School Discrimination

I the past I have written about school systems that continue to discrimination and avoid obeying the law, well the U.S. Department of Education just posted a webpage with resources for both the student and the school administrators…

Because every student is entitled to equal educational opportunities regardless of race, color, or national origin, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued new guidance that highlights and explains what Federal law requires regarding the provision of educational resources, how OCR investigates resource disparities, and what States, school districts, and schools can do to meet their obligations to all their students.

One section that jumped out at me was,

Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act
Overview of the Law
On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Part of No Child Left Behind is the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, Section 9525 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by Section 901 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (the Boy Scouts Act), which applies to public elementary and secondary schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), and State educational agencies (SEAs) that receive Federal funds made available through the Department of Education. Under the Boy Scouts Act, which became effective on January 8, 2002, no such public school, LEA or SEA that provides an opportunity for one or more outside youth or community groups to meet on school premises or in school facilities shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in Title 36 of the United States Code as a patriotic society, that wishes to meet at the school.
OCR is charged with enforcing the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. Complaints alleging violations of this law may be filed using the OCR online complaint form or by contacting the OCR office with authority to handle complaints where the institution or entity you are complaining about is located.

What does this mean?

It means that the Boy Scouts can discriminate all they want because they don’t have to obey non-discrimination laws. They can bar gay scoutmasters or trans-scouts and there is nothing that we can do to prevent them from meeting at the school.

Saturday Six #549

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #549

1. You see that someone you’re talking to has a piece of spinach in her teeth. Would you say something or pretend you don’t notice?
I would pretend no to notice because someday I might be me doing it absentmindedly.

2. You overhear a mom creating a scene in a grocery store and using profanity while yelling at her child. Would you say something to the mom or would you feel it was none of your business?
Yes. A couple a days I was in line and two women behind my were commenting about androgynous looking clerk and they were saying that the store shouldn’t let “someone like it” work there and I spoke up.

3. You overhear a child creating a scene in a grocery store and using profanity while yelling at his mom. Would you say something to the mom or would you feel it was none of your business?
I would like to think I would but I probably would say nothing.

4. You see a child shoplift a toy and notice the parent doesn’t see it. Would you say something to the parent, the child, store management, or no one?
Again, I would like to think I would but I probably would say nothing.

5. You see an apparently homeless man shoplift something at a store. Would you say something to the man, the store manager, or no one?
Depends upon what they were shoplifting and I would wonder how you can tell if someone is homeless.

6. You see a homeless man outside a restaurant begging for food and you happen to have an extra $10 in your pocket. Would you buy him lunch, hand him the cash, or do nothing?
I have bought food for someone who is homeless, but I have known her for a couple of years and she couch surfs with friends.

Saturday 9: The Power of Love

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: The Power of Love (1985)

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

1) In this song, Huey explains that you don't need a credit card to find love. What's the last thing you charged? 
Clothes, I’m going on vacation this week so I bought some new clothes for the trip.

2) This song was written for Back to the Future. At the beginning of the movie, hero Marty McFly traveled around town on his skateboard. Are you good on a skateboard?
Ha! I never skateboarded in my life, I’m not crazy.

3) Huey sings lead and his backup group is The News. Was the most recent news you heard bad or good?
Ebola, Ebola, Ebola! It seems like some news channels are trying to create panic.

4) Huey's mother, Maria, was born in Poland. Who is the first member of your family to be born in the US of A?
Benedict Arnold, according to family lore we are related to him in some way.

5) Brainy Huey got a perfect score on the math portion of the SAT. Did you take the SAT? How did you do?
Are you kidding? I don’t remember that far back (almost 50 years).

6) This song also hit #1 in Australia, where anzac biscuits are popular. To make them (the recipe is here) you need coconut. Do you have any coconut in your home right now?
No. It not something that I stock in the pantry.

7) Thinking of dessert, would you rather have cookies, cake, pie, ice cream or frozen yogurt?
Ice cream, at least I can somewhat tolerate it.

8) We're definitely into autumn now. What will you remember most about Summer 2014?
Falcon Ridge Folk Festival.

9) Tell us your superhero name, as determined by the color of your shirt and an item directly to your right. For example, Sam fights crime as The Gold Kleenex Box!
Pink Laptop.

Oh When Will They Ever Learn

This time it is a Rhode Island college that was in the process of creating guidelines for trans-athletes and because of pressure they are now backtracking.

Westerly School Committee tables controversial transgender proposal
Westerly Sun
Published: October 16, 2014
By Anna Maria Lemoine Sun Staff Writer

WESTERLY — The School Committee on Wednesday night tabled a proposed policy that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room of the gender with which they identify, and prohibit discrimination against transgender and nonconforming students.

But the action, which essentially halts the policy for now, did little to quell the dozens of residents who showed up to Town Hall chambers in opposition to the policy, with some calling it “absurd.”
[…]
According to the proposed policy, “with respect to all restrooms, locker rooms or changing facilities, students shall have access to facilities that correspond to their gender identity. Schools may maintain separate restroom, locker room or changing facilities for male and female students, provided that they allow students to access them based on their gender identity,” the policy states. And “under no circumstances” will students be required to use “sex-segregated facilities that are inconsistent with their gender identity,” the policy states.

Any student who is uncomfortable using a shared facility, regardless of the reason, can request an alternative such as the addition of a privacy partition or curtain, according to the policy. The policy, however, maintains that “requiring a transgender or gender nonconforming student to use a separate, nonintegrated space threatens to publicly identify and marginalize the student as transgender and should not be done unless requested by a student.”

Their proposed policy follows both Rhode Island state non-discrimination law and Title IX and by not addressing the problem they are opening up the school district to legal action.

Being uncomfortable is not a reason to discriminate.

Do You Think This Law Suit Has Merit?

Somehow I don’t think this is worthily of a law suit, just because he was embarrassed is no reason to sue.

Man sues over pink panties after colonoscopy
USA Today
By Sean O’Sullivan,
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
October 15, 2014

DOVER, Del. — A Delaware man who underwent a colonoscopy awoke after the procedure to find he was wearing pink women's underwear, according to a lawsuit.

Plaintiff Andrew Walls, of Dover, Del., was not pleased, or amused, and this month filed a civil suit in New Castle County Superior Court against the Delaware Surgery Center in Dover seeking damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
[…]
According to the complaint, Walls went to the Delaware Surgery Center on Oct. 12, 2012, for a colonoscopy and as part of the procedure was placed under anesthesia.

"When the plaintiff recovered from the effects of the anesthesia administered by defendants, he awoke to realize that while he was unconscious pink women's underwear had been placed on his body," according to the suit. "When the plaintiff initially presented for his colonoscopy he had not been wearing pink women's underwear and at no time did the plaintiff voluntarily, knowingly or intentionally place the pink women's underwear upon himself."

Horrors of horrors!

He sure wouldn’t want me on the jury, talk about frivolous law suits. I would be mad being call to jury duty to hear the case.

survey services

From On High

Those who have power never see what it looks likes from below…

Master: I don’t understand why they want to be free, they are out there singing in the fields and they get three meals a day.

Boss after he gets a ten million dollar bonus: I don’t understand why they aren’t happy; I gave them a 25 cents raise.

Gay man:

But there are too many progressives and liberals who take it to the next level. I can't speak for everyone, but when one takes something that is not offensive to begin with (e.g. the Silverman video), sprinkles it with accusations of bigotry or ignorance, and then condemns it publicly, it comes across as self-serving and self-righteous. It's almost a way to say, "Look at how enlightened and socially conscious I am!" It serves no constructive purpose and only works to split hairs and as self-promotion.
[…]
But within activist and social justice circles, there's a tendency to find problems and bigotry where none exists. Whether it's accusing LGBT ally and liberal comedienne Sarah Silverman of being insensitive to trans issues in a comedic PSA or calling someone who critiques a religious doctrine "racist," the result is the same: ego stroking disguised as awareness.

