping trip, staying at Airbnbs or at regular hotels.

8. Network via LGBTQ+ Facebook groups
Join transgender or LGBTQ+ related Facebook groups. It is an easy way to find other trans people who LIVE where you are traveling. They can give you their personal experiences, ideas of places to go, or even offer to hang out with you and give you a local tour.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

We Are The Guinea Pigs

Sticks and stones may break our bones…

Let’s face it no one wants to study us, there is no money in it and the meds that we take are off label. We are only somewhere around 0.5 to 0.8 percent of the population so the drug companies are not interested in studying us.
Fracture risk in transgender women after gender-confirming surgery
Contemporary OB/GYN
By Bob Kronemyer
September 11, 2020


The authors said bone health is an important issue for transgender women; however, results of bone status after gender-confirming surgery are conflicting.

Transgender women who take estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) after gender-confirming surgery have a high prevalence of low bone mass that is significantly linked to low estradiol levels and low compliance with ERT, according to an Italian study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism (JBMM).

The authors said bone health is an important issue for transgender women; however, results of bone status after gender-confirming surgery are conflicting.

The retrospective analysis included 57 transgender women (mean age 45.3 years) who were referred to the Gender Dysphoria Clinic at the Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Italy, from January 2012 to May 2018.
[…]
In total, 74% of subjects with low bone mass were nearly six times as likely to have estradiol levels in the lower two quartiles mass than those with higher estradiol levels.
What does all this mean?

Take your hormones!

Those of us who are on cross-gender hormone therapy whether pre-op or post-op we are at high risk of breaking a bone and our defense against broken bones is to take our hormones and as your mother always to you… drink your milk.

My endo has me take bone density x-rays once every ten years to check my bones and I am about due for another since I have been on hormones for over twenty years and I am in my seventies. Have you had a bone density scan?

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Saturday 9: So Emotional

Sam’s Saturday 9: So Emotional (1987)

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

I’ve been grounded for two weeks or more not because of the plague but my car is in the car hospital and I have a rental. I don’t like driving rental cars so  I’m not going up to the Cape.

Yesterday the appraiser came out to look at my car and he had a long list of items needing repair, almost $10,000 of damage to my car. He also said that my car was unsafe to drive, he said that the impact tore the fender from the frame and was only being held on by the duct tape and the torn metal. After he left I drove it to the auto repair shop and left with a rental.



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

1) Whitney sings that she keeps her lover's photo beside her bed. What's on your bedside table?
A lot of junk, an eye glass cloth, my diabetes test kit, a dusty alarm clock, and my alarm system control.

2) She's getting frustrated, waiting for the phone to ring. If your phone were to ring right now, who would you expect to be on the other end?
A spammer.
I have programmed my phone to ring a special ring for a phone number from my contact list.

3) The video was filmed at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA. It seats 6,200. As the nation reopens from Covid19, would you feel comfortable sitting knee-to-knee with a stranger in an arena like this?
No way. I been out to restaurant but the tables were over 6 feet apart.

4) This week's featured artist, Whitney Houston, appeared on the daytime drama As The World Turns. She played herself, performing with Jermaine Jackson at the Miss Cinderella contest in the fictional town of Oakdale. Have you ever been hooked on a soap opera?
Nope.
But I know people who have been in the soaps. Where I worked in the early eighties one of the guys there used to disappear maybe once ever couple of months and it turned out he was in a soap opera. When his character was in a scene he took a couple of vacation days and went down to New York. I also know three people who were on “All My Children.” Betty (Rachel) and Jennifer are friends and I only met David briefly at conference many years ago. (BTW, the support group scene is pretty accurate.)
Jenny was also on Caitlyn Jenner’s reality show and her wife that I met is a social worker. While Rachel’s wife is a professor at a university and Rachel starred in “And Then There Was Eve” 

5) Whitney had a sweet tooth, and her favorite breakfast cereal was Fruity Pebbles. Do you often eat cereal for lunch or dinner?
Yes.

6) At Whitney's wedding to Bobby Brown, her bridesmaids all wore lavender dresses and the groomsmen had custom made alligator shoes. Have you ever "stood up" for a friend or relative? If so, do you remember what you wore?
Yes for four weddings.
In one everyone wore yellow and for a gag we made beaks and had a couple of pictures taken with our hands under our armpits and we walked around like chickens.

7) In 1987, the year this song was popular, Cher won the Oscar for Moonstruck. Her most famous line was, "Snap out of it!" When you think of Cher, do you first think of her movies, her TV show, or her music?
Sonny and Cher.

Sonny haircut reminds me of a medieval court jester.

