Fantasia Fair Day 4 – Whales!

Yesterday’s luncheon keynote address was by Denise Norris and her keynote was “My Journey to Gender Authenticity.” I haven’t heard of her so I read her bio,

Denise Norris is more recently the lead for global transgender workplace inclusion at a global management consulting firm with over 300,000 employees world-wide and she also serves on the Board of Directors for Marriage Equality USA, a national organization advocating an end of discrimination regarding civil marriage for all people regardless of gender or orientation. Her roots in the Transgender community extend back more than 20 years from co-founding The Transexual Menace in 1993 to the creation of the Institute for Transgender Economic Advancement in 2014. In 2012, she received the Stonewall Spirit of Pride Award from the Stonewall National Museum and Archives for her contributions to the Transgender community. Her vision for the future is that we will no longer be separated by letters like L, G, B and T, but will become one community, united in seeking equality for all genders and all orientations. She claims the mountains of the Catskills in New York State as her home along with several horses and a couple of dogs.

In her talk she said many things that I believe such as what we have in common with LGB and that it is the person who does not conform to the gender norms that are discriminated against; that those who cannot “pass” or integrate into society face the blunt of harassment and violence.

She also said that diversity improves the bottom line, having a diverse workforce brings about a border pool of ideas and innovations. Having teams made up of men and women, people from different races, sexual orientation, and gender identities actually is more productive.

Companies that value diversity are leading in the market place; they are well ahead of companies that meet the HRC’s (Human Rights Campanian) Corporate Equality Index (CEI).

In the morning “Effectively Representing the Trans Community” and I was on a panel with Dr. Miqqi Alicia Gilbert and Dainna Cicotello and I was the light weight on the panel. They were pushing the envelope long before I was even peeking out the closet door. We kept getting off track but Miqqi did an excellent job of keeping us on topic.

In the afternoon I went on a photo shoot and I got side tracked… I went over to Race Point and as I was walking down to the beach a whale breaches about a 100 yards offshore. .. whoa! I set up my camera with the 500mm telephoto lens and wait, and wait, and wait. After about 45 minutes I give up, I think I have some photos of the hump and it blowing but it didn't breach again. I'm walking back to the parking lot and I hear everyone gasp, it breached again about a 1/4 mile from shore. Aggg...

While I was there about for “kids” walked by dragging a large cage and one of them asked me what everyone was looking at, I told her there was a whale with a calve offshore. She asked a few more questions and then called her boss. It turned out they were there to rescue an injured seal and she said it was very rare for a whale to be in so close to shore.

So this was the best shot of the whale, all you can see is a black share and the spray of water from the blow hole.

Passing by about a 1/2 mile offshore was this NOAA research ship…

I can't help wonder if the NOAA fisheries research ship had any relationship with the whale being just offshore. I thought maybe they were tracking a large school of fish.

The Coast Guard station…

Fantasia Fair Day 3 – Pioneer Awards

Yesterday’s luncheon keynote address was by Monica Roberts who was this year recipient of the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award. Some call me an activist but I don’t even come close to those who have come before me and Monica is one of the those activist. She was blazing the trail for all those who followed; I was still huddle in the dark closet.

In her speech she talked what has happened before but it was more about the current state of trans affairs in Texas and the hope of passing HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance) in Houston. How Texas is starting to head for a blue state as more blacks and Latinos are moving to the suburbs and the state is becoming my integrated.

She also talked about Black Lives Matter, how she talked to the leaders of the movement and they assured her that ALL Black Lives Matter including black trans lives. That the message might not have filtered down to the chapters but the leaders are emphatic they include all black lesbians, gays, bi and trans lives.

She accepted the award at the banquet that night. The banquet that night was very nice in that the awards ceremony was short and sweet and to the point. There was a cocktail hour first and the awards ceremony which was followed by a buffet.

In the morning I gave my workshop, Effective Lobbying and there were four people who attended it, which was what I expected because after all it wasn’t about makeup or wig care but rather it was about lobbying. I am doing another workshop this morning on “Effectively Representing the Trans Community” and I am on a panel with Dr. Miqqi Alicia Gilbert and Dallas Denny. And my last workshop will be a repeat of yesterday’s workshop.

Sadly I lost an Cubic Zirconia earring, it wasn’t a diamond earring thank goodness but it still was slightly expensive.

Fantasia Fair Day 2 – The Therapist

Yesterday's luncheon keynote address was by Dr. Maureen Osborne and her talk was “Observations from Two Decades of Active Listening to the Life Stories of Transgender Clients and their Families: A gender therapist’s journey from reluctant gatekeeper to fellow explorer of the gender frontier” and it was excellent!

She covered so much information that it is hard to remember everything that she talked about (I going to try and find out if her speech is posted online anywhere.) but one thing that I remember is that for many of us we go through a phase where we dress to the nines. I remember when I first came started going out in public used to wear dress and heels with a lot of make-up and that like teenagers we are experimenting with our gender, for some of us we outgrow that phase and settle down when we find our “style.” She also talked about working with couples and families and that around forty-eight percent of the couples stay together. Also mentioned was that sexual orientation is not linked gender identity.

One of the things that she mentioned was about suicides. Most therapist do not lose patients by suicide, the exception is therapists that work with trans patients, what is different about trans patients is that their trauma is not due to their being trans but rather because societal pressure to conform to the gender binary. Society wants to force us into boxes but nature abhors boxes.

In the evening we all headed over to Provincetown Theater for dinner and a play, the play “Debutante Balls” was by Scott Turner Schofield. According to the Fantasia Fair’s website,

"Debutante Balls" is a theatrical stand-up comedy dance through the fascinating culture of the Southern Debutante Ball. Schofield’s wicked sense of self-aware humor and poetic sensibility guide us through the many ways he "came out" into Southern Society (as a lesbian, radical feminist, and finally, as a transgender man), poking fun at gender roles and sniffing the vapors of nostalgia gone-with-the-wind in these modern times.

And the play was up to Schofield high standard; it was both humorous and portrayed his transition. I first saw Scott Turner Schofield in 2009 performing “127 Way to Become a Man” at Real Art Ways.

Today I am giving my workshop Effective Lobbying.

The fleets in... MacMillan Wharf Provincetown MA on Cape Cod

Updated 8:15AM
Added the part about suicide

Fantasia Fair – Day 1

It’s snowing!

I wasn’t prepared for that, when we got up to around Truro I started noticing that there was white flakes hitting the windshield… no that couldn’t be snow, it is 45 out. But it was, there were passing snow showers. The sun will be out and then there was a passing snow shower.

