A large majority of transgender adolescents who received puberty suppression treatment went on to continue gender-affirming treatment, a new study from the Netherlands has found.
The study, published in The Lancet, used data that included people who visited the gender identity clinic of Amsterdam UMC, a leading medical center in the Dutch capital, for gender dysphoria. (Gender dysphoria refers to psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one's sex assigned at birth and one's gender identity.)
Researchers found that a whopping 98% of people who had started gender-affirming medical treatment in adolescence continued to use gender-affirming hormones at follow-up. The finding is significant because of ongoing political debates over whether young people should receive gender-affirming treatment, with some opponents arguing that many transgender children and teens will realize later in life that they aren't really trans.
[…]
The study, thought to be the largest of its kind, provides a new data point in the highly charged political debate over the prescribing of puberty blockers or providing gender-affirming medical care to trans youth. Young people seeking transition-related treatment are sometimes told that they are simply going through "a phase" that they'll grow out of.
Does anyone think this will change the Republican’s minds?
You all probably have seen the right-wing conservatives saying how puberty blockers are experiment and cause harm to trans children, a 2017 article in the British medial journal Lancet rips it to pieces!
Puberty suppression as a treatment for gender-incongruent minors (aged under 18 years) has been the subject of prolific debate and ethical discussion at times generating a schism among specialists. Puberty suppression is used to lessen the discordance between body and gender identity, and to extend the temporal window for gender clarification.4 Because the use of this intervention for extreme gender incongruence is a fairly recent innovation (this intervention has been used for less than 20 years5), very few empirical studies have been done to examine the clinical utility of puberty-suppression treatments in this group, although there is some promising preliminary evidence. Although reversible,6 concerns have been expressed that these treatments can affect physical development and interfere with the natural trajectory of gender expression. In this Review, we examine the scientific literature on the use of puberty-suppression treatment in transgender minors. We start by providing an overview of child and adolescent gender incongruence and gender dysphoria, and the developmental course of gender-discordant behaviour. We then discuss the historical underpinnings and clinical impetus for delaying puberty in this population, provide a summary of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis and puberty-suppression treatment, and examine the available empirical evidence for the ability of these treatments to alleviate the distress common in children and adolescents with a transgender identity. We also consider the implications on cognitive and physical development, and surgical outcome, drawing on evidence from recent studies. In recognition of the rapid increase in referrals to child and adolescent gender clinics worldwide with patients presenting at increasingly younger ages we intend this Review to be a timely synthesis of the available evidence.
[…]
Conclusions
Gender incongruence in children and adolescents is complex, and medical treatment raises several ethical considerations. Clinical decision making has been fostered by research efforts, but there are still substantial knowledge gaps that warrant examination to inform best clinical practice (panel 4). The limited available evidence suggests that puberty suppression, when clearly indicated, is reasonably safe. The few studies that have examined the psychological effects of suppressing puberty, as the first stage before possible future commencement of CSH therapy, have shown benefits. Further research is needed to help identify which patients benefit most, and which are at higher risk of regret, changed wishes, or poorer quality-of-life outcomes. The most appropriate time to start treatment remains to be clarified.
Once again the right-wing conservatives argument is nothing but BS and not based in any scientific evidence.
Times have changed back 30 years ago there was no WPATH, there was only Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association! And the rules also have changed since then, back then you had to be attracted to the opposite sex, you had to be “passable,” and they said that trans masculine didn’t exist.
A transsexual pioneer and human rights activist criticized modern trans activists and said children are facing "indoctrination."
Buck Angel, a 59-year-old with gender dysphoria who identified himself as "a transsexual man," told Fox News that when he began transitioning 30 years ago, there was a system and structure that ensured he was certain about his gender identity. He said that process, to children's detriment, has since deteriorated.
"Now we have trans with no gender dysphoria, no need for mental health care, self ID, affirmation therapy," Angel, who said he's "a huge advocate for mental health care," told Fox News. "That says to me on some level, some form of indoctrination."
[…]
"I'm an elder in a community I helped build," Angel, who said he's faced significant blow back for speaking out, told Fox News. "Now I'm being told that I'm old and antiquated."
[…]
"I see a vast, huge desire to fast track, for lack of a better term, these children into this space of trans kids" and put them on puberty blockers, Angel told Fox News. "I personally believe blocking puberty could be disastrous."
...Being the "guinea pig" in the female-to-male transgender reassignment therapy he was able to achieve satisfactory results, which allowed him to live as a man. During this process he realized he won't be able to have a real functional penis, so he decided not to undergo a bottom surgery, the fact he later used in his adult film career, when he described himself as "the man with a pussy". He produced a number of adult films under the imprint Buck Angel Entertainment, including a porn spoof of Brokeback Mountain (2005) called Buckback Mountain (2007). He went on to becoming the first trans man to perform in a filmed sex scene with a trans woman (Allanah Starr) and winning the AVN Award for Transsexual Performer of the Year (as the only transsexual man to date)...
[…]
...He created an online dating website for transgender men, BuckAngelDating and created the world's first sex toy meant to reduce gender dysphoria. He was married to dominatrix Karin Winslow aka Ilsa Strix (now the wife of Lana Wachowski) from 1998 to 2001 and to body piercer Elayne Angel from 2003 to 2014…
So now Fox News has latched onto him and holding him up as their poster child.
Lateral Oppression or Peer to Peer Oppression
Earlier this month one of my blog posts went viral, it was referenced in a national trans-blog and my hit counter went wild. The post was about how an Austrian military officer said that she knows that she will never be “a woman,” that she will always be transgender and I agreed with her. I said you can never leave your past behind. Well that generated all kind of spam (using my email address to sign up for newsletters) and derogatory comments by “Anonymous” like this…
Diana, is it true that you lost your wig once while swimming... right in front of everyone? OMG, that must have been so embarrassing! It's no small wonder you don't think we can ever be real women... it's obvious that you'll never be one!
There is a name for this type of behavior, it is called “Lateral Oppression” or “Lateral Violence” and it is common in all marginalized communities.* The definition is,
Later Oppression or Violence: oppression or violence that is directed towards other members of the social group or community, usually toward a subculture of the social group or community.
Lateral violence happens when people who are both victims of a situation of dominance, in fact turn on each other rather than confront the system that oppresses them both. Lateral violence occurs when oppressed groups/individuals internalize feelings such as anger and rage, and manifest their feelings through behaviors such as gossip, jealousy, putdowns and blaming.