8) Michael Douglas won the Oscar that year for Wall Street. His most famous line was, "Greed is good." His character goes on to say that, "Greed in all its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of all mankind." Do you agree?
No greed causes a downward surge of all mankind.


9) Random question: When you woke up this morning, were you ready to get out of bed? Or do you wish you could have snoozed for a bit longer?
Well when I woke up at 4 AM I sure wished that I could press the snooze button.

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!

Friday, September 11, 2020

I Don’t Want To Worry You.

[RANT]
You may think that you shouldn’t tell someone that they are dying of an incurable disease but do you not tell a country that there is a deadly disease out there and you should take precautions against it?

Bob Woodward’s tapes of Trump interviews Trump admits he knew how dangerous COVID-19 is back in the beginning of the year, however he says that he didn’t want to alarm the country so he downplayed it.
Trump deliberately played down virus, Woodward book says
US President Donald Trump knew Covid-19 was deadlier than the flu before it hit the country but wanted to play down the crisis, according to a new book.
BBC
September 10, 2020


Bob Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal and is one of the nation's most respected journalists, interviewed Mr Trump 18 times from December to July.

Mr Trump is quoted as telling him the virus was "deadly stuff" before the first US death was confirmed.

Responding, the president said he had wanted to avoid causing public panic.
[…]
Mr Trump indicated that he knew more about the severity of the illness than he had said publicly.

According to a tape of the call, Mr Trump told Woodward in February that the coronavirus was deadlier than the flu.

Okay I can buy that but I believe that was the wrong way to proceed, but it was a judgment call by him and then what did he do?

Behind the scenes did he mobilize the government? Did he contact the governors? Did he make plans on how to protect the country against the virus?

No. 

He did nothing. 

Absolutely nothing except to make light of the virus calling it a hoax.

Instead he blocked states from getting much needed ventilators and masks and confiscated them from the states. He mocked those who wore masks. He mocked Democratic states like Connecticut, Massachusetts New Jersey, and New York and he praised Republican states for not doing nothing. 
 
Trump mobilized his base by calling it a hoax and politicized the virus.

As a result of his inaction the plague is still spreading.

As a result tens of thousands of people died.
[/RANT]

Thursday, September 10, 2020

We Got To Remember.

When we come out, we have been struggling  all our life but for the the people who we come out to this is new to them.
What I Learned as a Parent of a Transgender Child
As a pediatrician and mother, I thought I knew a lot about parenting. But I was blindsided by my daughter’s coming out as trans, and that first year was riddled with mistakes.
New York Times
By Paria Hassouri, M.D.
September 8, 2020


Sweat trickled down my neck as I stood in the heat alongside my daughter and husband, waiting for our turn to march in the Los Angeles Pride Parade in 2018.

While I had been a spectator at Pride before, I never guessed that one day I would be marching beside my teenager, dark maroon lipstick painting her lips, a barrette pinning back her now almost shoulder-length hair, a “she” pin fastened to her “love wins” shirt. She was beaming and radiant.
[…]
Once our daughter came out, the language in our home became predominantly negative. Are you sure? Your life is going to be so much harder and you’ll be discriminated against. You are so smart with so much potential, but some people won’t see that. You’ll have a more difficult time getting a job. You’ll have to work harder to prove your worth. You could be the victim of a hate crime.

I have never been a parent but my parents were and from them I learned unconditional love and I think that most parents feel that way. But coming out is a shock to them and it takes time for it to sink in and initially they are like Dr. Hassouri only seeing the rocky road ahead of us.
Once I accepted my child’s gender identity, I had my own ideas of what transition meant. I stepped in and orchestrated various appointments for my daughter according to how I thought her transition should be. While my daughter was eager to begin medical transition, the pace of all the appointments involved was overwhelming at times. Transition can involve social, medical and surgical options, or a combination thereof. Not every trans person chooses every intervention available.

It is not only a learning experience for them but also for us when you stop and think about we don’t have a road map about being trans either, we are all feeling our way to our own path to follow.
Having a transgender child has expanded my heart and mind in unimaginable ways. It has brought people into my life that I would not have otherwise met and enriched my understanding of what it means to be human. Most importantly, it has taught me the true definition of unconditional love and what it means to be a mother.

There are some parents who don’t see it that way, for them it is a shock to their way of life and see it as a spur of the moment or as a result of peer pressure.

I am reminded of a quack research project that coined a term that the right-wing conservatives latched on to… they gave it a fancy name, Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). The study looked at the parents, not the children, of course the researcher found that the parents had no idea that their children were trans. Of course to the parents this was a shock but for us it was the pressure we had all our lives.

That is the thing, we are good at hiding our gender dysphoria.

To those that we come out to it will be a shock at first and we should be prepared for their initial response.