I took a friend up with me; he had a scholarship and needed a ride up since he lives north of Hartford I took the Mass Pike and I-495 to the Cape. It is a little long but it is supposed to be faster however I hit traffic and it stretched out the drive so I probably go home through Providence RI.

I got up here around 3:30 and I checked in and registered for the fair at the Boatslip which is also the fair headquarters. I then took my friend over to where he is staying and I went back went back to the motel with the thought of taking a nap… Wrong! It turned out the T Dance was being held down on the pool deck and I could hear the bass booming three floors up.

Later it was our turn, the reception was held there so all I had to do was walk down the stairs. I met many of old acquaintances from previous fairs which is one of the main reasons that I attend the fair and another reason is to take photographs. Most of the workshops do not interest me but the keynote speakers after lunch has a number of interesting speakers that I want to attend.

Looking out of my motel room at the town pier with the snow squalls in the background.

I am also giving two workshops, “Effective Lobbying” which I think is important here in Massachusetts with their effort to add public accommodation to their non-discrimination law. The other workshop is a panel discussion on “Effectively Representing the Trans Community” with Dallas Denny and Miqqi.

Also my cell phone will not turn on and the nearest Verizon Wireless store is down in Hyannis so 30 miles away. 

Amazing Stats

One thing that I point out when I am doing cultural competency training is that family support makes all the difference in the world when a child transitioned. At the talk that I gave the other day at Quinnipiac University to the Netter School of Medicine the doctor there point out this slide from Trans Student Educational Resources and it just hammers home when family support is so important.

I Am Off To Provincetown

I am on my way to P’town for Fantasia Fair, a weeklong trans conference. I am giving a workshop on lobbying and also I’m on the panel for the Effectively Representing the Trans Community” workshop.

I have been going to Fantasia Fair off and on for since 2000, before I transitioned Fan Fair gave me a chance to be “Diana” for a whole week. It was exciting to walk down a street as Diana and it was a safe space to not have to worry about being seen by someone I knew. It was an adventure, with workshop on makeup, hair removal, voice training, and loads of other workshops. It was a chance to see trans people that I only read about online. It was a chance to go out to dinner with friends and they also had the follies and two banquets where I could get all dressed up.

Now I go up there for different reasons, I don’t need to hide any more. I go to see old friends and also as a vacation, the Cape is so photogenic that there are thousands of different places and thing to photograph. There will be days where I will take off to the dunes or to lighthouses around Provincetown.

The banquets and follies I usually leave early because they are not novel anymore and the last time I was it the follies I took these photos and made it into a video.


I will be posting daily from the Fair this week.

Saturday 9: Beyond the Sea

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Beyond the Sea (1959)

Every Saturday I take time off from written on serious topics to have some fun…

Last weekend I was up in New Hampshire for my birthday.

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

1) This song mentions golden sands. When do you think you'll next visit the beach?
Tomorrow. I am going up to Provincetown on Cape Cod tomorrow for the week.

2) Shortly after "Beyond the Sea" hit the charts, Bobby Darin  met and married movie sweetheart Sandra Dee. Her squeaky-clean image is spoofed in the song, "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee," from Grease. Can you name another song from Grease?
Nope. I would have to google it because it has been so long since I watched the movie.

3) Years earlier, Bobby had an ill-fated romance with singer Connie Francis. According to Ms. Francis, Darin wanted to marry her, but her father forbade it. Have you ever had a relationship that your parents disapproved of?
No, I didn’t come out until after they passed away.

4) Bobby was a Renaissance man: Grammy-winning singer, Oscar-nominated actor, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and an excellent chess player. Are you good at chess?
I know the moves but I am not that good at strategy.

5) A car buff, he drove a 1960 custom car that was so unique and spectacular it's now in a Detroit museum. The bright red paint was mixed with ground diamonds to ensure that it sparkled in the sun. Each of the four bucket seats had its own ac/heat control and radio speaker. The steering wheel was slightly squared for easier handling. What features would your dream car have?
Automatic parallel parking. One time I was trying to parallel park on a street at Yale and it took what seemed like a forever. When I finally got out of the car there was about a dozen Yale students lined up watching me and they applauded me when I got out of the car. I curtsied for them.

6) Beyond the Sea is also the name of the 2004 screen biography in which Kevin Spacey played Bobby Darin. Who would you choose to play you in the story of your life?
This question sounds familiar. How about Caitlyn Jenner.

7) When he was just 8 years old, Bobby Darin was stricken with rheumatic fever, and the disease left him with a dangerously weakened heart. Did you spend much time in the hospital when you were a kid?
Yes, I broke my wrist when I was a couple of months old.

8) In 1959, when "Beyond the Sea" was popular, Alaska became our 49th state. What comes to mind when you think of Alaska?
The northern lights, I would love to go on a photo shoot sometime.

9) In 1959, Conair introduced the first hair dryer developed for home use. Is there a hair dryer in your bathroom right now?
Yes, all covered in dust.

I Admit It…

I’m a groupie. Merriam-Webster defines a groupie as; a fan of a music group who follows the group on concert tours. I have driven up to northwestern Connecticut to hear her and down to the southeastern Connecticut to hear Namoli Bennet a song writer and folk singer, and last night was no exception; I drove down to New London to listen to her at a house concert.

I first heard her up in Provincetown in October 2006 and I liked her music. I not a fan of loud music, I like folk music, and I like small venues such as coffee houses and in this case in a home with 20 or 30 people like last night. A woman that I know down in New London sent me a link to an Event on Facebook and I saw that it was for a house concert with Namoli Brennet so I made sure that I could go down there.

Then a couple of days before I received another invite for a concert by her in a church up Cornwall CT but it was on a night when I was giving a lecture at Quinnipiac University… rats! But at least I could attend her concert in New London and I was glad that I did. I think that the venue was much better than the church, much more intimate with everyone sitting around in the atrium rather than in a church.

Yesterday.

I was busy yesterday and I think that the day ended up in the positive column.

The day started out with a meeting for the Safe School Coalition at the Office of the State’s Attorney where we discussed biases in education. Being biased is not a problem the problem lays when we make decisions based on those biases. And the day ended talking about biases in healthcare.

At the Safe School Coalition meeting we review a model Safe School Climate Plan that the Connecticut Department of Education is working on, it is a modification of the Westport CT to make it generic for the other school districts in Connecticut.

The day ended with me going a talk down at Quinnipiac University to the Netter School of Medicine to their LGBT student organization. I think this was the best talk that I ever gave, I felt that I nailed it and I didn’t even use a PowerPoint presentation. I just had a list of topics that I wanted to talk about and filled in the rest as I went along.

After I talked, they had a doctor talk about having a trans friendly practice and between the two of us I think we gave an excellent workshop. Afterward I had a time to talk to the doctor and we are both interested in doing training for doctors and therapist here in Connecticut.