We find lateral violence or oppression wherever we look…
We find it with teenage girls
We find it with immigrants
We find it in socioeconomic classes
We find it in racial groups
We find it in the gay and lesbian communities
And we find it in within the transgender community
So what causes it?
It is caused by internalize of guilt and prejudice. It is used as a defense mechanism against otherwise unbearable discomfort that they have as a member of the oppressed group. It is a method which a member of the marginalized group uses to separate themselves from that group. For an example, during the early 70s many gays and lesbians of the “Gay Activist Alliance” did not want any feminine gays or masculine lesbian in their organization. Because of their internalized guilt and prejudice they want to separate themselves from the flamboyant gays or lesbians. The straight looking and acting gays and lesbians want to be disassociate from them; they only wanted gays and lesbians who can be assimilated into the straight society so they could blend in with everyone else.
The same thing for trans-people, those that can pass or have had surgery want to disassociate from trans-people who cannot pass. They want to establish a pecking order with passible post-op trans-people on top. They want to be assimilated into the straight society and not be associated with what they call “men in dresses” meaning anyone who cannot pass.
Here is a video that talks about Lateral Violence within the First Nation community (Only the first 1:45 of video pertains to my discussion) [It has been delete but I found another video]. The same type of oppression exists in other marginalized communities*.
Lateral Hostility in the Transgender Community
~~~~~~
*Community: in this case I use the word in a sociological sense, where a group of people have cultural, religious, ethnic, or other characteristics in common. You do not need to feel a member of the community, you are part of the community because you share a characteristics in common, we are all trans.
Correction Oct. 31, 2022 @ 11:00AM
Changed “Gay Liberation Front” to "Gay Activist Alliance"
This is nothing but politically motivate BS, there is nothing scientific or medically correct about this. A bunch of hand picked doctors and politicians came up with garbage!
After five hours of tense testimony and protests, the Florida Board of Medicine voted Friday to start drafting a rule that would bar all minors in the state from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgeries as treatment for gender dysphoria.
Florida’s medical board is the first in the country to pursue such a rule, but Florida is among a wave of states where officials have attempted to restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.
By the end of Friday’s five-hour meeting, protesters began yelling “Shame!” at the board members, and some of them staged a “die-in” in the lobby of the Orlando International Airport, where the meeting was held.
The guidance drew backlash from LGBTQ advocates and medical experts. Accredited medical groups — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — have supported gender-affirming care for transgender youths.
Despite that support, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration issued a report in June that “found that several services for the treatment of gender dysphoria — i.e., sex reassignment surgery, cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers — are not consistent with widely accepted professional medical standards and are experimental and investigational with the potential for harmful long-term affects.”
This is completely a hatchet job.
They knew what they wanted to pass and tailored the hearings to it and ignored other data and research.
Dr. Michael Laidlaw, an endocrinologist in Rockland, California, cited often-criticized research that found 50% to 90% of children whose gender identity isn’t consistent with their assigned sex at birth grow out of the condition by adulthood.
“The basic problem with this treatment as I see it is: ‘What happens when you force a square peg into a round hole?’” he said. “You end up injuring or destroying the peg in the process.”
However, Dr. Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine who treats transgender people between the ages of 10 and 25, told the board that the research Laidlaw cited and the June report issued by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration are methodologically flawed.
We are not pegs!
We are human beings!
Jude Spiegel, the only transgender person to testify at Friday’s meeting, read the names of 17 trans teens who died by suicide “over living in a world that refused to acknowledge or accept them.”
HEY! Where was the Florida trans community?
Why was there only one trans person to testify?
There should have been a line going out the door to testily!
“What was so appalling to me is how obviously staged this all was,” Fox said, adding that the board members didn’t appear to know that much about gender-affirming therapies. “They’ve been fed a narrative, and they ate it up.”
I don't how staged it was, we should have been out and testified!
Our only recourse is now the courts with Trump’s picked judges.
The validity of gender reassignment surgery and puberty blockers as treatment for gender dysphoria remains deeply contested. While a Columbia University study argues, for example, that “gender affirming care” can improve “the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse, transgender, nonbinary children, and adolescents,” many argue the opposite. According to journalist Abigail Shrier, nearly three quarters of kids “typically outgrow” gender dysphoria symptoms.
Yes, lets listen to a journalist instead of the AMA, the APA, the NASW, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and WPATH.
Politics are determining our healthcare whether it is for reproductive health or trans health and bunch of male Republicans are getting between us and our doctors.
On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun… (In honor of Halloween I'm orange today)
Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.
1) In this song, Beyonce sings that she's sure if a man is haunting her thoughts, she must be haunting his. Who is on your mind this morning?
No one.
2) The lyrics mention her "wicked tongue." Have you said anything recently that you wish you could take back?
Nope.
3) Beyonce says her lucky number is 4. Her birthday is 9/4, her mom's birthday is 1/4 and her husband's birthday is 12/4. She chose 4/4 for her wedding day. Do you have a lucky number?
Gee… nothing but short answers.
Nope.
4) Beyonce told an interviewer that, while on the road, she loves to eat Popeye's fried chicken and the fast-food chain offered her free food for life. She admits she's been too embarrassed to take them up on it. If you could get free food for life from any restaurant, which restaurant would you choose?
A seafood restaurant.
An endless supply of lobster Newburg, shrimp carbonara, stuff sole...
These questions will help us get into the Halloween spirit ....
5) Candy corn is a trick-or-treat staple. Do you like it?
I hate the stuff, nothing but pure sugar.
6) In 2019, the most popular pet costume was a pumpkin outfit designed for dogs. Have you ever dressed your pet in a costume?
No but pets.
7) According to the Guinness Book of Records, the award for highest number of jack-o-lanterns in one place went to Keene, NH, where in 2013 there were 30,581. How many carved pumpkins will be at your home on Halloween?
Zero.
But I saw the pumpkins in Keene once!
I saw on the news the carved pumpkins at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence RI and it looked interesting.
8) In years gone by, the Irish celebrated Halloween not with pumpkins but by carving turnips, potatoes and beets. Are any of those foods in your kitchen right now?
I have some baby yellow potatoes, they would be awful small to carve but might look neat.
9) Some Elvis fans believe they have seen his ghost hovering in the trees over Graceland. Have you ever seen a ghost?
Nope.
***
Sorry about last week's Saturday 9, but I was at a conference all day and there was a banquet in the evening and I got to bed way past my bedtime. Sunday I didn't feel like doing anything but sleep.