Those of privilege do not see the injustice that their privileges create, when you look at any marginalized community their oppressors just don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Sarah Silverman is right, wage discrimination is wrong but you don’t go about correcting that discrimination by poking fun at another minority.

# # # # #

It is not just the trans-community that is under attack it is other oppressed communities that are also under attack for speaking up,

Feminist Critics of Video Games Facing Threats in ‘GamerGate’ Campaign
New York Times
By Nick Wingfield
OCT. 15, 2014

Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist cultural critic, has for months received death and rape threats from opponents of her recent work challenging the stereotypes of women in video games. Bomb threats for her public talks are now routine. One detractor created a game in which players can click their mouse to punch an image of her face.
[…]
The malice directed recently at women, though, is more intense, invigorated by the anonymity of social media and bulletin boards where groups go to cheer each other on and hatch plans for action. The atmosphere has become so toxic, say female game critics and developers, that they are calling on big companies in the $70-billion-a-year video game business to break their silence.

The oppressors see nothing wrong in the way games treat women. They are clueless about what the games are doing to women by marginalizing them.

Insurance

In•sur•ance
inˈSHo͝orəns
noun
1. a practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium.
2. a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality.

We now have insurance coverage for all medically necessary healthcare!

But, what does that mean if we are afraid to go to the doctors because we worry about how we will be treated by healthcare providers,

Op-ed: Hospitals Are Failing LGBTs
Gay.com
BY Jeff Krehely
OCT. 14, 2014

You’ve broken out in a cold sweat. You’re short of breath. And you feel pressure in your chest. You’ve got health insurance and know you should be going to the emergency room — yet you don’t.

The situation seems to defy logic, but now imagine that you’re living in a small, conservative community. You’re a transgender man. And your primary care doctor is more than 100 miles away because you were humiliated by the staff during your visit to the local doctor’s office. You’ve heard horror stories about the local hospital.

More states and companies are recognizing health insurance disparities for trans-people but what good will insurance coverage be if we do not trust our doctors and hospital to treat us properly? We shouldn’t have to ask one in other about which doctors are trans-friendly or we are afraid to call 911.

Oh When Will They Ever Learn?

Another school district gets its hand slapped.

Downey Unified School District settles with Department of Education over transgender discriminationBy City News Service
Whittier Daily News
Posted: 10/15/14

DOWNEY - The Downey Unified School District, which was accused of discriminating against a transgender elementary school student, has settled a claim with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, according to the agency.
[…]
Under the terms of a voluntary agreement, “the District will ensure that gender nonconforming and transgender students can participate fully in the District’s programs and activities in a safe, educational environment,” it said.

Now the school district should have known that they were breaking both state and federal laws when they allow verbal harassment to continue and forbad her from wearing make-up, talking about being trans, and suggesting that she transfers to another school system. Instead they chose to ignore the law and see what they could get away with doing.

A Dilemma

The Marine that killed the trans-woman in the Philippines is creating a quandary for the U.S. Will the U.S. turn over the Marine to the Philippine government or try him by the U.S. military. It is becoming a political nightmare.

Issue over custody of US soldier may stall filing of murder rap in court—lawmaker
By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 15th, 2014

MANILA, Philippines—The question of who takes custody of Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, the suspect in the killing of Filipino transgender Jennifer Laude, is threatening to derail the immediate filing of charges against the American serviceman, according to an Olongapo police official.

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, who went to Olongapo to lead a preliminary probe, said on Wednesday, that Chief Insp. Gil Domingo, the commander of the police station handling the case, revealed to his group that the custody issue has slowed the criminal prosecution of the suspect.
[…]
“During inquest proceedings, the PNP [Philippine National Police] is duty-bound to produce the suspect in their custody. But because of Pentagon’s insistence on Pemberton’s custody, Philippine authorities are left with no choice but to pursue a direct filing in the fiscal’s office,” the legislator said.

Meanwhile, the PinkNews reported that,

Dozens of protesters burned the US flag on Tuesday night outside the US embassy, demanding Washington hand over a marine suspected of the murder of a transgender woman.
[…]
Yesterday night, around 40 activists waved red flags and shouted “US troops out now.”
They called for the scrapping of an arrangement that allows the US to keep jurisdiction of military personnel accused of committing crimes in the Philippines.

The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and the Visiting Forces Agreement between the US and the Philippines give jurisdiction to the U.S. military.

The tug-of-war begins.

The Year Of The Trans

This past summer Time magazine said this year was the year of the “Transgender Tipping Point” and now they picked a trans-teenager as one of the 40 most influential teenagers,

Jazz Jennings, 14

In a landmark year for transgender visibility in the media, Jennings stands out for how much she’s already accomplished. She’s been interviewed by Barbara Walters, met Bill Clinton and become the youngest person ever featured on the Out 100 and The Advocate‘s 40 Under 40 lists. She even co-wrote a children’s book, I Am Jazz, loosely based on her life (she started living as a girl at age 5), that aims to help other kids understand what transgender means. “I have a girl brain but a boy body,” Jazz says in the book. “This is called transgender. I was born this way!” —Nolan Feeney 

There is "out" and then there is "OUT"

The Countdown Continues…

…To Fantasia Fair

I started my list of what I am taking for the week, I stopped the newspaper, and the mail and I still have some clothes to buy (a sweater and a turtleneck).

I went through the workshop list and picked out the workshops that I want to go to…

Fantasia Fair Itinerary

Sunday

6:00-9:00 Welcoming Reception

Monday

9:30-11:30 Brunch

3:00-4:30 Hair Restoration in the Transgender Individual

6:30-8:00 Town & Gown Dinner

8:00-10:00 Town & Gown Show: Exact Change 

Tuesday

Morning free - photo shoot

3:00-4:30 Femulate Blog Party

6:30-10:00 The Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award Banquet

Wednesday

Morning free - photo shoot

1:30-2:45 Evolution of an Activist: How to Keep Busy Helping Others for Fun and (almost no) Profit.

3:00-4:30 Evolution of an Activist: Discussion & Followup

8:00-10:00 Fashion Show

Thursday

10:00-11:30 Post-Transition Relationships: A Panel Discussion Dallas Denny & Heather Verdu

1:30-2:45 The Adventurous Evolution: The Life and Times of Trans* Over the Past Century or So...

3:00-4:30 A Participatory Discussion on Mental Health and Public Policy

9:30-11:30 Walking Tour ‐ The Darker Side of Ptown

Friday

10:00-11:30 Recording Our Stories: Forty Years of Fantasia Fair

1:30-2:45 Waging a Culture War on Two Fronts

3:00-4:30 Waging a Culture War on Two Fronts: Discussion & Followup

8:00-10:00 Fantasia Fair Follies

Saturday

Morning Free - photo shoot

1:30-2:45 Transgender Activism and Beyond

3:00-4:30 Transgender Activism and Beyond: Discussion and Follow-up

[3:00-4:30 MTF Surgeries Marci L. Bowers]

6:30-10:00 Gala Awards Banquet

Sunday

9:00-11:00 Farewell Brunch

I’m a devote amateur photographer and the Cape is so photogenic so in my free time I’m going to walk around town and drive around. The last time I was up to FF I got some great photos.

When They Stop Opposing Us Then I’ll Believe

The Pope is preaching tolerance but it hasn't seemed to filter on down yet.