So yesterday the appraiser came out to look at my car and he had a long list of items needing repair. He also said that my car was unsafe to drive, he said that the impact tore the fender from the frame and was only being held on by the duct tape and the torn metal.

After he left I drove it to the auto repair shop and left with a rental.

Wednesday, September 09, 2020

Ignoring The Law.

You probably low expectations of the current administration when it comes to LGBTQ+ community and you will probably not be surprised that the Department of Justice and the Department of Education is not going to enforce the law.
Department of Education sends mixed messages on transgender student protections
The department stands by its controversial policy on trans student athletes.
ABC News
By Sophie Tatum andKarma Allen
September 9, 2020


The Trump administration said it plans to investigate alleged discrimination against LGBTQ students following this summer's landmark Supreme Court rulings that said sexual orientation and gender identity are protected traits under existing civil rights law -- but only in certain circumstances, according to documents released by the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights.

An updated guidance posted via a letter to various Connecticut schools, the Education Department said transgender students still can't play on school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity and instead should be assigned to teams that correspond with their biological gender at birth.

The governor of Connecticut said that he is not going to fight the US Department of Education and put at risk millions of dollars in federal aid in other words he threw us under the bus.
"Do we applaud that someone won't be discriminated against based on sexual orientation from participating in sports? Absolutely. But we cannot do that without saying this other decision that excludes transgender students, essentially, is -- it's so harmful and so offensive to us, as it would be to transgender students," Chandy [the legal director at the National Women's Law Center] said.
The right wingers are rallying behind DeVos.
"You can't immediately just say, because the court has said no employment discrimination where sex now reaches certain aspects of sexual orientation and gender identity that leads to a particular outcome for bathrooms, locker rooms or sports teams," said Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow at conservative-leaning think tank Heritage Foundation.
And the Department of Education said…
Of transgender athletes, the Education Department's Richey said in one of the documents, "If the school offers separate-sex teams, the male student-athlete who identifies as female must play on the male team, just like any other male student-athlete," arguing that separating students for single-sex sports teams "must be based on biological sex."
[…]
"Transgender girls are girls. And we are for girls' rights," Chandy, of the National Women's Law Center, said.
[…]
"The Education Department now says they're going to interpret Title IX as allowing them to investigate claims of discrimination based on a student's sexual orientation. But if you read the letters, it appears that they are doing so rather grudgingly and trying to read the Bostock decision as narrowly as possible," she said.
There is only one way to stop the Trump administration persecution of us is to vote Democratic in November.



A followup of yesterday’s post…
Russian ‘Cossack soldiers’ prowled the streets hunting down LGBT+ folk during Pride week. They wound up targeting straight people
Groups of men in Cossack military uniforms have been filmed roaming the Russian city of Yekaterinburg during Pride week in “anti-LGBT patrols”.
Pink News UK
By Emma Powys Maurice
September 8, 2020


According to the Russian news outlet E1RU, the men were on the look out for LGBT+ activists, but succeeded in targeting straight people who they thought looked queer.

The group briefly detained at least one “absolutely heterosexual” student, 19-year-old Alexander Zinovyev, because he had dyed hair and wore an earring.

“Why’d you dress up like this? Are you one of them?” Zinovyev recounted one of the men saying to him. “Do you even know that we control the propaganda of gayness among the people?”

He said the men who intimidated him carried certificates declaring themselves to be “Ural Voluntary Cossack Corps”. While most of the group were dressed in military camouflage, others were patrolling in civilian clothes.
Hmm… who do they sound like?
Right-wing groups clash with counter protesters in several U.S. states
Reuters
By Andrew Hay
August 15, 2020


Right wing demonstrators fought with leftist counter protestors in Georgia, Michigan and Oregon on Saturday drawing in riot police and SWAT teams.

Groups ranging from an anti-government patriot group in Portland, Oregon to alt-right Proud Boys in Kalamazoo, Michigan battled anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter activists as months of anti-racism protests increasingly pitted Americans against one another.

Several dozen demonstrators, many armed and carrying Confederate battle flags, staged a rally in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain next to a park famed for its giant monument to leaders of the breakaway slave-holding states.

A mix of militia members, Confederate followers and supporters of President Donald Trump faced off against more than a hundred left-wing protesters, some armed, many carrying signs or wearing T-shirts supporting Black Lives Matter.
Does this sound like what is happening in Russia with Putin’s goon squad?

Pink News goes on to say,
He claimed that around fifty people were participating in the patrols, with some Cossacks travelling over 200km from Chelyabinsk to support their Yekaterinburg “brothers”.
Yup, they sounds just like Trump’s stormtroopers.