When Lily Freeman was in 5th grade in the Central Bucks School District in Pennsylvania, she was revealing her gender identity to her family. When her parents told her teacher about Lily’s struggle, the teacher suggested Alex Gino’s book Melissa (previously called George), an award-winning novel about a trans 4th grader, as a resource for Lily and her family.
The gesture and the visibility the book provided was valuable to the family, said Lily’s mom, Mindy Freeman. Two years later, Lily’s social studies teacher offered books about LGBTQ people on his classroom shelves, making it easier for Lily’s classmates to learn about her experience and that of her community, Mindy Freeman said.
“We were working with the school district to help them understand trans identities, and the difference between orientation and gender identity, because Lily was bullied in elementary school, before she had socially transitioned,” she said. “So she wanted to help the younger generation of kids, so that they didn’t have to go through what she went through. The school wasn’t perfect, but before the pandemic, more people were listening.”
But you know that some parents complained about her and made a big stink over her transition. Also new school board members were elected, thing got a lot worst Lilly and other LGBTQ students.
The district has issued directives to remove Pride flags from classrooms, according to the lawsuit. Some school administrators have directed their staff to only use students’ names and pronouns as they appear in the school databases and to reach out to parents if students ask to be identified differently and have punished employees who have supported LGBTQ students and spoken out against the anti-LGBTQ environment the district is creating, according to the lawsuit.
[…]
But because of these policies, teachers have been self-censoring and removing books from their classroom libraries preemptively to avoid punitive action, Lily said. The ACLU lawsuit also describes several instances of teachers being told to or deciding on their own to remove classroom library materials after the policies were passed.
The Central Bucks School District is discriminating against LGBTQ students, the ACLU of Pennsylvania alleges in a complaint it filed Thursday with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education.
The ACLU claims that Central Bucks, the fourth largest school district in Pennsylvania, is violating Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — overall creating a “hostile environment” for LGBTQ students.
The school board and “complicit upper-level administrators” have “exacerbated the hostile environment by making homophobic and transphobic statements, enacting blatantly discriminatory practices and policies targeting LGBTQ+ students, and retaliating against teachers and staff who support LGBTQ+ students,” the complaint says.
The ACLU cites policies censoring books, procedures about not using students’ correct pronouns and names, directives censoring the materials that teachers can hang in classrooms and intimidating teachers into self-censoring their materials, and administrative decisions punishing staff who speak out against anti-LGBTQ directives, among others, as examples of Central Bucks’ discriminatory practices and policies.
I think you are going to find a lot more school districts facing legal action as these right-wing conservatives get appointed to school boards and ignore the law.
Now the school board is hopping mad they demand to know who these “Jane Does” are!
Speaking on behalf of the district at its board meeting, President Dana Hunter criticized the ACLU for the anonymity of the complaint, which includes seven stories about anti-LGBTQ harassment from students and their families, and accounts from district employees. She said the anonymous nature makes it “impossible” for the district to “intervene.”
Hunter asked for families and students to come to principals, teachers, or administrators to report their concerns over bullying.
“They know who the bullied students are. They are the ones the administration and board have ignored and disrespected,” said Vic Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “The more the board members talk, the more they confirm their hostile and discriminatory views.”
Students, families, and district employees fear they will suffer backlash from the community and district leaders if their names are publicized, said Rich Ting, staff attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Teachers and guidance counselors, they’re afraid because of a lot of things that they’ve seen happen which are outlined in the complaint.”
Earlier in the school year the residents spoke out at a school board hearing.
Central Bucks School District residents waited in line for hours at Monday night’s school board meeting to speak in support of diversity, equity, and inclusion — responding to events at the Nov. 9 meeting, which was marred by transphobic and antisemitic remarks made during the public comment period.
The board limited time for public comment to two hours, around 50 speakers. Some arrived three hours early Monday to get a chance to sit inside. A number of people had asked the board to move the meeting so more people could fit, but their request was denied.
[…]
Some held rainbow flags, and flags supporting the LGBTQ+ and Jewish communities. Some, like Adi Strigl, even danced. She called it her “inclusion dance,” jokingly. Others looked on and laughed.
“If you can’t laugh, you’ll cry,” is Strigl’s motto. She is Jewish and has three children in the district.
“There’s a big divide in the community, I think everyone will agree on that.” But she added, “As an optimist, I’m drawn to the light. I see more and more people teaming up.”
At the hearing it stirred up more discrimination…
During that meeting, one community member said trans women are rapists. Another community member made allegations that there are ties to the mafia in the Jewish community, and he also sought to make connections between district diversity and inclusion initiatives and “Zionism and communism.”
[…]
During public comment Monday night, some residents noted a history of silence from the board following racist, antisemitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ comments and behaviors in and around the meetings. One community member also mentioned seeing a new board member, Debra Cannon, quote Hitler in a Facebook comment. (Cannon did not respond to this comment.)
[…]
Some board members, including Dana Hunter, Karen Smith, Dr. Mariam Mahmud, and Dr. Tabitha Dell’Angelo, said they do not stand by the comments made at the last meeting.
And that is what happens when MAGA get elected to school boards… this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Nearly seven in 10 LGBTQ students reported feeling unsafe at school in 2021 because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, according to new data released this week.
Researchers with GLSEN, a national organization that fights to end anti-LGBTQ discrimination in k-12 schools, found an increasingly more hostile environment for LGBTQ students in middle and high schools across the nation.
For its 2021 National School Climate Survey, the group spoke with 22,300 students between the ages of 13 and 21 and found that they’ve experienced an alarming incidence of discrimination — including verbal and physical harassment — from their peers.
Around 68% of LGBTQ students reported feeling unsafe because of their LGBTQ identity — 51% of them because of their sexual orientation, and 43% of them because of their gender expression, or the external appearance of a person’s gender identity.
The law says that the schools must provide a safe space for learning, do you think that these students have a safe place for learning?
Bullying and discrimination in the classroom “continue to create a chilling effect that threatens the wellbeing of gay and transgender youth across the country,” said Aaron Ridings, GLSEN deputy executive director for public policy and research.
I found this article on Yahoo News where they allow comments, most of them are condescending and hostile.
But are they really unsafe because of their identity? Many young people say it has become cool and trendy. So I have some doubts about these polls and even doubt those making the claims. I need to see some real evidence because bullying is not at all limited to what has become a privileged and protected class.
***
Feel free to "feel unsafe" someplace else. We are not catering to mental defects who threaten suicide because they feel sad panda nor are we accepting some nonsensical excuse of "feeling unsafe".