So it was a powerful day yesterday and today is not going to be shabby either. I am heading off to the Newington Senior Center for the second LGBT Moveable Senior Center and in the evening I am heading down to New London to catch a house concert with Namoli Brennet.

By His Own Words

Republican presidential candidates Senator Rand Paul says non-discrimination laws are not necessary.

Rand Paul Says LGBT Discrimination Laws Are Unnecessary"If you are gay, there are plenty of places that will hire you."The Huffington Post
By Mollie Reilly
October 14, 2015

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday the government shouldn't step in to protect workers against anti-gay discrimination by their employers, arguing that such protections are unnecessary and would expose businesses to legal problems.

Paul, speaking to students at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was asked whether he believes businesses should have the right to fire employees because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

"I think really the things you do in your house, we could just leave those in your house and they wouldn't have to be part of the workplace," said Paul, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination. "I don't know if we need to keep adding to different classifications to say government needs to be involved in the hiring and firing. I think society is rapidly changing and if you are gay, there are plenty of places that will hire you."

So what you are saying Senator, is that we are to keep our mouths shut, that we cannot talk about our spouses, that we cannot hold hands in public, that we cannot have any public display of affection… Well senator that is what is known as bigotry and that is why we need laws to protect us.

Fear Mongers

They can only win by creating fear, they know it is not true but that doesn’t stop them from using falsehoods to create fear.

Transmissions: Take action on toilets
Bay Area Reporter
Published 10/15/2015
By Gwendolyn Ann Smith

In Houston, Proposition 1 seeks a veto referendum on the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, aka HERO. The ordinance would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, just as HERO already had. It would also make explicit coverage for sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, familial status, marital status, military status, religion, disability, genetic information and pregnancy, on par with federal law.

In the fight against HERO, as well as Proposition 1, the issue of public access for transgender people has taken center stage, with graphics speaking out about men in women's bathrooms, and critics seeking to call the ordinance the "Sexual Predator Protection Act."
[…]
This has not stopped the group Campaign For Houston from publishing statements like this on its website. "Campaign for Houston is made up of parents and family members who do not want their daughters, sisters, or mothers forced to share restrooms in public facilities with gender-confused men, who – under this ordinance – can call themselves 'women' on a whim and use women's restrooms whenever they wish. This 'bathroom ordinance,' therefore, is an attempt to re-structure society to fit a societal vision we simply do not share or can support."

I want to draw attention to some slanted language in the above. This notion of "on a whim," as it if were so easy, is specious. So is stating that those who would opt to do so are "gender confused." It is not us, apparently, who are so confused. At least, in that statement, they did not try to call transgender people sexual predators.

Ms. Smith goes on to write about the similarities in the use of fear in Wisconsin where two Republican legislators have introduced a bill to force bathroom police to check birth certificates.

These fear tactics haven’t worked before and let’s hope that it doesn’t work now.

Thumbing Their Nose (Part 2)

A school district in Illinois is disregarding the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights order to change their school policy with regard to transgender students.

Chicago School Doubles Down On Discrimination Against Transgender Student
ThinkProgress
By Zack Ford
October 13, 2015

This week, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) informed District 211, Illinois’ largest school district, that it was in violation of federal law by refusing to allow a transgender student to use the locker rooms that match her gender identity. The school has responded by declaring that it will continue to discriminate against the student.

The student, whose name has been kept private, first filed a complaint with support from the ACLU of Illinois in early 2014. She was already living as a girl and was playing sports, but was forced to change in a separate room a long hallway away from the gym. Following precedent in two similar cases in California, OCR informed District 211 in a not-yet-public decision that depriving the student of equal access to facilities violates Title IX’s sex nondiscrimination protections, calling such treatment “inadequate and discriminatory.”

The school responded by doubling down. At a press conference, Superintendent Dan Cates insisted, “This is about matters of student privacy.” Promising not to abide by OCR’s pending decision, he explained, “What they are asking us to do is have opposite sex students in the same open area of the locker room and that we do not do. This is a matter we take very seriously and this policy would undo that.”

The Chicago Tribune writes that the two sides are far apart.

School officials and board of education members worked for months in hopes of finding an acceptable compromise, Cates said. The proposed solution, which Cates said was "quickly squelched," required the transgender student to change and shower in private.
[…]
The student who filed the complaint has been living as a girl for a number of years, Knight said. She plays sports and would like to be in the same locker room as her friends and classmates. Relegating her to a separate room down a long hallway from the gym only serves to stigmatize her, he said.

It is as the student said; requiring her to use a separate room marginalizes her from the rest of the student body. The students pick up on the fact that she is different and that is when bullying and harassment begins.

What does the school district have to lose by bucking the OCR, plenty.
If the district cannot reach a compromise with federal officials, it risks losing some of the $6 million it receives in federal funding. Cates also acknowledged that litigation is a likely outcome.
Last year, OCR fined a California school district for Title IX discrimination against a trans student.

Thumbing Their Nose (Part 1)

Hobby Lobby lost the bathroom skirmish but it looks like they are going to press the battle all the way to the Supreme Court again.

Judge: Yes, Hobby Lobby Discriminated Against Trans Woman
The Advocate
By Cleis Abeni
October 11, 2015

In a decision from May that was only made public this week, Administrative Law Judge William J. Borah ruled that Hobby Lobby violated the Illinois Human Rights Act by refusing to allow a transgender female employee to use the women’s restroom at work.
[…]
While management did not fire Sommerville, and acknowledged her as a woman once she legally changed her state ID and birth certificate in 2010, her complaint alleges that by sanctioning her for using the women's bathroom, managers created a hostile environment. Moreover, Hobby Lobby management maintained that Sommerville had to first undergo specific gender-affirming surgeries before using the bathroom that corresponded with her gender identity.

So what is Hobby Lobby doing that the judge ruled against them? ThinkProgress reported that,

Unfortunately, five months later, Sommerville’s experience has not improved; she’s still not allowed to use the women’s restroom. “The reality is nothing has changed,” she told the Windy City Times. “It’s humiliating. I have had to restructure my life to watch how much I drink and eat before going to work in an effort to try to avoid using the restroom as much as possible but my fibromyalgia is aggravated with dehydration which just compounds the problem at work.”

Borah’s order was a recommended ruling, but the Illinois Human Rights Commission still has to affirm it before it becomes final. In the meantime, Sommerville otherwise loves her job. “Why should I quit?” she said. “I’m good at what I do. I love what I do. If I quit, I give a right to any other company to discriminate against their employee in the hopes that they will quit so they will be done with them.”

My guess is this this is going to go all the to the Supreme Court again with Hobby Lobby saying that allowing Ms. Sommerville to use the women’s bathroom is an infringement of their religious freedom.