Vatican Document: Gays Have 'Gifts and Qualities to Offer' Church
NBC News
October 13, 2014

In a dramatic shift in tone, a Vatican document said Monday that homosexuals had "gifts and qualities to offer" and asked if Catholicism could accept gays and recognize positive aspects of same-sex couples. Roman Catholic gay rights groups around the world hailed the paper as a breakthrough, but Church conservatives called it a betrayal of traditional family values.
[…]
"Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a further space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home," said the document, known by its Latin name "relatio".

In September the National Catholic Reporter wrote,

As equal marriage rights continue to expand, more Catholic institutions will confront the issue of employees in civil same-sex marriages and this will likely result in more firings, unless some accommodation is reached.

Five dioceses have revised teacher contracts explicitly banning employees from supporting same-sex relationships in both their professional and their personal lives. Officials in Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Honolulu; and Oakland, Calif., have added these "morality clauses," causing many educators to either resign in protest or refuse to renew their contracts for the coming school year. It is often heterosexual employees unwilling to end their open support for LGBT family and friends who are most affected by these contracts.

When this stops then  I will believe then I will believe that the church is turning over a new leaf.

Update 10/18/14 3:30PM
It seems like the Vatican is backpedaling already,

A final statement agreed to on Saturday by a summit of Catholic Church leaders to discuss teachings on family retreated from groundbreaking language on “welcoming homosexual persons” included in an interim draft released on Monday.
[...]
The final statement — formally known as the Relatio of the Extraordinary Synod on the Family — drops the title “Welcoming homosexual persons” from the section on the place of gays and lesbians in the church. Weaker language that spoke of “The pastoral care of people with homosexual orientation” was proposed instead, and a phrase referring to “Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community” was also dropped. But even this new language failed to receive a vote needed to be adopted, the Associated Press reported, failing on a vote of 118 to 62.

Columbus Day, What Do We Celebrate?

Today we celebrate Christopher Columbus the first person to discover the new world… only he wasn’t. He was the one who a better PR man and capitalized on his finding the “new world” only it wasn’t the “new world” there were people already living here. But they were only ignorant savages… only they weren’t ignorant savage they had a representative form of government and lived it cites. They had mathematics that enabled them to develop a calendar all the out to the year 2012. They also were very good at agriculture; if you remember when the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts it was the native people who showed them who to grow corn.

What Columbus had and they didn’t were guns and smallpox.

According to Cracked…

There's a pretty important detail our movies and textbooks left out of the handoff from Native Americans to white European settlers: It begins in the immediate aftermath of a full-blown apocalypse. In the decades between Columbus' discovery of America and the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock, the most devastating plague in human history raced up the East Coast of America. Just two years before the pilgrims started the tape recorder on New England's written history, the plague wiped out about 96 percent of the Indians in Massachusetts.

In the years before the plague turned America into The Stand, a sailor named Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed up the East Coast and described it as "densely populated" and so "smoky with Indian bonfires" that you could smell them burning hundreds of miles out at sea.

The article goes on to say,

In written records from early colonial times, you constantly come across "settlers" being shocked at how convenient the American wilderness made things for them. The eastern forests, generally portrayed by great American writers as a "thick, unbroken snarl of trees" no longer existed by the time the white European settlers actually showed up. The pilgrims couldn't believe their luck when they found that American forests just naturally contained "an ecological kaleidosocope of garden plots, blackberry rambles, pine barrens and spacious groves of chestnut, hickory and oak."

The puzzlingly obedient wilderness didn't stop in New England. Frontiersmen who settled what is today Ohio were psyched to find that the forest there naturally grew in a way that "resembled English parks." You could drive carriages through the untamed frontier without burning a single calorie clearing rocks, trees and shrubbery.

The Indians cultivated the lands around their villages. When you stop and think if you found a bush that had very tasty berries wouldn't you dig some of them up and plant them around your house? Or a tree with edible nuts that not only provided you with nourishment but also attracted squirrels which you could also eat you probably would cultivate them also around your home.

The reason why no one was living in the forests was the smallpox the Europeans brought with them wiped out the vast majority of the Native Americans.

I have heard from many people that our form of government was because of Freemasons. How the Constitution, the two chambers of legislature, the Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights were all Freemasons ideas.

Have you ever heard of the Iroquois Confederacy also known as the Six Nations?

Excerpt from the rat haus reality press…

On June 11 1776, an Onondaga sachem gave John Hancock an Iroquois name at Independence Hall. By John Kahionhes Fadden.

The people of the Six Nations, also known by the French term, Iroquois Confederacy, call themselves the Hau de no sau nee (ho dee noe sho nee) meaning People Building a Long House. Located in the northeastern region of North America, originally the Six Nations was five and included the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. The sixth nation, the Tuscaroras, migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century. Together these peoples comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth. Their story, and governance truly based on the consent of the governed, contains a great deal of life-promoting intelligence for those of us not familiar with this area of American history. The original United States representative democracy, fashioned by such central authors as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, drew much inspiration from this confederacy of nations. In our present day, we can benefit immensely, in our quest to establish anew a government truly dedicated to all life's liberty and happiness much as has been practiced by the Six Nations for over 800 hundred years.

This is from a conference that was held at Cornell University in 1987 on the Six Nations…

By the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Iroquois had practiced their own egalitarian government for hundreds of years. The Iroquois reputation for diplomacy and eloquence reveals they had securely evolved a sophisticated political system founded on reason, not on mere power. Accounts of the "noble savage" living in "natural freedom" had inspired European theorists John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau to expound ideas that had ignited the American Revolution and helped shape the new direction of government.

But the Founding Fathers found their best working model for their new government, not in the writings of Europeans, but through their direct contact with the Iroquois League; for the Great Law of Peace provided both model and incentive to transform thirteen separate colonies into the United States.

George Washington, after a visit to the Iroquois, expressed "great excitement" over the Iroquois" two houses and Grand Council. Ben Franklin wrote, "It would be strange if ignorant savages could execute a union that persisted ages and appears indissoluble; yet like union is impractical for twelve colonies to whom it is more necessary and advantageous."

At Cornell's conference, Dr. Donald Grinde, Jr. of Gettysburg College presented evidence that Thomas Jefferson adopted the specific symbols of the Peacemaker legend. The Tree of Peace became the Tree of Liberty; the Eagle, clutching a bundle of thirteen arrows, became the symbol of the new American government.

Grinde also brought the revelation that "one of the framers, John Rutledge of South Carolina, chair of the drafting committee, read portions of Iroquois Law to members of the committee. He asked them to consider a philosophy coming directly from this American soil."

The Great Law of Peace laid out a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" with three branches. The Onondaga, the Firekeepers, are the heart of the Confederacy. Similarly, the U.S. presidency forms an executive branch.

The League's legislative branch is in two parts: Mohawk and Seneca are Elder Brothers who form the upper house, while Oneida and Cayuga are Younger Brothers, similar to the Senate and House of the United States Congress. The Iroquois" equivalent of a Supreme Court is the Women's Councils, which settle disputes and judge legal violations.

So the next time that you celebrate Columbus Day remember what you are celebrating is the disruption of one of the oldest civilizations in the world and which lead to our United States Constitutions.  

Little Did I Know

One day at work I was bored and surfing the web trying to look busy and for some reason or another I started looking up the old computers that I learned on. I started reading about the IBM 360 but while I was reading it work got in the way so I booked marked the page. That bookmark would lead to an amazing discovery.

Several months later I went back to it and as I was reading it, it dawned on me that the article was on Lynn Conway but the title of the bookmark said Robert Conway…?

Life, Engineered
How Lynn Conway reinvented her world and ours
Michigan Engineering – University of Michigan
Story by Nicole Casal Moore

On a two-lane Texas highway in January 1978, it hit Lynn Conway that she might be leading a revolution.

She was 40 years old, driving a gold, wood-paneled Dodge wagon from Cambridge to Palo Alto on a southern route to stay out of the snow. She passed much of the trip with the windows down, flipping through radio stations for Boston's latest anthem or a Gerry Rafferty saxophone riff.