There are over 170 comments like this, do you wonder why the children don’t feel safe and remember children are taught to pick on us by their parents.
Research has shown that when LGBTQ students feel supported in school, they are more engaged in activities and academics. They are also less likely to miss school, more likely to get better grades, and more likely to want to continue their education, Kosciw said.
Students who had access to supportive educators, went to schools with inclusive policies, and had GSAs at their schools were more likely overall to feel better about themselves and not suffer from depression or suicidal ideation, the report says.
“That’s why it’s troubling when the supports have decreased so that fewer students have these things that have such a positive effect on their lives,” Kosciw said.
Yesterday article abut the taking down of the Pride flag in Stonington CT how do you think it makes LGBTQ students feel in school and more important when other see the flag taken down do you feel that it emboldens them to bully?
How do you think the LGBTQ students feel when they see about the laws like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law?
The EW article goes on to say,
LGBTQ students often avoid bathrooms, school buses, and hallways, where there’s no supervision by educators, in fear of verbal or physical bullying, he said. Because that was no longer a factor for online-only students, school was also safer for them.
Many times when student do report the bullying the administration does nothing!
When I was on the CT Department of Education Safe School Committee so school systems report 0 incidents, that is not a single incident of bullying in their school system. Do you believe that?
This afternoon I write about the bullying of a trans student that is now the subject of a federal investigation in part II.
Conservatives everywhere are the same; they despise our guts. The new conservative Prime Minster didn’t waste no time in appointing a anti-trans minster for women and equalities.
Sunak has spent the day (25 October) appointing his new cabinet after being named the third Tory prime minister in as many months.
Among his appointees are Jeremy Hunt remaining in his role as chancellor, James Cleverely as foreign secretary and Dominic Raab as deputy prime minister.
Badenoch has not only been given the top job in the Government Equalities Office (GEO) but she has also been appointed secretary of state for international trade. Because apparently Rishi Sunak doesn’t believe the women and equalities brief is worth a minister’s full attention.
The revolving door of the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is Britain's 3rd prime minister in 7 weeks! There is a call growing to have an election because of the conservatives in ability to form a stable government. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak estimated worth is an estimated $800 million dollars and who is the 250 wealthiest Britain!
When Jay told his mom he was bisexual at 14, she was supportive. But when he came out as transgender a few years later, she pushed back. She felt blindsided by the news. YouTube videos and online forums soon convinced her that she was right to feel that way. To her, it was clear that Jay was simply mistaken. A trans “contagion” called “rapid-onset gender dysphoria,” spread through social media, had caught hold of him and convinced him he was not female, she said. The Internet had “turned” him trans.
There is that word!
ROGD!
Littman [The professor who did the research, who is no longer on the faculty of Brown University] polled parents and reported that they “describe a process of immersion in social media … immediately preceding their child becoming gender dysphoric.” Once a teen identifies as trans, Littman argued, they can unduly—and perhaps unwittingly—influence peers to do the same. This can partially explain the rising numbers of trans youth, she said, adding that the dynamic particularly affects those assigned female at birth.
The paper, which was based on parent surveys recruited from explicitly anti-trans or trans-skeptical websites and forums, almost immediately drew criticism. Shortly after its publication in August 2018, PLOS One, a peer-reviewed open-access journal covering science and medicine, issued a comment that questioned Littman’s methodology. Brown University, her then-employer, retracted its press release about the study. In early September, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health put out a statement saying ROGD “constitutes nothing more than an acronym” and urged restraint in using the term. Six months after that, PLOS One reissued the study with a large correction emphasizing that Littman’s paper was simply a “descriptive, exploratory” one and had not been clinically validated. In 2021, the Journal of Pediatrics published a comprehensive study that found no evidence for ROGD’s existence. More than 60 psychology organizations, including the American Psychological Association, called for elimination of the term.
Her bogus study keeps coming back and haunts us, even through her study has been discredited it is still widely used by the right-wing conservatives, it has been used to justify the draconian laws passed in Republican dominated states.
Of the parents that she surveyed;
When Littman took up the question, she decided to survey parents, who she felt would be easier to reach than trans youths themselves. In her Methods section, she writes that “to maximize the chances of finding cases meeting eligibility criteria”—meaning youths who suddenly became gender dysphoric, according to their parents—she turned to three websites: 4thwavenow.com, a “community of people who question the medicalization of gender-atypical youth”; transgendertrend.com, which says it’s concerned about “the unprecedented number of teenage girls suddenly self-identifying as ‘trans’”; and youthtranscriticalprofessionals.org, a now-private website that was “concerned about the current trend to quickly diagnose and affirm young people as transgender.”
The results were in line with what one might expect given those sources: 76.5% of parents surveyed “believed their child was incorrect in their belief of being transgender.” More than 85% said their child had increased their internet use and/or had trans friends before identifying as trans. The youths themselves had no say in the study, and there’s no telling if they had simply kept their parents in the dark for months or years before coming out. (Littman acknowledges that “parent-child conflict may also explain some of the findings.”)
The Republicans took it as manna from heaven! This is what they wanted to discredit the liberals! Finally a paper that debunked the research on us and pushed their beleifs.
One reason for the success of Littman’s paper is that it validates the idea that trans kids are new. But Jules Gill-Peterson, an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins and author of Histories of the Transgender Child, says that is “empirically untrue.” Trans children have only recently started to be discussed in mainstream media, so people assume they weren’t around before, she says, but “there have been children transitioning for as long as there has been transition-related medical technology,” and children were socially transitioning—living as a different gender without any medical or legal interventions—long before that.
The conservatives were dancing the street, the paper was pulled by an angry liberal conspiracy not because shoddy research but by liberal pressure!
When Littman’s paper appeared in 2018, there was science that supported youth transition, but little longitudinal research and few studies with large cohorts. Researchers are still filling in the gaps. There are researchers and clinicians treating patients who agree with Littman and say ROGD is a real and growing phenomenon that they’ve witnessed firsthand.
But a July 2022 study found that five years after socially transitioning, 94% of youth surveyed still identified as transgender and 3.5% identified as nonbinary.
And research has shown that family acceptance and appropriate medical intervention can have lasting benefits. In February 2022, for example, researchers reported that trans and nonbinary youths who went on puberty blockers or hormones had 60% lower odds of depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality, compared with those who did not.
But all that research doesn’t matter because it is all liberal conspiracy to hide the truth as they see it.
Let’s face it this research is not going away, the Republicans are going to keep dragging it out when every they try to pass anti-trans legislation.