A Tale Of Two Armies

There are two articles that were making their rounds on Facebook the other day; they are different as day is to night. First the day,

National Coming Out Day: British Senior Transgender Officer Shares Her Story
Morning Ledger
By Regina Inonog
October 12, 2015

With the recent celebration of National Coming Out Day comes the inspiring stories that followed. One such story is that of Captain Hannah Winterbourne’s, the highest ranking transgender officer in the British Army.

The captain in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers spent her first few years as a man in the Army before making the decision to transition at age 25, while on duty at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

“Being in the Army I felt I had to put on a veneer of confident outgoing masculinity,” she said. “I played a good game. I suppressed a lot of feminine characteristics and learnt to behave in a very masculine way because that’s how society had conditioned me to be.”
[…]
“The army has been very, very supportive. It is a great place for transgender personnel. They don’t care if you are LGBT, black or white, as long as you can do your job.”

And now about the darkness…

Transgender officer who spent $50,000 to become a woman slams US Army rules that force soldiers to keep calling her 'sir'
Daily Mail
By Kieran Corcoran
PUBLISHED: 7 October 2015

A transgender soldier in the U.S. Army has hit out at military rules which mean her subordinates still have to refer to her as 'sir'.

Captain Jennifer Peace, an intelligence specialist, started transitioning into a woman in early 2014 after a decade of military service that saw her fight in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But, despite the 30-year-old undergoing surgeries to make her look more feminine and being recognized as a woman by the federal government, military officials insist on treating her as a man.
[…]
And though she says they began being supportive, high-ranking officers later put her through psychiatric tests and medical evaluations, with one even suggesting she leave the military altogether.

Before she returned to duty with her new identity, commanders even issued orders to troops she was in charge of, insisting they continue to refer to her as a man, because the Army does not officially recognise the possibility that soldiers can change gender.

It must be a living hell for trans service members in the U.S. military and they must possess courage to want to stay in the military. I hope that U.S. military doesn’t delay much longer in changing the their policy for trans sevicemembers.

The Same Ol’ Story… Peeing In Peace

Massachusetts is trying to pass a public accommodation law for trans people and is running into the same opposition from the “family values” coalition.

Transgender Rights and Public Bathrooms
Huffington Post Politics
By Paul Heroux State Representative, Massachusetts
Posted: 10/12/201

Fear is often used to push public policy. Sometimes it is warranted, sometimes it is not. In the case of a transgender person's access to public bathrooms, I do not think there is reason for alarm.

In the Declaration of Independence states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Accordingly, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has an "Equal Protection Clause" to it.
[…]
One of the reasons that we progress as a society towards a more perfect union where all the men and women are treated equally is that we come to understand more about who we are. Researchers examine controversial topics to find out what fact is and what fiction is. Politicians then often use these milestones in research to better inform our understanding in order to advance social policy and improve civil rights. One such example is with transgender persons.

He then goes on to rebut the arguments that are used against us. One topic he lists is about piracy in the bathrooms and locker rooms and then he rebuts…

Non-Transgender Persons' Comfort -- Under the transgender public accommodations laws, there is also the argument that a non-transgender person feels uncomfortable with a transgender person using the same bathroom. This is the same argument that was once made of people of color using public bathrooms, seating on public transportation, public drinking fountains and more. It is a lack of understanding at best, and hateful at worst.

There are a number of cases where people have sued companies that do not discriminate against trans people saying that they are made uneasy with trans people in the locker rooms and he talks about the law suits.

Discrimination Lawsuits -- There is the argument that the transgender public accommodation law would "allow for cross-gender bathroom usage and expensive 'discrimination' claims." That is if someone violates the law. Again, we should not deny one group of people rights because others may abuse the law. We don't do it with guns, welfare, voting, or any other area of public policy. We prosecute people who abuse the law. We don't deny someone civil rights because someone else may abuse the law.

As he has stated feeling uncomfortable is not a reason to discriminate. Would it be all right to deny a Muslim service in a store because they make other people uneasy? Then why would it be all right to deny trans people service?

This Is Something We Know

All the statistics show how marginalized we are, high suicide rate, high drug and alcohol usage, high homeless rates, we as a community know that it is because of discrimination and bigotry that the numbers are so high. Now a study confirms it.

Gender Nonconforming Transgender People Face Greater Discrimination And Health Risks, Study Finds
ThinkProgress
By Zack Ford
October 7, 2015

A new study published last month in Sociological Forum has found two important connections that demonstrate how discrimination has a negative impact on the health and well-being of transgender people.

The study from Indiana University involved a new analysis of the data collected in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. It specifically looked at how gender conformity impacted whether transgender people experienced discrimination, and whether experiencing discrimination caused individuals to have more health issues.

Consistent with other findings, the study found that the more everyday and major discrimination a transgender person experienced, the more likely they were to engage in health-harming behaviors, such as attempting suicide, abusing drugs or alcohol, and smoking. This is further evidence that the mental health consequences transgender people experience are not a result of being transgender, but a result of how they are treated for being transgender.

Furthermore, the study found that trans people were more likely to experience discrimination if they were perceived to be trans or gender nonconforming. In other words, the more likely they are to be “clocked” or “read” as transgender, “the more they are subject to major and day-to-day discriminatory treatment.” Likewise, in combination with the first finding, “gender nonconformity predicted greater likelihood of attempted suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, and smoking — a relationship that was partially mediated by major and everyday discrimination.”

This is one of those “Well Duh!” we knew that. Those who can integrate into society do not face discrimination; it is the trans person who is easily identified as trans that faces the discrimination and hatred. But that is also true for gays and lesbians, those who do not fit into the gender norms are the ones who are harassed and belittled.
The article goes on to say…

The study confirms previous analysis that discrimination is linked to suicide attempt rates and further counters the argument made by conservatives that transgender people are inherently mentally ill.

It is the children that are too tall, too short, too overweight, the boy who is too feminine, the girl that is too masculine that are picked on in school. They also face a high suicide rate, those that are marginalized are singled out and harassed.

What A Joke!

We are always hearing the right-wing conservatives talking about the “Gay Agenda” while they are pushing their agenda. This is almost funny if it didn’t hurt so much.

REVEALED: THE POWERFUL LOBBY GROUP BEHIND NEW TRANSGENDER CHARACTERS IN EASTENDERS AND HOLLYOAKS
Breitbart
By Liam Deacon
11 Oct 2015

Channel 4 has revealed a transgender schoolteacher will feature in the soap opera Hollyoaks, just two days after the BBC announced they would introduce a transgender character into their flagship drama Eastenders.