The last two years had been a blur. Conway had been working for Xerox on a daring project that would democratize microchip design – break it out of the vaults of the big semiconductor firms so the "personal computers" these futurists envisioned might begin to take shape.

If we have our heroes, Lynn Conway is one of those heroes. Because of her what you are reading this was made possible. The article that I was reading back in the late 90s was about a revolutionary breakthrough in computers that was made in the early 70s by Lynn Conway.

When she transitioned she also began a new job,

…She started as a contract programmer and quickly ascended to Memorex and then to the high-profile Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. 

And from there…

But she didn't know how to make microchips. So she learned. Then she ignored most of what she absorbed. Conway and Mead felt that the process needed to be reimagined, standardized and simplified.
[…]
A textbook would take the new concepts straight to the next generation. The team began writing "Introduction to VLSI Systems" and self-published the early versions at Xerox.

"The book was a landmark," Chuck House, director of InnovaScapes Institute wrote in the IEEE special issue about Conway. "The paradigm shift that enabled Apple's and Microsoft's emergence had vital antecedents that have largely remained obscure. Conway's role there, while crucial, has often seemed behind the scenes to outside observers."

So the next time you pick up your smartphone you will know that a trans-woman made that possible.

Wrong Way

I believe this is an important topic but this is the wrong way to debate wage inequity.



There are many other ways to bring this issue to the forefront instead of trivializing trans-people. GLAAD said,

Anti-trans workplace discrimination is no laughing matter

But as an ally to the transgender community, I also see why a video released by the National Women’s Law Center missed the mark in addressing the topic.

I certainly get the video’s humor, and I think we can all agree it’s well intended. But for transgender people and allies like me, it's difficult to watch without thinking about the dire employment situation trans people face in the workplace. For example:

• Transgender people are four times more likely to live in poverty than non-trans people
• The unemployment rate for transgender people is double the rate for the general population, and four times the rate for transgender people of color
• 47% of transgender people report they were either fired, not advanced, or not hired due to their gender identity
• Studies suggest the earnings of transgender women workers fall by nearly 1/3 following transition 
• You can be fired in 32 states for simply being transgender

When I was in the House gallery listening to the debate, the opposition trivialized our struggle by saying we were transitioning to save money on our auto insurance and I see this ad doing the same thing trivializing trans-men transition.

Substitute race for gender and you can get some idea how off color the ad is. Suppose they had a black man saying he became white to get better jobs, what would you think about the ad? Is it now objectionable? Then why is it okay to say that about a trans-man?

Yes, the ad is funny, yes the ad does show how ridiculous wage discrimination  is, but there are better ways to do it.

Update Oct. 12, 2014 6:30PM:
Sarah Silverman said on her Facebook page...

If I literally got a sex change I would indeed find the work force far less friendly. The video wasn't transphobic it was transignorant - never crossed my mind. But to my *unintentional* credit- people are talking about it & so begins awareness. Please don't punish this cause because of my video. I certainly don't only fight for causes that concern or benefit me and I expect the same of the vital trans community.

Update Oct. 14, 2014 3:45PM
The National Women’s Law Center said on their blog,

The video also features the ridiculous notion that Sarah Silverman would “become a dude” to avoid the wage gap. Sex reassignment surgery is an expensive and complex procedure, which health insurance companies typically refuse to cover, and is therefore out of reach for many of the transgender people who seek it—and transitioning from female to male would clearly not guarantee higher pay in reality. We know transgender people receive no pay premium; in fact, they almost universally report harassment and mistreatment on the job. Nearly half report having been fired, denied a promotion, or not having been hired because of their gender identity and studies suggest the earnings of transgender women workers fall by nearly a third following transition.

In a poll about the ad on the Huffington Post...

What do you think of Sarah Silverman's video?

• It was completely offensive.    12.25%
• I think it included valid points about the wage gap, but I understand and agree with the arguments against it.    34.77%
• It didn't bother me at all.    52.98%

Maybe the reason the majority found the ad inoffensive was because they don't have a clue of discrimination that we face. They live in their own little privileged world and have no knowledge of what is happening in the real world.

Saturday Six #548

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #548

1. How old were you when you received your first paycheck?
I think I was seventeen or eighteen.

2. What was the first hourly wage you remember?
I have no idea, that was fifty years ago.

3. How many different employers have you worked for?
Not counting my summer jobs, three.

4. How many different jobs (positions, titles, etc.) have you had at those various employers?
Three, technician, engineer, and supervisor.

5. Of the jobs you’ve held, which was your absolute least favorite and why?
The first one because I had to travel around the country. I’m a home person and do not like to travel.

6. Of the jobs you’ve held, which is your most favorite and why?
The last job until we got bought out by a large multinational corporation. Before we were bought out I used to help the other technicians when they had a problem, I used to work with them to find the problem. Once we were bought out  they got rid of my administrative assistant and was bogged down with paperwork, I’m not a typist or secretary.

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (2008)

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

1) Are the majority of your friends married or single?
I think it is split down the middle my older friends are married but my current friends are all single.

2) Rings are one of the items most frequently pawned. Have you ever visited a pawn shop, either to sell or to buy?
Neither, but I visited one because a friend was looking for a car and I drove him there.

3) Let's say we want to put a ring on it: What's your ring size? 
I have no idea, believe it or not I never bought a ring.

4) Beyonce does commercials for Pepsi. What's the last beverage you drank?
Apple and spice tea.

5) Beyonce also has a clothing line. What are you wearing right now?
A flannel top, jeans, and socks. I’m up at the cottage in New Hampshire and it was in the upper thirties.

6) Speaking of clothes, Sam was changing hers this morning when she unintentionally flashed her neighbor. She didn't realize he was working along the fence that runs under her bedroom window. Tell us one of your most embarrassing moments.
When I was wading in the ocean on Fire Island and wave knocked me over.

7)  Rumor has it Beyonce is pregnant again. Coincidentally, Sam needs to check the Babys R Us registry for a shower present. Who will receive the next gift you give?
My brother and sister-in-law for Christmas.

8) But Sam doesn't actually want to go to the shower and is trying to come up a good excuse. Tell us a time you fibbed you told to get out of doing something.
I usually don’t fib to get out of doing something.

9) When did you last go inside the bank and talk to a teller?
Wednesday, there was a long line at the drive-thru but no cars parked to go inside so I did. I walked right to the teller did my busy and left while only one car when through the drive-thru.

It’s Time Has Come

To be able to change your birth certificate without being forced to have surgery. There are four states (Oregon, California, Iowa, and New York) and the District of Columbia where you can now change your birth certificate without having surgery. However, in New York City you still need surgery in order to change your birth certificate.

Proposal would let transgender New Yorkers change birth certificates without surgery
By Erin Durkin
New York Daily News
Monday, October 6, 2014

Councilman Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) will introduce legislation to strip the surgery requirement from the city rules - and also remove any requirement to prove other medical treatment, such as hormone therapy.

“It’s going to improve the lives of transgender New Yorkers and allow them to get birth certificates that match their accurate gender,” he said. “Gender won’t be about your physicality. It won’t be about your body. It’s about how you identify.”
[…]
The city will instead only require a certification from one of a broad list of providers - including doctors and nurses, social workers, therapists, and midwives - that the person seeking a change is living a different gender than the one listed on their birth certificate.

Changing to birth certificate laws make sense because you can now change your gender on Social Security, passports and in most states your driver license without having surgery, all you need is a letter from your healthcare provider. This will bring it in-line with the other documentation.

LGBT History Month (Part 3)

I remember when…

Now that I once again had a computer at home and could access the internet I started searching the internet for stuff on transgender.