When The LGBTQ Center hosts an all-ages drag show outside of Pride Month, between 70 and 90 attendees is considered a strong turnout, Executive Director H.R. Jung said.
But after social media posts alerted the center to an attempt by the Michiana Proud Boys, a local chapter of the white nationalist hate group, to shut down a show Friday evening, nearly 120 people bought tickets. Jung said the audience was protected by two dozen supporters who formed a barrier between the venue — The Well Coffee House —and a handful of anti-LGBTQ protesters.
“The funny thing is, because of their threat and because of it getting a lot of attention, we ended up actually making a lot more money than we normally do on the show,” Jung told The Tribune on Monday.
“In a way,” Jung added, “thank you, Proud Boys, for bringing some attention to what we do at the (LGBTQ) Center and riling up some more actual support and financial support.”
I worry that next time they will come armed like they have done in other places.
Jung had called the South Bend Police Department, and at least four squad cars were parked across the street. One officer can be seen holding a non-lethal weapon in a photo shared to Twitter.
[...]
“We were ready in case something happened that would have made safety a concern,” O'Chap said.
The right is becoming violent on their protests, coming armed with military type weapons, we seen it down in Texas and other states, it is a worrisome trend.
Protesters, some of them armed, threw rocks and smoke grenades at each other outside a drag queen story time event at an Oregon pub, but the weekend show that was to have featured a child performer went on as planned.
The 11-year-old did not take part as scheduled but was in the audience of about 50 people as some 200 demonstrators and counterdemonstrators — some of them armed — faced off outside the Oregon pub where Sunday’s story time was held.
Authorities said people in the crowd of about 200 protesters on both sides briefly “lobbed projectiles” at each other, prompting authorities to shut down the street. Some in the crowd had semi-automatic rifles, police said. The projectiles were rocks and some smoke bombs, the Register Guard reported.
[…]
The pub’s staff had “an intense weekend filled with racist and homophobic hate mail, physical threats of violence, and repeated attacks by right wing media outlets framing our Drag Queen Storytime as nefarious.”
Then down in Florida they forced us back in the closet.
An LGBTQ community center in Orlando, Fla., has canceled this weekend’s Halloween edition of Drag Queen Story Hour after receiving threats from extremist groups, including the far-right organization Proud Boys.
“Due to several threats from hate groups aimed at The Center and to those participating in Drag Queen Story Hour, we have decided to cancel the event for this Saturday’s Halloween Edition,” organizers announced Monday afternoon.
[...]
“It was sold out,” he told the Orlando Sentinel. “But again, safety is first in mind. We don’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, especially kids. ... They don’t need to be subjected to yelling and seeing that type of behavior.”
They won, I hope that the police are going after the ones who threaten the community center.
Some day it will go beyond throwing rocks to gun shots as anger mounts on both sides and the other side is the one with guns.
In what appears to be a first for Alaska, transgender students in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District are now banned from using bathrooms and changing facilities that match their gender identity.
That's despite protests that the policy could violate federal anti-discrimination laws. The decision also complicates a fundraising effort to create an all-gender restroom at Colony High School.
Reports of a "boy" using a Colony girls locker room — most likely a transgender girl, advocates say — triggered an outcry by hundreds of parents. At a packed a Mat-Su school board meeting last month, the board adopted a temporary policy overturning guidelines in place for more than seven years.
The school board on Wednesday voted 5-1 to adopt the policy permanently. Transgender students must now use bathrooms corresponding to their gender at birth or ask for a private option, usually the nurse's office.
One brave school board member stood up to the right-wing bigotry.
During Wednesday's testimony, one parent called the policy "thinly veiled discrimination against transgender students based on hateful and false stereotypes that gay and transgender individuals are predators and threats to health and safety." Others pointed to studies showing that transgender youths experience higher risk of suicide.
But truth and logic doesn’t win over bigotry, these right-wing has been so riled up that reason doesn’t win them over.
Clemmer's mother, Teresa, started a Gofundme page that as of Thursday had raised more than $5,000 to provide funding for a gender-neutral bathroom, an idea supported by more than 150 Colony students who have signed a petition.
Now the board's decision constrains the school's options for moving forward with the all-gender facility, Teresa Clemmer wrote in an update Wednesday night, but administrators told her they'll use the money "in a way that will help improve the bathroom situation for trans and nonbinary kids."
When I was in grad school I was asked to sign a petition to create gender neutral bathrooms and refused. They were shocked that I wouldn’t sign and they asked me why. I told them that if they ad a statement that it is only an alternative I was concerned that we would be forced to use them and it would be just another form of segregation.
The school district said they based it on legal rulings…
The original recommendation to review the district's longstanding facility use guidelines, from the board's three-member policy committee, was based on the actions of a federal judge in Tennessee who in July blocked the Biden administration from enforcing an executive order designed to protect the LGBTQ community from school and workplace discrimination.
However,
Transgender students have challenged policies that prevent them from using bathrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity in at least 11 cases in state and federal courts, the article says. The students prevailed in each case.
As the elections draws closer I hear from both sides that the economy is horrible, okay we all know that the economy sucks right now. Instead of telling us the economy is bad tell us how you are going to fix it!
Tell us you plan on cutting gas prices when world demand exceed production?
If you are saying you will cut the gas tax tell us what you are going to cut to make up for the loss in taxes? Cut funding for the roads? Cut funding to schools? What are you going to cut make up for the loss of revenue?
Tell us how you are going to conquer inflation when the economist say it is corporate profits that are driving the high prices.
Let’s face it, the global economy had its bell rung with a one two punch. First the plague hit, COVID disrupted the global supply line and causes shortages around the world driving up prices. Second Putin invaded the Ukraine and the global sanctions cut gas and oil shortages around the world.
So tell me Mr. and Ms. Politician how are you going to fix, don’t tell me that it is bad we know that we want to hear how you are going to fix it!
Politicians are great at telling us what is wrong but not how they will fix it.
A number of teachers in the school district have been directed by administrators to remove any LGBTQ+ flags from their classrooms on the advice of district attorneys who warned that the flags may be considered political statements.
Stonington Education Association President Michael Freeman, who heads the union, asked teachers to comply with the requests that come from Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Butler and added that Butler has been receptive to concerns about the policy and has already set a meeting in November to discuss the matter.
“Superintendent Mary Anne Butler and I have had an in-person meeting, (exchanged) emails and numerous text messages over the last couple weeks. She has been gracious enough to allow me to attend a meeting with the leadership and legal counsel of the district,” Freeman said in an email to union members. “As with anything in the school district, we are embarking on a process to clarify what is going on. Such a process takes time.”