A few weeks before, the BBC launched the world’s first sitcom focused on a transgender love story. Now, it has been revealed that a powerful transgender lobby group is behind each of the developments.

The announcement that male-to-female transgender actress Annie Wallace would play a transgender teacher in the popular drama Holyoaks was made by transgender journalist Paris Lees in a Guardian column on Friday.
[…]
Lees [a transgender journalist in the Guardian] credits the recent proliferation of transgender characters and commentators in popular culture and the mainstream media to the All About Trans lobby group; “a project to connect media professionals with young trans people in informal settings,” which she works with. She writes:

“Although we never go in with an agenda for creative outcomes, if you put people with stories in the same room as writers, filmmakers and journalists, it’s inevitable.
“Over the past few years All About Trans and our team of volunteers have met with the makers of Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, EastEnders and the BBC’s comedy department, to name a few.
“The explosion in the representation of trans people on your screens this autumn is no coincidence but, rather, the results of a determined campaign to see better media portrayals of trans people in the British media.”

Our little secret agenda… to be treated just as anyone else is treated, to be able to have a job and a roof over our heads. Such radical ideas.

It Is All In Your Brain

As research continues probing the brain with more and more sophisticated tools differences in the brain between male and female brains are being found.

Sex on the BrainMasculinization of the developing rodent brain leads to significant structural differences between the two sexes.The Scientist
By Margaret M. McCarthy
October 1, 2015

A mammalian embryo is female by default. Males develop when the Sry gene of the Y chromosome is expressed, spurring the development of testes. During fetal development, the testes produce large amounts of testosterone, much of which is converted to estrogen. Both hormones then act on the brain, inducing the cellular process of masculinization.

One of the most well studied brain regions that differs between male and female mice is the preoptic area, a region of the hypothalamus that is essential for sexual behavior in males. The SDN, for example, is bigger in males than females, due to the die off of cells in the female brain in the absence of androgen hormones from the testes. The pBNST is similarly larger in males than in females. Conversely, the AVPV is larger in females than in males, though there are 10-fold more neural projections from the pBNST to AVPV in males.

In addition to the anatomical differences between the male and female brain, researchers have uncovered variation at the cellular level. In the mPN of male mice, neurons have twice as many dendritic spines (potential synapses) as do neurons in females; synapse number correlates with male copulatory behavior in adulthood. The male mPN also has more innate immune cells known as microglia, and these cells are in a more activated state, with shorter and thicker processes. In contrast, the microglia in female brains have long, thin processes indicative of a quiescent state. Astrocytes in this part of the male brain are “bushy,” with more abundant processes than those in the same region of the female brain.

In another article in the Scientist they explore the differences between boys and girls.

But there is now increasing evidence that differences in brain function are prevalent across the sex divide, and that these differences manifest in surprising ways in animal models of both health and disease. (See “Gender bias in neuropsychiatric disorders.”) Many sex differences in adult brain structure and behaviors are the result of in utero organizational effects of gonadal steroid hormones, in particular androgens and their aromatized derivatives, estrogens, both of which are present in substantially higher concentrations in male fetuses due to testicular steroidogenesis. Brain differences between the sexes can also arise from diverse factors, including the expression of genes carried on the sex chromosomes and discrepancies in maternal treatment of male and female progeny. Together, these factors mediate differences in neurogenesis, myelination, synaptic pruning, dendritic branching, axonal growth, apoptosis, and other neuronal parameters.

This is not to say that everything is different. Indeed, much of the brain and its functions are indistinguishable between the two sexes. But when it is different, the question is, how did the differences come about? By what cellular mechanisms did the course of development change in a particular region that differs between males and females?
[…]
Developmental masculinization of the brain leads to significant structural differences in the brains of the two sexes. (See illustration.) Some brain regions are larger in males; others are smaller. Collections of cells that constitute nuclei or subnuclei of the brain differ in overall size due to differences in cell number and/or density, as well as in the number of neurons expressing a particular neurotransmitter. The length and branching patterns of dendrites and the frequency of synapses also vary between males and females—in specific ways in specific regions—as does the number of axons that form projections between nuclei and across the cerebral hemispheres. Even nonneuronal cells are masculinized. Astrocytes in parts of the male brain are more “bushy,” with longer and more frequent processes than those in the same regions of the female brain. And microglia, modified macrophages that serve as the brain’s innate immune system, are more activated in parts of the male brain and contribute to the changes seen in the neurons.

When you couple this with a study in Spain of the brains of trans people it starts to reinforce the reality that being transgender is a form of being intersex. Back in 2011 New Scientist published an article on the transgender brain.

Antonio Guillamon‘s team at the National University of Distance Education in Madrid, Spain, think they have found a better way to spot a transsexual brain. In a study due to be published next month, the team ran MRI scans on the brains of 18 female-to-male transsexual people who’d had no treatment and compared them with those of 24 males and 19 females.

They found significant differences between male and female brains in four regions of white matter – and the female-to-male transsexual people had white matter in these regions that resembled a male brain (Journal of Psychiatric Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.05.006). “It’s the first time it has been shown that the brains of female-to-male transsexual people are masculinised,” Guillamon says.

In a separate study, the team used the same technique to compare white matter in 18 male-to-female transsexual people with that in 19 males and 19 females. Surprisingly, in each transsexual person’s brain the structure of the white matter in the four regions was halfway between that of the males and females (Journal of Psychiatric Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.11.007). “Their brains are not completely masculinised and not completely feminised, but they still feel female,” says Guillamon.

The thing to remember is that this might be only one of many vectors that lead to a person being transsexual, that there could be many more reasons why we are transgender.

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.

When I'm Sixty-Four

When I get older losing my hair, 
Many years from now. 
Will you still be sending me a Valentine 
Birthday greetings bottle of wine.
Beatles

We are all getting older (Thankfully, because I don’t like the alternative) and we will be needing long term healthcare.

The reality of transgender agingThe Philadelphia Gay News
By Dawn Munro
November 29, -0001

What does aging mean to you? It probably means something very different to a trans person.

We see a barrage of TV commercials for retirement communities with happy people playing bridge or Mahjong. There are also endless ads for electronic equipment that will automatically call for help if you slip and fall. Other ads feature youthful-looking elders enjoying beach resort vacations in the Caribbean sunshine.

All of this is very nice, but these are alien pictures to the vast majority of older trans people for whom the prospect of aging is a daunting one. Those who have survived to what others in the cis-gender community think of as “retirement age” grew up at a time when discrimination was the rule. Due to bullying, harassment, neglect and violence, many trans people fled the school system in their teens and, unable to find any kind of employment, were driven by poverty into survival sex, substance abuse and, almost inevitably, HIV infection.