One of the first sites I came across was Melanie Anne Phillips and her diaries, I read a chapter a night, and I could wait to get home from work to read it, I even ordered a hard copy of it. The next site that I found was Rebecca Anne Allison and I also read her diary following her trials and tribulation as she transitioned.

In reading their stories I began to see that it was possible to transition and still have a life. That it was all doom and gloom like the news media portrayed trans-people. These were real people with real lives.

It was then that I was going through a medical crisis of my own leading me to believe that life is short, that life was beginning to past me by. So I started to research support groups in the area and I found the Connecticut Outreach Society and the Twenty Club, but that was for “transsexuals” and that wasn’t me.

I sent out an email to the address on their website and in my diary I copied the email exchange…

In a message dated 9/18/1999 9:34:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> After reading your website I realize that you probably get hundreds of the
> emails, but for me this is the first time that I have ever said anything to
> anybody about my Cross-dressing. I think I would like to go to your next
> meeting on Sept 22, but I would like some more information about COS.
>
I am glad that you have taken this first step - it is a HUGE one! It's not an easy thing to deal with I know
> First let me tell you something about myself first. I am in my early 50's
> and single. I live in ________. I have been secretly Cross Dressing since 7th
> grade. Since I've started surfing the web I found a whole new world out
> there. Now, I think it's time to take the first step. So....
>
> Question #1
> Would it be Ok if I can dress in slack and a blouse? I would wear a
> skirt, but I haven't shaved yet this year. Also I would feel more
> comfortable going out for the first time in slacks in case something happen
> while driving there. I don't want to change there at the meeting place.
>
That is perfectly OK - we do have bathrooms that are suitable for changing - but many of the members come en femme. We don't really have a dress code per se - it ranges from quite dressy to very casual - and you will often seen jeans and sneaks especially if someone is en route from somewhere. While the majority of people are in a dress or skirt, a blouse and slacks would be perfectly appropriate.
> Question #2
> How many people are usually at the meetings? I really wouldn't to be
> there if there were only a few people there, after all misery love's
> company. Or if there are too many, I don't to lost in the crowd. I guest
> what I’m really asking is "are the meeting clickist". I was in a ski club
> a number of years ago and the meeting were.
>
it is hard to predict. Our first meeting (Saturday the 11th) had a large turnout - perhaps 25-30 - but Wednesday's are often a different crowd. Typically we might see 10-20 though it might be more since it is the first Wednesday meeting. I would not describe our meetings as "clickish" - usually members are eager to talk to and help out new people. It's really such a relief to be in a group of people who have similar issues and feelings, that most new people just sort of sit and absorb it all! While some of the members have developed friendships that run a bit deeper than just the two "group" meetings per month, that usually comes with a level of trust and over time. As you can imagine, many of our members are very concerned about privacy and security and we respect that - so that some members just show up for meetings and get the newsletter and are content with that. I will say that I will not be able to attend the Wednesday meeting - which is why I am copying this reply to Stephanie - she is our outreach director and I hope will be at the meeting on Wednesday to greet you if you are able to come. Steph was one of the people who made ME feel comfortable at my first meeting 3-4 years back - and I am sure she will do the same for you!
> Question #3
> Are there many members my age at the meetings? I don't want to be the
> "old maid" there.
>
Our membership ranges from 20's to 70's - with most being in the 35-50 range. You would not be the old maid! We have about 75 "dues paying" members with another 25 or so on the fringes - they show up from time to time but aren't members for some reason.
> And...Question #4
> How do I get there?

> These are the main question that I can think of, I have a lot of other,
> but they can wait.
> I'm nervous about this and it really a big step, but I think I want to do
> this. I am still afraid talking to a stranger about coming out, hopefully I
> will do it.
>
Well, if you can make it Wednesday - wonderful - and if not - don't be too hard on yourself. Almost every member has a story about coming to the meeting place. But please *do* feel free to reply to this – and continue the dialogue. You are contemplating some very big steps - and it might take some time and building up a level of comfort. I am heading out of town tomorrow for a week (which is why I can't be at the meeting) but I will be picking up email while I am away - so will be happy to continue a dialogue.
> As I take a deep breath and click on the Send button. I await your reply.
>
You can exhale now!
> Thanks;
> *Diana*

It was a big step for me but when I walked through the door and saw other people like me  it was like a five hundred pound weight was lifted off my shoulders

At about the same time I started a blog on Geocites, my first entry was May 15, 2000…

Over the weekend ( May 13th ) the Connecticut Outreach Society ( COS ) had their annual banquet. This is the first time that I went, since I'm a new member and it was also the first time that "Diana" stayed overnight. I had a really great time. The food was great, they had some great speakers, Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie of "Gender Talk" radio, they also had a talent show which was also really great. As you can tell I really enjoyed it. They had slightly over fifty guests and the banquet was held at the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Waterbury CT. I got a charge out of the mundanes*as they walked by the entrance to the conference room, their eyes kind of popped out and their jaws dropped when they saw us. I was a little worried about going out, but it was OK. I signed in at the front desk in boy mode and helped in setting up the stage for the talent show, I had to walk by the banquet room a couple of times before I recognized any of the people because, they were also in boy mode. Went up to my room and changed. I wore a black velvet dress and mid-heel pumps and went marching off the to banquet. It got over at eleven and I helped them take down the stage. Unfortunately, I still was wearing my pumps and my feet were killing me. All in all I had a good time and would do it again, maybe even go to Tiffany's First Night with other COS members, it sounds like it will be fun.

*Any one know where I got the term mundanes - it was from Babylon 5 - that's what the telepathy's called the non-telepathy's

One of the reasons that I started the blog was to show that it was possible to go out in public and not have the world come to an end; I was paying forward what I learned from Ms. Phillips and Dr. Allison. It is still one of my goals for my blog along with educating the public about trans-issues and also to help kept the trans-community informed is what is happening around them.

I have been up to my brother's and sister-in-law's condo in Maine for the last three days for my birthday, so I wrote these blogs in advance.I should be driving in my driveway just about now.

National Coming Out Week

This week is National Coming Out Week and I am republishing a blog from 2009

Next week is the “National Coming Out Week,” you might expect that I am in favor of it, but I am not. Coming out involves great risks and you should assess the risk before you come out. Know if you have a support network just in case things go bad. Do your parents support LGBT issues or are they opposed to them. Assess the risk if you are coming out in school; know how much support the school administration will give you. These are just some of the factors that you should consider before coming out.

In the New York Times article on school bullying entitled, Bullied for Being ‘Gay’ Dr. Jeffrey Fishberger of The Trevor Project writes,

Bullying and being teased for being what others perceive as “different” happens to many children. Lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered young people — or those perceived to be L.G.B.T. — have a much higher incidence of harassment at school. In fact, it’s estimated that more than a quarter of L.G.B.T. young people drop out of school because of this very harassment.

It is important that you have a safe environment before coming out. The article goes on to state…

Fortunately, there are organizations that can work with your son’s school to help all the children understand the impact of their language and behavior.

GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), for example, works to ensure safe schools for all students through a variety of programs. The Day of Silence, for example, continues to grow each year, and hundreds of thousands of students now come together each year to participate. Another program, the No Name-Calling Week, provides schools with tools and inspiration to foster a dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying and name-calling in their communities.

Another resource that can be of help is The Trevor Project’s workshop program. …to open up discussions with all students about how language and behavior can affect the way an individual feels about him- or herself. A supportive teacher, school counselor or school administrator can assist in implementing these programs in your son’s school.

Here in Connecticut True Colors is a valuable resource for children coming out in school.

Remember, that once you come out, there is no going back. You can't say I was only kidding.

Be safe.

LGBT History Month (Part2)

I remember when…

Back in the late 90s at work we just got PCs and hooked up to the internet.