The matter was brought to the attention of teachers in an email to all union members earlier this week. In his first email to union members, which was shared with The Sun, Freeman told teachers that those who were instructed to take down flags were notified as part of a directive from Butler and the central office staff.
In the line from the musical Music Man song “Ya Got Trouble”…
Right here in River City, trouble with a capital "T" And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool
Or in our case the “P” stands for “Pride”
There are no Blue islands there are only blue bubbles that can easily be popped.
VOTE!
Update: October 28, 2022 7:00AM
There has been a development in the Pride ruling... they have seen the light!
Breandan Cullen, a recent graduate of Stonington High School, said he struggled initially with homophobia and bigotry when he was a freshman at the school.
He said he ultimately sought the support of a teacher who happened to have a small rainbow flag on a mug, which led to him becoming a member of the Alliance for Acceptance, a student group that supports and advocates on behalf of the LGBTQ community.
“Being in a community of people like myself made an incredible impact on my self-esteem, confidence and development into the high-achieving young man I am today,” he said during public comment at a special meeting of the Stonington Board of Education on Tuesday evening.
Cullen, an Eagle Scout who graduated in the top 10% of his class and is currently enrolled in the University of Michigan, said the display of the rainbow flags in classrooms plays a pivotal role in acceptance and tolerance for other students who are members of the LGBTQ community.
Cullen’s remarks followed the Stonington Board of Education passing a resolution on the recommendation of Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Butler that Pride flags — a symbol of the LGBTQ community — be allowed to be displayed in classrooms, as they fall outside current board policies concerning partisan political displays, political influence and political messaging.
“These flags are statements of diversity, equity and inclusion that cross party lines and are not partisan,” Butler wrote in her recommendation. “We demonstrate diversity, equity and inclusion work in many ways, including our curriculum.”
In addition to permitting the display of Pride flags, the resolution also calls on the district to review within 30 days its policies to ensure they prohibit LGBTQ discrimination, as well as discuss with its unions ways to incorporate those policies in the district’s collective bargaining agreements.
The right-wingers keep on saying it is a political flag. But tell me, what party, what candidate does it represents?
Jon Stewart returns Friday, October 7 for the second season of his Apple TV+ show The Problem With Jon Stewart. For the season premiere, Stewart looks at the “problem of gender.”
“Ah, yes, the gender wars!” Stewart exclaims at the start of the trailer. He then goes into the data, explaining that anti-trans legislation has increased by 800 percent in recent years.
“What? Did trans people storm the Capitol?” he jokes.
Friday’s episode will feature a guest lineup including parents of trans children Keisha Michaels and Debi Jackson, trans attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Chase Strangio, endocrinologist Joshua Safer, and Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
In the trailer, Stewart is shown interviewing Rutledge. She tells Rutledge that almost 100 percent of those with gender dysphoria “can move past that.”
“That’s an incredibly made-up figure,” Stewart responds.
In another Advocate article the following week on another “John” this time Oliver…
John Oliver Calls Out Republican Transphobia The comedian highlighted the absurdity with which the GOP is attacking transgender rights this election cycle. By Christopher Wiggins October 17 2022
There is a growing list of comedians debunking Republican-spread myths about transgender children. John Oliver is among them.
The comedian addressed conservative transphobes on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight on HBO.
“More people do seem comfortable coming out as trans and gender-nonconforming, which is great,” Oliver said. “But as you have undoubtedly noticed, in the past few years, some on the right have truly lost their minds about trans rights.”
Conservative disinformation about gender-affirming care, like the false notion that children can request on-demand surgery or make permanent changes without consulting a doctor, is devastating to young people looking for treatment.
[…]
Oliver explained all of the right-wing panic surrounding the health care of trans kids, the false and hateful slur that LGBTQ+ people are groomers, and the ridiculous conspiracy theory that schools have provided litter boxes to children who identify as furry as a sign of their commitment to inclusivity. So although the situation is not real, there is a conspiracy theory behind it.
Now then what do you expect the evangelical Christian right-wing has to say about the truth?
You probably think that they got their tail feather all ruffled and you would be right, this conservative media outlet is in a lather.
No Laughing Matter John Oliver badly botches the “gender-affirming care” debate. City Journa By Leor Sapir October 17, 2022
Yesterday, John Oliver devoted an episode of Last Week Tonight to transgender rights, specifically the controversy over “gender-affirming care” for minors. Along with Jon Stewart, who recently aired a similar episode, Oliver appears uninterested in doing actual investigative reporting. The timing is no coincidence: a two-week trial in federal court begins today over Arkansas’s Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, and the left-leaning comedians possess immense power to shape public opinion. But Oliver’s argument, like Stewart’s, was little more than a misinformed genuflection to activists.
Oliver demonstrates his lack of critical thinking at the outset, when he informs his audience that he is about to discuss “LGBTQ rights.” Other than a 1967 CBS clip on homosexuality, which Oliver opens with in order to plant in his viewers’ mind the tenuous analogy, the entire episode is devoted to the trans issue. This is yet another example of activists using “LGB” as a cover for the “T”—exploiting public sympathy for the former to conceal the radical nature of the latter.
Don’t you just like it? It is like the kettle calling the pot black.
“...lack of critical thinking…” It is they who are ignoring all the medical literature and research and they are going by discredited or taken out of context research papers. Not only that but they want to drive a wedge our gay bothers and lesbian sisters and the trans community!
“Anti-trans” bills have proliferated across the nation, Oliver insists, and they have done so against a backdrop of “attacks and harassment” of hospitals providing “gender-affirming care” to youth. I am unaware of any “attacks” against hospitals or their employees. One bomb threat was issued against Boston Children’s Hospital and was thankfully investigated and addressed by local police. But this again is a rhetorical tactic taken out of the trans movement’s playbook: use a single example of extreme, unlawful conduct and claim that it is representative of all criticism, even skepticism, toward a movement making radical claims about human nature and society.
No they lie, other hospitals have received threats against the hospitals and/or the doctors.
Provider groups penned a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland today calling for the Department of Justice to take a harder stance on harassment campaigns targeted at pediatric hospitals and staff that provide gender-affirming care services.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Children’s Hospital Association told the attorney general "there is elevated and justifiable fear among families, patients and staff" resulting from bomb threats, protestors, phone calls and emails. While hospitals have ramped up their security in conjunction with law enforcement, some providers have needed 24/7 security due to messages sent to their personal accounts.