Here in Connecticut there are organizations that are working to make the lives of senior LGBT people better. One of the initiatives is with town senior centers to make them more LGBT friendly and to hold LGBT days. Another project is training the staff of service providers that deliver home health care. Residential care and skilled nursing facilities are starting to realize that they need to train their staff to our needs. They are realizing that they woefully under prepared to care for transgender clients and are starting to take steps to develop policies and staff training.

One Step Backward

We were dealt a setback in Malaysia that will make a lot harder for trans people.

Malaysia: Court Ruling Sets Back Transgender Rights‘Oppressive and Inhuman’ Cross-Dressing Ban RestoredHuman Rights Watch
October 8, 2015

(Washington, DC) – In overturning a landmark ruling, Malaysia’s highest court has undermined the rights of transgender people in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 8, 2015, the Federal Court reversed a lower court ruling that a state’s prohibition on “cross-dressing” was unconstitutional. On wholly procedural grounds, the Federal Court upheld Sharia laws prohibiting “a male person posing as a woman.”

The judicial decision is a serious setback in a four-year struggle by transgender activists to end arbitrary arrests of transgender women on the basis of discriminatory laws, Human Rights Watch said.
[…]
The court found that the three respondents – transgender women in Negeri Sembilan who had all been arrested and prosecuted simply for wearing women’s clothing – should have obtained judicial permission of a Federal Court judge when they commenced their constitutional challenge. Although a High Court judge had granted permission in November 2011, the Federal Court ruled that it had done so erroneously. The transgender women will now have to reinitiate the case, starting at the Federal Court level.

It could have been worst, at least it is a technical defeat on a procedural problem.

The Bigots Win

Even with laws we still get discriminated against, the fear mongers win

YMCA backtracks on policy about transgender locker room use
KOMO
By Mark Miller Published
October 7, 2015

TACOMA, Wash. -- Pressure from a vocal group of members has prompted the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties to back-track on a new policy intended to be more sensitive to the needs of the transgender community.

YMCA leaders decided to no longer allow transgender members in transition to use locker rooms and showers of their choice at the Y's seven family-oriented locations.

"We are asking that our transgender members use our private changing room at our family facilities," said YMCA spokesperson Michelle LaRue.

The change comes after a flood of complaints about a new policy issued in April that allowed those in transition to use the locker room with which they most closely identified.
And why were they complaining, was over something that happened?

"The concern was that a non-transgender individual might pose as a transgender to gain access to our locker rooms and expose themselves to children and cause harm to children," explained LaRue.
Oh no! It is that ol’ bogyman… “a non-transgender individual might pose as a transgender.” That horrible imaginary man who poses as trans.

And what does a spokesperson for YMCA say,

"I have to be incredibly clear with our community. That we have no correlation. These are two separate issues," she said, acknowledging YMCA managers were responding to member complaints and concerns. "It is fear-based. We've not had any complaints filed about inappropriate use of our locker rooms from transgender members."

So the YMCA admits that there is no rational reason to segregate trans people, and she goes on to say,

The Y also believes its current policy is in compliance with all state laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, including gender identify.

Somehow I don’t think so.

The an Indiana judge in a similar locker room case in said,

"However, a co-worker's discomfort cannot justify discriminatory terms and conditions of employment," Borah wrote.

I see the Washington YMCA policy being challenged in court in the not to distance future.

I Think We Could Have Told Them…

Without a study,

Gender Nonconforming Transgender People Face Greater Discrimination And Health Risks, Study Finds
By Zack Ford
October 7, 2015

The study from Indiana University involved a new analysis of the data collected in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. It specifically looked at how gender conformity impacted whether transgender people experienced discrimination, and whether experiencing discrimination caused individuals to have more health issues.

Consistent with other findings, the study found that the more everyday and major discrimination a transgender person experienced, the more likely they were to engage in health-harming behaviors, such as attempting suicide, abusing drugs or alcohol, and smoking. This is further evidence that the mental health consequences transgender people experience are not a result of being transgender, but a result of how they are treated for being transgender.

Furthermore, the study found that trans people were more likely to experience discrimination if they were perceived to be trans or gender nonconforming. In other words, the more likely they are to be “clocked” or “read” as transgender, “the more they are subject to major and day-to-day discriminatory treatment.” Likewise, in combination with the first finding, “gender nonconformity predicted greater likelihood of attempted suicide, drug/alcohol abuse, and smoking — a relationship that was partially mediated by major and everyday discrimination.”

I don’t think that needed a study, all they had to do was ask a trans person. Violence against trans people, gays and lesbians is usually directed against people who do not fit into the gender norms. It is not trans people who can integrate into society.

In my presentations on cultural competency I have this slide,

Something I Thought About

Trying to figure out how many trans people there our is very hard, when you have such a small population sampling doesn’t work that well so I was think about somehow using the Social Security database. Well someone also thought about that,

Transgender Americans Have Been Registering Their Transitions With Social Security Since 1936
Very few surveys ask people if they're transgender. One economist managed to mine American government data for clues to the transgender American experience over the last seven decades.
Pacific Standard
By Francie Diep
October 5, 2015

Transgender rights may seem like the hot new issue in America today, but transgender people have been around—and have been making contact with the government—for at least the past few generations. That's according to a fascinating analysis published last week by the United States Census Bureau.

For the analysis, Census Bureau economist Benjamin Cerf Harris looked through Social Security Administration data dating back to the administration's inception in 1936. Harris sought records of people who had changed their first names from something that's strongly associated (at least 90 percent of the time) with one gender, to something that's strongly associated with another gender. He found that, since 1936, more than 135,000 Americans have putatively transitioned genders and registered a new name with Social Security as part of their transition. At least a few folks make this change in every year of Harris' data.
[…]
Of course, it can be difficult to know for sure whether any one person in the Social Security Administration data is truly transgender… But Harris took several steps in his analysis to try reducing the likelihood of wrongly identifying non-transgender individuals as transgender. For example, he looked only for sex changes that were registered after the person turned 16, to reduce the odds of including people in his analysis who simply had the wrong sex recorded for them when they were born.

I was a little surprised that only 135,000 people may have transitioned. It would be interesting to see if the rate of changes is increasing now that the rules have changed for changing your gender marker, also the data that he used only goes up to 2010 and the new Social Security policy on changing your gender marker only went into effect in 2013, so it would be interesting to study the current data.

An Epidemic

It is an epidemic that is not talked about, the data is buried in surveys usually and we never really know the whys but suicides by trans youth is in epidemic proportions. GLSEN 2011 School Climate Survey found,

LGBT teenagers are two or three times more likely to attempt suicide than other teens (stopbullying.gov). If the family of the LGBT youth does not accept them, they are eight times more likely to commit suicide than other teens…

We memorialized trans people who were murdered, but in reality those who took their lives are also murder victims, they were murdered by society.