Now I have worked with computers back in the late 60s. The first computer that I learned to program was an IBM 1620 on which I learned FORTRAN. That was followed by the IBM 360 and BASIC. A couple of years later I bought a single board computer called an Rockwell AIM 65 where I learned Assembly Language for the 6502. That was followed by an Apple II+ and I was connected up to a network called Tymnet Delphi through a 300 baud phone modem. I was more interested in the hardware and the computers were becoming more of a black boxes that just ran programs so I started losing interest in them. One of the programs that I found interesting was a program called VisiCalc. I had made a circuit that measured the temperature in the house and outside and I wrote a program that took the data and recorded in a file that could be read by VisiCalc.

One day at work my boss delivered a bunch of boxes to me and say, “See what you can do with this!” Awhile later it was hooked up to the internet and my boss said for me to find a replacement transformer for a circuit board. So I typed into AltaVista, Excite, and Lycos search engines “Transformers” and lo and behold what came crossdressers and transsexuals and transgender!

Whoa! I nervously looked to see who was able to see the screen and if anyone saw the results.

Within a week I had a home PC and connected up to the internet and searching the internet.

LGBT History Month (Part 1 of 3)

I remember when…

I thought I was all alone, I didn’t think anyone else in the world felt the way I did. When I first saw news articles about Christine Jorgensen and Renee Richards I didn’t connect with them because of the way the media portrait them, that wasn’t me. It you looked transsexual in a dictionary or an encyclopedia the definition said “perversion” or “mental disorder” and I didn’t think that fit me.

One day in the summer of 1970 I was washing my car in the driveway and a song came on the radio. I wasn’t paying particle attention to it but then I heard the words…

Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
Oh my Lola la-la-la-la Lola la-la-la-la Lola

Hmm…?

That got my attention and I stopped to listen…

Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
La-la-la-la Lola

Whoa! I sat down and listened to the song.

There was a song about the way I felt!

There must be other people who felt the same way that I did if there is a song about us.

I am not alone!

This Is Something That I have Been Saying…

Now that marriage equality is spreading across the land and everyone is celebrating, let’s stop for a second and realize that there is no protection for LGBT in many of the states where you can now legally get married.

More gay people can now get legally married. They can still be legally fired.
Washington Post
By Patrick J. Egan
October 6

With the Supreme Court’s refusal earlier Monday to hear a series of cases on same-sex marriage, the movement for LGBT rights in the United States has taken a completely unexpected turn: Gay people can now get legally married in more states than where they are legally protected from job discrimination.  As this map shows, there are now five states — Indiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Virginia — where gay people can get legally married and where it is perfectly legal for an employer to fire someone for being gay.

Or be refused service or be evicted once they get married.

That leaves those hoping for the extension of employment protections to gay people with little hope in the short term.  Of the 29 states that do not have laws prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, all but one — West Virginia — has a state legislature either partially or completely controlled by Republicans.  If (as expected) courts continue to expand marriage equality to additional states, more and more gay people in these states will find themselves in a most peculiar conundrum: they can get legally married to someone of the same sex, and legally fired for doing so.

There are some court cases that are making their way through the legal system that are trying to expand on the gains we trans-people have made with Title VII. They are arguing that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination and I think they have a good chance of winning. However, Title VII only covers employment discrimination not public accommodation or housing discrimination.

The Simple Truth

We now have insurance, but… it is hit or miss. I know some trans-people that had insurance company say Gender Confirming Surgery (GCS) is covered while some trans-people with the exact same insurance company are told that it is not covered.

It depends on who answers the phone at the insurance company and how you phrase surgery. If you say you are having GCS you usually get denied but you will have better luck is you list the surgeries that make up the GCS. If you are covered then you run the problems that an article in the EDGE points out,

The transgender community celebrated the groundbreaking U.S. Government's recognition of gender dysphoria and its coverage of transgender surgery under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But as the law begins to be implemented and real transgender people attempt to use its coverage, they are starting to discover its acute limitations, even to the point where many believe that transgender surgery is little more available now than it was before the law.

"Although it is a wonderful step forward that our government has legitimized transgender healthcare, the Affordable Care Act's coverage, through Medicare, pays only a miniscule amount towards that coverage," said Dr. Sherman Leis, a transgender surgeon of international renown and founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery. "Unfortunately, most experienced transgender surgeons cannot even begin to cover basic costs from this reimbursement, let alone earn a reasonable amount for time and experience."

And therein lies the rub, if your insurance will cover GCS they will only cover a mere fraction of the actual cost.

The Caribbean (Part 2)

On Sunday I wrote about the discrimination and violence that LGBT people on the island of Trinidad and this morning I came across this article in the PinkNews about Jamaica,

Jamaica: Poll finds 91% support anti-gay buggery law
A recent poll in Jamaican media has reported that only 5% of Jamaicans say the country’s buggery law should be repealed.

The poll, which conducted interviews in September, was commissioned by the Jamaica Gleaner.

It found that 91% of Jamaicans supported the law, whereas 5% opposed it. An additional 4% said they did not know.

The poll also found that 82% said they believed gay men were not treated fairly by the legal system or police.

However 68% said gay men should not have equal rights, whereas only 26% said they should.

For transgender people, the results were even more extreme.

72% said they believe trans people should not have equal rights, whereas 23% agreed they should be treated equally.

But is anyone surprised?

I think that it is a combination of a strong Catholic beliefs and the macho culture that make Central America and the Caribbean unwelcoming for us.

Dancing Around The Issue

Today’s Supreme Court is a pro at dancing around the issues to avoid having to make hard decisions.

Supreme Court dodges gay marriage, allowing weddings in five states
Reuters
By Lawrence Hurley
Mon Oct 6, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to decide once and for all whether states can ban gay marriage, a surprise move that will allow gay men and women to marry in five states where same-sex weddings were previously forbidden.

By rejecting appeals in cases involving Virginia, Oklahoma, Utah, Wisconsin and Indiana, the court left intact lower-court rulings that had struck down the bans in those states. But the high court's action means there will be no imminent national ruling on the issue, with litigation in states where gay marriage is still banned likely to continue.
[…]
Other states under the jurisdiction of appeals courts that have struck down the bans will also be affected by the Supreme Court's decision, meaning the number of states with gay marriage is likely to quickly jump from 19 to 30. The other states would be North Carolina, West Virginia, South Carolina, Wyoming, Kansas and Colorado.

But at the same time by not hearing the cases the message is strong to the other courts,

The issue could still return to the court, but the message sent by the court in declining to hear the matter would be a boost to gay marriage advocates involved in similar litigation in states that still have bans on the books.

As a result the justices do not have to hear the cases and go on record with their verdict. So the Supreme Court did a quick two-step around the issue.

Reaching Out

Every morning I search Google News for articles on “Transgender” and sometimes I am surprised at what I find. Many times it is just one topic, for example when Laverne Cox was on the cover of Time Magazine it seemed like all the stories were about her or when Fallon Fox the mixed martial artist started fighting in the women’s league it was hard to find other topics to write about.

This morning’s search brought up a number of interesting news articles and one caught my attention,

The surprising Obamacare experiment that saved taxpayers $24 ...
Washington Post-15 minutes ago
Two patients received their first set of house keys ever: a 26-year-old transgender woman, whose grandmother kicked her out as a child, and a 31-year-old man ...

So I clicked on the article to see if I could use it this morning’s blog and when I started to read it I found that it had only one paragraph about “transgender” but it was the rest of the article that I found interesting.

When I knew that they were closing down the factory where I worked for 28 years I knew that I wanted to help the trans-community in my retirement in some way. It was that desire that lead me to become a social worker, and that was what the article in the Washington Post was about.