“Individuals in all workplaces have the right to a safe environment, out of harm’s way and free of intimidation or reprisal,” AMA President Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., said in a statement accompanying the letter. “As physicians, we condemn groups that promote hate-motivated intolerance and toxic misinformation that can lead to grave real-world violence and extremism and jeopardize patients' health outcomes.
[…]
At least 21 children's hospitals have been targeted by name in the social media harassment campaigns, leading 18 of those to modify their online information regarding gender-affirming care for young patients, STAT recently reported.
That is what the demagogues causing around the country, they are creating fear in the trans children, fear in the parents, fear in the medical staff. While at the same time garnering votes from the white supremacist voters.
While we are on the media, another news media comes out with an editorial against Tennessee’s anti-trans legislation.
The problem with trans kids isn’t Matt Walsh or Brittany Dean’s perceived problem. The problem is that transgender children are dying by suicide at an alarming rate.
The Tennessean
Members of the Metro Council LGBTQ Caucus Guest Columnists
September 22, 2022
It’s happening again. The LGBTQ community has had to defend itself time and again in Tennessee. Instead of opening minds to listen and understand, we’re met with ridicule and hate speech from talk radio, celebrities, and even from elected officials. In most of whom refuse to listen and learn, to empathize with someone’s personal situation.
The problem with trans kids is that they’re surrounded by adults who don’t believe them when they tell us who they are. Instead of surrounding them with the love, care and understanding that all children deserve, they’re being met with insults, mockery, and hate.
Recently, you may have heard a transphobic podcast from Matt Walsh, a self-described “theocratic fascist.” He claimed to have led an investigation into the Transgender Health Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He specifically targeted the pediatric clinic and used disinformation to rally his supporters.
They hit the nail on the head!
How many points did they get right!
Trans kids and their parents are scared for their safety, their physical and mental health, and for their future in a state where the highest office holder has betrayed all trust that the transgender community will be able to continue to have sovereignty over their personal legal decisions.
That is effect of all this draconian legislation against trans children. It is scaring the parents. It is scaring the children. It is green lighting bad behavior by other classmates and by parents. Just look at some of the video of boards of education meetings you can see the angry the demagoguery and that is the behavior that the right wants stir up.
Doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. By not giving gender affirming care, they are hurting that child. They are making them feel unaccepted. In the future, they won’t be truthful with doctors, and they will subsequently avoid care for all of their health needs.
For the LGBT community, especially those of us from small towns, finding an affirming doctor can be the difference of life and death.
The problem with trans kids isn’t Matt Walsh or Brittany Dean’s perceived problem. The problem is that transgender children are dying by suicide at an alarming rate, which continues to increase due to this attack on their liberty.
And they don’t care who they hurt because they have to know that this is hurting children, but they just don’t care. They see us as sub-human.
A new Republican-led House bill is being described as the national equivalent of Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which was passed into law earlier this year.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana and 32 other congressional Republicans introduced what they're calling the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022, which would prevent the use of federal funds from developing or funding "any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes."
The bill, if passed, would prevent schools from providing books about LGBTQ topics to children under 10. And beyond that, it would impact federally funded facilities like public libraries, schools, hospitals and more.
The pogrom against us is just beginning!
As NBC News points out, the bill defines "sexually-oriented material" as "any depiction, description, or simulation of sexual activity, any lewd or lascivious depiction or description of human genitals, or any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects."
LGBTQ advocates are now pointing out their concerns with the bill, which has wording that legal experts have said may open teachers of any grade level to lawsuits, per NBC. Specifically, the bill prohibits instruction "in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."
And the courts will not help us, they were all packed with evangelical Christians who put party and religion first ahead of the Constitution.
Bans on public drag have historically been leveraged to police the gender presentation of queer and trans people.
MSNBC
By Katelyn Burns, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
October 21, 2022
On Monday, the Idaho Capital Sun reported a chilling announcement from Idaho Family Policy Center President Blaine Conzatti: The upcoming state legislative session will include a new bill, co-drafted by the group, that will ban public drag performances throughout Idaho. If passed into law, the Idaho measure would be the most draconian government measure taken against LGBTQ people in several decades. Liberals should not write this bill off, but rather recognize it as the next step in stripping away hard-won protections for LGBTQ people in America.
The Idaho legislation comes amid a national panic on the right over Drag Queen Story Hour, which typically features a drag queen in a spangly outfit reading children’s books to kids. Idaho’s conservatives are reacting to a series of controversies that have popped up throughout the state, many driven by a panicky right-wing media environment. Conzatti cited a drag performance in Coeur d’Alene in June in which the performer was accused of exposing himself to children attending the event. The local prosecutor’s office determined that video allegedly showing the exposure was manipulated and the performer had not done so. According to the Coeur d’Alene Press, the performer is suing a conservative blogger for defamation over the incident.
[…]
Though we don’t have its text and the Idaho Family Policy Center is being secretive about its potential sponsors, this bill should deeply concern anyone who cares about LGBTQ rights. Bans on public drag have historically been leveraged to police the gender presentation of queer and trans people. Anti-crossdressing laws in New York City in the 1960s limited the number of articles of clothes of the “opposite sex” to two or less. Police used these laws to justify raids on gay bars and other places in which LGBTQ people gathered, including the Stonewall Inn in 1969. Patrons of the bar eventually became so fed up with the raids that they rioted, and forced the police to barricade themselves inside the bar over the course of a week that summer.
Many of our lesbian sisters and gay brothers sat back on their heals and did nothing because the persecution was directed at us so like in the Martin Niemöller poem "First they came for..." they did nothing.
This is the Lavender Scary on steroids. This 1s Anita Bryant’s "Save Our Children," with unlimited funds behind it. The thing of it is they are using us to gain power and seize control of the elections to create a one party system, they want a czar like Russia’s Putin.
VOTE!!!
And vote Blue as if your life depends upon it... because it does.
These is the case that will decide whether non-discrimination apply to everyone or that people will be allowed to discriminate against anyone they please.
Supreme Court to Hear LGBTQ+ Rights Case Before End of Year The court has set the date to hear the case of a Colorado web designer who says creating wedding websites for same-sex couples would violate her free speech rights. The Advocate By Trudy Ring October 19, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court has set December 5 as the date to hear oral arguments in the case of a Colorado web designer who wants to refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.