Family mourns transgender teen after he takes his own life
KGTV Ch. 10
Michael Chen
7:22 PM, Oct 6, 2015

SAN DIEGO - A local family is grieving after another transgender teen took his own life.

It's the fourth such suicide in San Diego County since March.
[…]
Born female, Emmett came out as transgender last summer.

From his parents there was quick acceptance. Emmett joined support groups at The Center in Hillcrest, but the words of some hurt him.

“A lot of people would misgender him as she and her. His father, Mike, had to pick him up from school because it upset him so much,” said Castle.

Boys will be boys… they’re just kids… they didn’t mean anything… they just have to tough it out… We hear all types of excuses justifying bullying and harassment by students but the thing is that type of behavior cannot be ignored. The teachers, the staff, the administrators, the Board of Education, and all the parents must all speak out against bullying.

In some states, courts and family agencies are starting to realize that schools must provide a safe learning space for their students, let’s hope that it doesn’t take any more LGBT student lives before changes happen.


The Trevor Project: Suicide Hotline for LGBTQ Youth: 1-866-488-7386

VICTORY!

You all remember the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision to allow Hobby Lobby not cover insurance for birth control; well they just got slammed in Indiana.

Trans woman wins decision against Hobby Lobby
Windy City Times
By Gretchen Rachel Hammond
2015-10-04

Transgender activist Meggan Sommerville has been given the go-ahead to announce a significant step forward in her five-year-long battle against Hobby Lobby to be allowed the basic dignity of being able to use the restroom that matches her gender at her Aurora, Illinois, place of employment.
A May 15 ruling in the case by State of Illinois Human Right Commission Administrative Law Judge William J. Borah was in favor of Sommerville.

Due to the ongoing litigation, she had kept the decision under wraps but, on Oct. 3, granted Windy City Times permission to publish Borah's decision, which included several key statements regarding Hobby Lobby's violation if the Illinois Human Rights Act.
[…]
Sommerville's bosses made it clear to her that she was not to use the female restroom either as an employee or as a customer. When she tried to use that facility off the clock, she was written up. "They don't care whether I'm a customer or not," she said. "I am not allowed to use the women's restroom period."

Sommerville's 2012 complaint filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) was dismissed. Her case was subsequently taken on by attorneys Katherine Eder and Jacob Meister of the Chicago-based firm Jacob Meister & Associates.

In his decision, Borah noted Hobby Lobby's "concern about a woman employee expressing 'discomfort' with [Sommerville] being present in the women's restroom."

"However, a co-worker's discomfort cannot justify discriminatory terms and conditions of employment," Borah wrote.

He added that Hobby Lobby's 2014 construction of "a 'unisex' single use restroom for [Sommerville] only segregates her and perpetuates different treatment contrary to the [Illinois Human Rights] Act."

Borah also stated that that "nothing in the Act makes any surgical procedure a prerequisite for its protection of sexual related identity. Therefore [Hobby Lobby's] unilateral surgical requirement is untenable."

The first thing that I like about the decision was "However, a co-worker's discomfort cannot justify discriminatory terms and conditions of employment." How many times have we heard people complain about being made uncomfortable having a trans person share the bathroom, well now there is precedent against using that argument. And the second thing is that bathroom use doesn’t depend upon surgery.

But right now Hobby Lobby is thumbing their nose at the decision.

Despite that decision, Hobby Lobby is still enforcing its policy.

What will Hobby Lobby next move?

Mirrors

I remember the first time I saw myself as Diana in a mirror; there was something in the reflection that clicked.

My Transgender Life: Optical and Other Illusions
Huffington Gay Voices
By Grace Anne Stevens
Posted: 10/04/2015

Over the years I have been fascinated by my relationship with mirrors and how it has changed.

There were the years when I truly hated what I saw when I looked in the mirror. I hated that I had to wear glasses to see anything at all; I hated seeing my uncontrollable wavy and curly hair; and yes, as you know by know, I was so confused to see that boy, then man, looking back at me when I sensed that there was something terribly wrong.
[…]
I was taught that what I saw in the mirror was a view of reality. It took me a long time to understand that the mirror was only a two-dimensional representation -- one with no depth at all, of me -- a real multi-dimensional person. It was only an illusion of who I was. Yet, this illusion had so much power that I never knew it was not the true me.

A mirror only sees the surface, it doesn’t see what is inside and that is how the world sees us; they only see what is on the surface not what is in your soul and it is your soul that makes you who you are.

We all play to our images, we have our uniforms that we all wear, that of a business executive, that of a sports fan and many other social uniforms. And we continue to change them throughout the day the business executive goes home and changes into a football fan by putting on a Patriot sweatshirt. Society treats him differently when he is in a business suit then when he is in Patriot sweatshirt and he treats people differently that is what is called mirroring.

I think we face a much bigger mirror each day that is how society sees you, does it reflex back me or is the image distorted? In a research paper “Witnessing and Mirroring: A Fourteen Stage Model of Transsexual Identity Formation" by Aaron H. Devor, PhD he writes,

Each of us has a deep need to be witnessed by others for whom we are. Each of us wants to see ourselves mirrored in others’ eyes as we see ourselves. These interactive processes, witnessing and mirroring, are part of everyone’s lives. When they work well, we feel validated and confirmed–our sense of self is reinforced (Poland, 2000). When the messages which one receives back from others do not match how one feels inside, various kinds of psychological distress and maladaptive behaviors can result. When the situation is especially severe it can lead to psychotic and/or suicidal behaviors.

I believe that most of the time the reflection that society me is that of Diana, a woman. Once in a while it reflexes back a trans woman and but once in even a greater while society reflection smash me. When that happens it can bring me down in a blink of an eye and it takes a while to build up my self-esteem.

Ms. Stevens goes on to write,

Were the optical illusions I saw reflected really me? I wanted this to be true, oh I wanted it so much, but was so confused, so afraid and so full of shame. I knew these feeling were not illusions. I took picture after picture in the mirror to prove her existence. I would look at the pictures over and over to prove her existence. A battle was raging within me as to whether the male version or female version of me was the reality or the illusion. As I have mentioned before, deep down I always knew the answer, but the confusion, fear and shame would not let that answer bubble to the surface for many more years.

I know the answer for me; Diana is the true image of my soul.

You Can See The Difference.

I remember when I was over a friend’s house when I was probably in my late twenties or early thirties, we sitting around one weekend afternoon in the summer and one of the neighbors was there. We were talking about her son, if he was gay or not. He was showing feminine behavior (this was long before trans would have been thought of a possibility) and it was very obvious that his behavior was different from all his brothers.