NEW YORK — The social worker pulls on blue latex gloves and a surgical face mask. She steps into the hospital room, where sheer curtains dim the September afternoon sunlight.

James Watley, 53, sits upright in bed, recovering from a bone marrow transplant. He’s sipping ginger ale through a straw. An orange rests at his hip, as though he’s guarding it.
[…]
He came here from a Brooklyn homeless shelter, where his oxygen tank was considered a fire hazard. It’s at least an hour by subway from the Montefiore Medical Center in the Northwest Bronx, where he receives treatment for blood cancer. Last time, he fainted on the train.

Deirdre Sekulic, 42, doesn’t argue. Her job is guided by one belief: Sick people with no home cannot heal. Moral implications aside, that’s an expensive problem for the nation.

It doesn’t matter if the social worker is a therapist or a case worker or a community organizer like me,  we are there to guide, not lead. If your therapist is leading you or telling what you should do instead of guiding you, get another therapist. If your case working is leading you instead of talking over your options and helping you to decide which is best for you and then helping you to reach your goals (as long as it is not harmful to you or to others or it is not court ordered), get another case worker.

The article goes on to say,

Housing, one of the newest initiatives here, takes this idea a step further. Montefiore has housed only two patients, but it plans to push for more.
[…]
This year, Sekulic secured two apartments, funded partly by Medicaid. Two patients received their first set of house keys ever: a 26-year-old transgender woman, whose grandmother kicked her out as a child, and a 31-year-old man who slept on the streets before unchecked diabetes rendered him half-blind.

For the last year I have been working with other people to see if we could start a resident home for trans-people, but now after a year of trying to get funding for what we are calling “Celebration Home” I think that there is a better way which is to secure individual housing from us.

The biggest challenge, she said, is signing the lease. That’s because the Bronx has about 8,000 supportive-housing units — and thousands more New Yorkers from all five boroughs are vying for them.

On Christmas Eve, Sekulic rushed to a Harlem agency to sign for the 26-year-old transgender woman, her first patient housed. The patient’s ER trips since dipped from nearly 50 in 2013 to just one this year, to patch an accidental wrist cut.

The main problem is that the waiting list for Section 8 housing is long and it is hard for find affordable housing. So they have to couch surf with friends or go to a homeless shelter.

But as the article points out it actually saves money in finding housing for the homeless because it cuts medical cost. When you have a roof over your head and getting timely preventative healthcare it improves the quality of life for them

From One Extreme To Another

When people think about religion and LGBT rights many people think that thy go together like oil and water, that the two do not mix. Many times they are right and many times they are wrong.

On Friday I went to a concert by a trans-women at a United Church of Christ church and there are so many other churches that are open and affirming. The Episcopal Church is also affirming and they even have trans-priests. When my aunt died the Congregational Church she was a member was accepting of me and has no problem with accepting gay, lesbian or trans-people.

But there are also an equal number of churches that want nothing to do with us and disdain anything that has even a remote connection with us.

Catholic U. tells group to delay screening of film on gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk
The Washington Post
By Nick Anderson
October 2, 2014

Catholic University told a student group this week to postpone a screening of the movie “Milk,” about gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk, after officials raised questions about a flier linking the event to LGBT awareness month.

The episode underscored tensions that sometimes arise over social issues and Catholic doctrine at a university with direct ties to the Vatican. Catholicism teaches that gays and lesbians as individuals are fully accepted by God but that their sexual relationships are sinful. Pope Francis has sought to take a nonconfrontational stance, telling a reporter last year who asked about homosexuality: “Who am I to judge?”
[…]
“For university administrators, it called into question whether the event had changed in nature from one of education to one of advocacy,” Nakas said in a statement. “Given the confusion caused by the advertising, the Office of the Dean of Students contacted the College Democrats to postpone the event.”

It seems that the university officials are the ones to judge.

The Caribbean Is Not Trans-Friendly…

The lovely Caribbean island are tropical dream for many, but if you are gay, lesbian or trans it can be a nightmare. Trinidad is one of the Caribbean islands that is not LGBT friendly…

Denial country
Trinidad Express Newspapers
By Martin Daly
Story Created: Oct 4, 2014

When I read the Prime Minister’s reasons why our Republic cannot consider any change in the legal status of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons, a group commonly collected under the initials LGBT, it reminded me that I had been intending to write a column about our denial country.
[…]
Nevertheless, it cannot be acceptable for unknown masked men, with the customary impunity, to kill three residents of a beleaguered and scorned area on the outskirts of our capital.  The outrage of these murders with the customary impunity is heightened given that the Army has been deployed in that area for the stated purpose of suppressing murderous crime and the Minister of National Security is boasting about the success of the de facto martial law imposed there.

It is not just Trinidad many of the Caribbean islands have a low tolerance of anything LGBT. Just look at the Transgender Day of Remembrance and see how many names are from the Caribbean, Central and South America? Islands like Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, countries like Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia where the machismo culture runs deep.

Saturday 9: Rubber Ducky

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Rubber Ducky (1970)

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

1) This song is sung by Muppet Ernie. Who's your favorite Muppet?
This week’s meme is going to be hard since I have never watched Sesame Street. When the show started I was in my late twenties and I don’t have any kids so I never watched the show.

2) Ernie became famous on PBS's Sesame Street. What public television shows do you watch?
Masterpiece Theater, I like the British detective stories.

3) When you were a little kid, what was your favorite TV show?
Roy Rogers… see I told you I’m old. (BTW, the show is again on Saturday mornings)

4) On Sesame Street, Ernie frequently teases his best friend Bert by stealing his nose. Do you enjoy practical jokes?
No. They are usually at someone else’s expense.

5) Sesame Street creators developed carefree Ernie and serious Bert to show children that different types of people can be good friends. Think about your closest friend. Tell us how you two differ. 
I’m introverted and they are extroverted.

6) Bert and Ernie share a basement apartment on Sesame Street. Tell us about the basement of the building you're in right now. 
My basement is a walk out basement with a den and exercise room (which is currently pressed in to service as a storage area for my parent’s stuff from their house.

7) Ernie and Bert were created by Jim Henson. In addition to being an accomplished puppeteer, Mr. Henson was also a talented cartoonist. Can you draw?  
Nope.

8) Jim Henson made his first puppets himself using felt, foam rubber, string and rods -- all items that can be purchased at an arts and crafts store. When is the last time you shopped in an arts and crafts store? 
Hmm… I’m trying to think if I ever when into an arts and craft store. Does JoAnn Fabric’s count? Last December I bought my sister-in-law a gift certificate.

9) When is the last time you took a bath (as opposed to a shower)?
Last winter, it is getting to be bath season again. There is nothing like soaking in a warm bubble bath with scented candles all around while watching the snow come down outside.

I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your comments last week. After I did last week’s meme I drove up to the cottage in New Hampshire (You can read my whole misadventure here.) and when I got there the phone and internet was out. By the time I got home Sunday I was just too tired.

When The ID Doesn’t Match The Face

It can create a whole mess of problems when the face does not match you identification. From not being allowed into a bar to not being able to vote. You might remember the Denver bar last year that refused admission to a trans-woman.

The Wrangler, a well-known Denver bar with strong ties to the LGBT community, finds itself in the cross hairs of two conflicting laws after refusing to admit a man who was wearing a dress, a wig and makeup.
[…]
Meanwhile, the bar and other industry advocates argue that it is a huge risk to serve people whose appearance doesn't match their government-issued ID, because the penalty for serving alcohol to someone underage could be crippling.

The CBS station in San Francisco reported that,

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — For Donna DiAngelo, winning tickets to a Yanni concert at the Oracle Arena presented a unique challenge: How to pick up her winning tickets at will-call.

DiAngelo dresses, lives and identifies as a woman.   Yet, her driver’s license – the form of ID required to get the tickets – still has a male name.