Lorie Smith, owner of 303 Creative, wants to expand her wedding business but says serving same-sex couples would violate her conservative Christian beliefs and her free speech rights. She filed suit in 2016 challenging Colorado’s LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination law. She lost at the federal district court and appeals court levels. The Supreme Court agreed in February to hear her case but only on the free speech claim. It announced the date Tuesday.
[…]
The Supreme Court now has a 6-3 majority of conservatives, including three justices appointed by Donald Trump. That led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide, in June’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling. In his concurrence in Dobbs, Justice Clarence Thomas said he’d like to see key LGBTQ+ rights decisions overturned — those that guarantee rights to intimacy and marriage — along with a 1965 decision that upheld the right to contraception.
What this means to us.
Since there can be no test if those are truly held religious beliefs anyone can claim that it is their spiritual beliefs and discriminate against us. And if they can do it against us they can do it against any protected class. Blacks, Jews, Muslims, single women, you name it and they can ignore the law just by saying “It is against my firmly held religious beliefs that _____.
This case can gut all the state and national non-discrimination laws!
Today is the last day of Fantasia Fair and last night was the Banquet, I debated whether I would go to the banquet or not. It was past my bedtime and for me driving at night is now a challenge, so I left during the awards.
But first lunch.
I had lunch at the Crown and Anchor and they had pasta and shrimp a buffet. One thing that I noticed was that they were loading up their plates with the shrimp and taking very little pasta. Another thing that I noticed was that it was very spicy, not overboard but borderline spicy.
I was thinking about going to the Town Hall Meeting: Community Responses to Anti-Trans Legislation and Policies workshop but I decided if I want to attend the banquet that I need to nap this afternoon.
At the Banquet looking around you can tell the crossdressers from those who have transitioned… just look at their footwear. It is a generality but it seems like most of those in stilettos 3” heels and above are crossdressers and those in flats have transitioned, you see some of the spouses are wearing stilettos but most are wearing sensible heels.
Me? I wore sneakers with a dress and a sweater And pantyhose! ...good lord it has been years since I wore pantyhose. COVID (or as I like to say "the plague") put a crimp in banquets and semi formal events. But there is an in-person meeting of the Governor's Advisory Council meeting in November so that will be business professional dress).
My guest left for Connecticut Friday morning with sniffs, a cough, and a runny nose (I got my fingers crossed) and I’m heading back to Connecticut on the 6th or 7th to vote and then back up here the following week until Thanksgiving.
~~~~~~~~
So at the beginning of the Fair I said over the years that the Fair has changed and I think one of the things that has changed over the years is that the fair is more concentrated. Workshops were held at several restaurants around town, for an example a workshop was held at Nappies and a night club called Vixens, so you had to walk around more in town.
One other change is where the banquet is held, it used to be held at different restaurants around town including the Provincetown Inn. They were all good except one restaurant, they had use packed in like sardines. They overstated the size of the banquet they could have, one positive for the place had a fire pit where you could escape the mob. I imagine having it in one or two places saves money, they probably get a discount for holding all the workshops in one building, same for having it at one restaurant.
Another thing that has changed is they had dune tours, whale watching excursions, and they had a trip to a winery.
Then there are the type of workshops, there were more variety, now over half of the workshops are for couples. Back then they had a transition track where there were workshops on transitioning. Maybe they fear chasing away the spouses with too many workshops on transitioning. They had workshops on wig care and styling, and makeup, they had a few this year but not as many in the past. In addition I saw that they had a workshop on Macramé, trans history in the movies, a workshop on activism (Town Hall Meeting: Community Responses to Anti-Trans Legislation and Policies), and a workshop on photography.
Also I have changed, the fair to me is more of a social event, meeting old friends and making new friends, but it is starting to get old. A lot of old friends have stop coming and the workshops are becoming old hat, what would keep me coming is stuff like dune tours, whale watching (But many of the whales have turned into snowbirds and headed toward warmer waters.), trans history workshops, and other workshops that are not trans related (Hmm... maybe a discussion of trans in science fiction.).
Lastly, there are more guys here, they are attracting more trans masculine fair goers.
P.S. When the fair started this year I couldn't walk far without getting winded, I noticed that I could walk father without getting winded by the end of the fair.
~~~~~~~~
From my 2000 diary.
Sunday October 22nd
All good thing must come to an end. We packed up, had breakfast, said our good-byes and headed back to Connecticut. I had an excellent time. Would I go back, YES!
***********************************************
October 28th
It has been six days since the Fantasia Fair. Some thoughts on the week, it was hard, well not hard but different, going back to work. I was walking down the hall at work when somebody called “Diana”, for one of our secretaries, I almost stopped and replied. Also, up in P’town I got use to carrying a pocketbook, now I start to look for it when I get up. It was total girl mode, the only male thing that I did was shave. You get deeper girl mode and it does effect your psyche. I liked it.
Friday's Keynote was by Mason Dunn. If you remember he was the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, my contemporary in Massachusetts and he is now the Deputy Director of Education and Training Programs at the Fenway Institute.
He covered local and national trans activism and he covered not only the bad but also the good that is happening around Massachusetts but also New England and the nation. I learned a few new things but mostly I knew about what he was talking about, one of the topics he covered was about the Connecticut federal case on trans sports. I filed an Amicus Curiae brief in the court case with PFLAG.
Plus after the Keynote I stayed and talked to some friends, the Fair is not just about workshops, dinners, and nightly entertainment but also seeing old friends and networking.
~~~~~~~
My diary from the 2000 fair,
October 12th
It’s getting closer to the Fantasia Fair, but as it does I have to lie to Mom and Dad and I hate it! I don’t really like it and I might not go to another event, this make me feel so bad lying to them. This is really downer. It’s because I didn’t have to come up with complicated lies, only just smoke it. This on the other hand evolves two lies, one at work - I’m going up to my brothers to help on his house and the other for family - I’m going to a computer show in Boston. Well, where in Boston , who’s going, what are you going to see, how do we get in touch with you, etc. etc…. “Oh, what a tangle web we weave when at first we do deceive… “ or however Shakespeare said it.
October 17th
An other white lie last night, Rick called an asked about my trip to Boston. I’m torn between wanting to go to Provincetown, but I hate all these lies. I have to think of a way to at least come out of the closet to Rick and Donna, but I worry about the consequence.
I’m off to P’town, I made the commitment, so now I have to live with the out come. Hopefully no more lies and that I will have a good time there and not worrying about Mom and Dad finding out.
It was always a problem for me before I came out how to tell my parents and my brother where I was going for the weekend. I invented little white lies, my parents and brother I told them I was going to a computer conference and at work to help my brother paint his condo.