“It didn’t occur to me they would require a photo ID,” DiAngelo explained.    “I didn’t want to show up at the arena and make a big scene. ”

And when Donna tried to contact the Arena to explain the problem beforehand, she was unable to find anyone to help.

We are lucky that here in Connecticut it is rather easy to change our name and gender on our driver license, but in many states it is impossible to change the gender on your license without surgery.

The above cases are minor compared to not being able to vote. The Williams Institute issued a paper on how some trans-women are denied the right to vote. For most of us it is easy to get a copy of your birth certificate but for many others it is near impossible to get a copy of their birth certificate. In some states you must go in person to get an official copy of your birth certificate and for low income people they cannot afford to travel or take time off from work to get a copy of their birth certificate. In addition, in some states your birth certificate cannot be changed.

STUDY: Voter ID Laws in 10 States May Disenfranchise Transgender Citizens
This November, thousands of trans people in ten Southern and Midwestern U.S. states will face strict photo ID laws that may bar them from voting.
The Advocate
By Mitch Kellaway
September 10, 2014

According to a new study, strict voter ID laws in 10 states may create substantial barriers for transgender citizens during this November's general elections.

The 10 "strict photo ID states" that researchers at the University of California Los Angeles's Williams Institute considered were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Within these states, approximately 24,000 trans citizens whose identification documents do not reflect their correct gender could become disenfranchised. This is an estimated 28 percent of the states' voting-eligible trans population.

One time after I transitioned I was going to vote in a presidential election when I was asked for my ID at the door and I gave him my driver license which had my legal name and gender. He looked at it and looked at me and looked at it and said to me “Is this you?” I said yes. We stared at each other for what seemed like a minute but it probably was much less, finally he passed me through. My picture on my license looks pretty much like the one on my blog can you imagine the problems I would have voting if my license still had my male name and photo because you could not change them until you had surgery?.

Last Night’s Fundraiser

Last night I went to a LGBT Democratic PAC fundraiser in Hamden.

Right now Governor Malloy is behind in the polls by a couple of percentage points.

One of the reasons I am support Governor Malloy is that he has been a strong supporter of LGBT rights, especially trans-rights. If it wasn’t for his support of the gender identity and expression non-discrimination bill it would have never passed. He took personal interest in seeing that our bill passed and he personally lobbied for the bill. Under the Republican governors they would have never signed the bill if it passed the legislature.

It was Malloy who came and spoke at the Transgender Day of Remembrance; it is Governor Malloy who flew the rainbow flag over the capitol. It was his administration that ordered insurance companies to cover our medical needs.

When we were trying to pass the non-discrimination bill we were opposed by the Family Institute of Connecticut. The night the bill was voted on in the Senate they were up in the gallery still trying everything to block the bill and add unacceptable amendments to the bill. Now they are backing the Republican candidate Tom Foley.

It was the FIC that called our bill “The Bathroom Bill,” and they are still trying to get it repealed or amended and the candidates that they have endorsed shares their views.

Another Day, Another Meeting

This time it was with True Colors and a conference call, and later this evening it is down to Hamden for a Democratic fundraiser. So there will be no afternoon blog.

When You Tell Someone To Do Something…

In the name of god you get thousands who follow blindly.

The Minnesota State High School League is holding hearings on their proposed policy for trans-athletes has stirred a firestorm among  the Christian conservatives who now see it as affront to their religious values…

High School League proposal on transgender athletes draws impassioned pleas
Article by: David La Vaque
Star Tribune
October 2, 2014

With an estimated 10,000 e-mails about a controversial proposal to guide the participation of transgender athletes in high school sports already in hand, officials of the Minnesota State High School League heard the impassioned voices of parents, students and advocates Wednesday.

An unprecedented and overflow crowd of about 150 people packed the league’s boardroom in Brooklyn Center, as three city police officers stood by to ensure that the workshop on the sensitive and divisive topic remained civil.
[…]
During his presentation, Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, held up a stack of paper he said contained 3,300 signatures petitioning for rejection of the transgender athlete policy.

And of course the “Family” organizations had to put their two cents in…

Autumn Leva, director of legislative affairs and communications for the Minnesota Family Council, said “the policy is not in the shape it needs to be in to go forward. We’ve offered to work with the high school league on developing a policy with language to protect the physical privacy rights of students. That’s gone unanswered.”

Minnesota Family Council, a Christian-based advocacy group that says it aims to promote and defend biblical principles in public policy matters, wrote the high school league two letters urging that the policy be rejected.

Another organization ran a full page ad in the Star Tribune that was full of lies and fear mongering. The LGBTQNation wrote,

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s largest daily newspaper is under fire for running an anti-transgender advertisement in Sunday’s edition that claimed high school boys may soon be allowed to shower with girls.
The full page ad, paid for by the Minnesota Child Protection League, is in response to a proposed policy change by the Minnesota State High School League that would provide inclusion for transgender athletes.

The ad says, “A male wants to shower next to your 14 year old daughter. Are you okay with that?
[…]
The newspaper’s decision to run the ad has angered many longtime readers, who have taken to Twitter to voice their disagreement with the ad.

It will be interesting to see how they vote tonight, will they succumb to the right wing pressure, or will they follow the law and the NCAA guidelines?

Imagine That…

A think tank found that states without LGBT protection the LGBT communities have a higher rate of poverty that states with protection. What a surprise!

The Center for American Progress said in a press release that,

A landmark report released today paints a stark picture of the added financial burdens that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, Americans face because of anti-LGBT laws at the national, state, and local levels. According to the report, these laws contribute to significantly higher rates of poverty among LGBT Americans and create unfair financial penalties in the form of higher taxes, reduced wages and Social Security income, increased health care costs, and more.
[…]
"Unfair laws deliver a one-two punch. They both drive poverty within the LGBT community and then hit people when they are down," said Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of MAP. "While families with means might be able to withstand the costs of extra taxation or the unfair denial of Social Security benefits, for a family already struggling, these financial penalties can mean the difference between getting by and getting evicted. Anti-LGBT laws do the most harm to the most vulnerable in the LGBT community, including those who are barely making ends meet, families with children, older adults, and people of color."

The report documents the often-devastating consequences when the law fails LGBT families. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are almost twice as likely to be poor as children raised by married opposite-sex parents. Additionally, 15 percent of transgender workers have incomes of less than $10,000 per year; among the population as a whole, the comparable figure is just 4 percent. To demonstrate the connection between anti-LGBT laws and the finances of LGBT Americans and their families, the report outlines how LGBT people living in states with low levels of equality are more likely to be poor, both compared to their non-LGBT neighbors, and compared to their LGBT counterparts in state with high levels of equality. Discriminatory laws create a devastating cycle of poverty.

So is there any one who is surprised with the findings?

And just because a state does have LGBT protection doesn’t mean it is all rosy. I know many trans-people here in Connecticut who are highly qualified and can’t get a job and I can imagine what it is like in states that don’t have protection.

When you are looking for a job here, the discrimination is covert. They didn’t hire you because you are trans, they didn’t hire you because you are over qualified or under qualified. While in states that do not have protection they just come right out and say it, we don’t rent to people like you.

As Busy Day...

This morning I have a 9:00 AM meeting with the Save School Coalition up in Hartford with various state agencies and NGO (Non-Government Organizations).

Then it is off to Staples to have the photographs that I am entering in a local fair printed.

This afternoon is my weekly Wednesday afternoon volunteering at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective, I am the Trans-Advocate there. I help trans-people who are looking for therapists or endos or if they need help with changing their documentation. Yesterday I had a social worker called who had a client come out to her as trans and she was looking for a therapists to send her. I also had a call from a trans-person who was looking for a trans-friendly PCP.