'We had twin boys - but at 18 months old one wanted to become a girl': Father of transgender six-year-old on family's battle to accept Joe becoming Lily
Daily Mail
By Phoebe Jackson-Edwards
Published: 5 October 2015

A father of six-year-old twin boys – one of whom is now living as a girl – has revealed he first noticed differences between his sons when they were just 18 months old.

Matt Downes, 37, from St Albans, said he and his wife Rosie found that Olly would kick a ball around and buy Thomas The Tank Engine magazines, but Joe, who is now called Lily, opted for pink outfits and books about fairies.
[…]
After they were born, they were very close but from the age of 18 months, the parents started to see differences between their children.

Matt said: 'My earliest memory of it is at one and a half. My parents had them once a week from when they were born.

'Mum and dad used to take them down to the shops to pick a magazine. Olly would get Thomas The Tank Engine, or more "boy" magazines. She picked something pink with fairies.
'From the age of two she was drawn towards pink toys and babies. She asked for baby dolls and wanted girly fancy dress while Olly had a Batman outfit.'

And Matt explained that Lily’s ‘girlie’ behaviour continued when she went to nursery.

It is amazing to see how children gender identities develop at such an early age. Back when I was growing up feminine behavior was suppressed and we at a very early age learn to “act masculine.” Now we realize that by letting the child explore their gender identity greatly improves their quality of life.

Sadly This Is Way Too Typical

Anyone who is trans or an ally to the community knows this typical of so many trans children,

Transgender teen struggles with parents’ reaction
Amy Dickinson, Ask Amy
Detroit Free Press
October 5, 2015

Dear Amy: I am a 19-year-old transgender female. I am in an excellent life position — I have a high school diploma, a good part-time job and I am on track to get my associate degree. But I would gladly throw all of it away in order to just be me 100% of the time.
While I have not been forced out of my parents’ house or denied their support, they’ve always supported their “son,” not me.
[…]
Caitlyn Jenner (the only famous transgender person they focus on) has openly said she regrets that she didn’t transition sooner. I want to tell them how much they’ve inadvertently hurt me. I don’t want to hurt them, but at the same time I want to just scream at how they’re being such jerks and tell them to take their dreams and chuck them out of the window because reality is never perfect.

And her response was…

Dear Disrespected: It’s called “transition” for a reason. You are making a transition, but you are moving from a feeling of inner alienation toward a feeling of completeness.

For your parents, the transition is going in the opposite direction, from the son they raised and thought they knew intimately, toward the daughter they are still getting to know. While you are feeling ever more whole, they are feeling more alienated.

Some of what you are experiencing is unique to your situation, but this dynamic is also more typical parent-teen tension, expressed in inappropriate ways.
[…]
It doesn’t seem fair, but to some extent you will have to reject their ignorance or inappropriateness while still reassuring them that the person you are becoming will always love the parents they are, complete with their flaws and misapprehensions. Please keep talking. Gentleness toward them might inspire gentleness from them.

If you look at the data, one of the leading factors in a positive transition is family support; drug use, alcoholism, suicidal ideations, and self-harm are all reduced. The homeless shelters are full with LGBT people who were thrown out or ran away from home.

Hopefully, “Respectfully Disrespected” parents will realize the love and acceptance is more important than their dreams for their son.

Predators?

The conservative media likes to portray us as predators but it is far more likely that we are the prey. I have lost count on the number of trans people killed this year here in the U.S.

Trans People Face a Huge Risk of Sexual Assault—but Conservatives Paint Them as Predators
Slate
By Mark Joseph Stern
September 23, 2015

Buried among the data from the Association of American Universities’ new study on campus sexual assault was an especially distressing detail: Trans and genderqueer students face a stunningly high risk of sexual assault and harassment. Here are the lowlights:

• 39.1 percent of trans, genderqueer, noncomforming, and questioning (“TGQN”) seniors were subject to nonconsensual sexual contact.
• 29.5 percent of TGQN seniors experienced unwanted sexual contact as a result of physical force or incapacitation.
• 75.2 percent of TGQN undergraduates have been sexually harassed.
• 22.8 percent of TGQN undergrads experienced intimate partner violence.
• 12.1 percent of TGQN undergrads are victims of stalking.

The list goes on, but the trend is clear: TGQN students are at a higher risk of assault and harassment than any other group.

It can plainly be seen that we are more likely to be victims of a violent crime than the perpetrator of violence. But the Republicans and the conservative media continue to portray us as pedophiles and perverts fostering an atmosphere where violence against us is condoned. This creates environment where assaults against trans people are not prosecuted even when there are witnesses to the assault.  

Is It Cheating?

I have always believed that trans people should be able to play on the team of their gender identity after they have been on hormones for two years or are on puberty blockers, but this article out of Iran makes me wonder if they are cheating by having mostly trans athletes on their team.

Transgenders Of The Ayatollah
Liberty News
By Adam Campbell
October 3, 2015

Eight of the “women” on Iran’s female soccer team are actually physically and biologically men, who claim to be “transgender.”

None of the eight have undergone a formal sex change operation.
[…]
It’s unclear whether or not the Iranian government had anything to do with stacking, but government agents have vowed to force players to undergo gender testing to get to the bottom of the scandal.

The article doesn’t point out if the players are on hormones and the article also erroneously reports that,

Male-to-female transgender athletes have long been a point of contention in sports–largely because men have a stronger build, larger bodies, and more muscle definition, which doesn’t go away even as they transition their gender. It often affects not just the fairness of the game, but the safety of the players.

Muscle mass does greatly decrease with cross gender hormones and after two years a trans woman muscle definition is the same as a woman.

So to answer my question, if they have been on hormones than I would say that it is not cheating but I think that the team probably thought that there is an advantage into have trans women on the team.

Saturday 9: Straight Up

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Straight Up (1988)

Every Saturday I take time off from written on serious topics to have some fun…

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

1) In this song, Paula sings about being in a dream. Did you dream last night?
I did but I can never remember my dreams for more than a few minutes after I wakeup.

2) When Paula enrolled at California State University, she planned on studying broadcasting and becoming a reporter.  Think about your career aspirations when you were 19. Did you follow through and stay on track or, like Paula, did you veer off and find success elsewhere?
I stayed on track, I always wanted to work in electronics and I did up until I retired.

3) For a while she was a "Laker Girl" and performed at L.A. Laker games. Do you have a favorite NBA team?
Nope. I don’t follow any sports teams.

4) Paula was once married to Brad Beckerman of Stillhouse Spirits, a company that specializes in whiskey. What's your favorite alcoholic beverage?
Chardonnay, I not into whiskeys. My favorite drink was at first rum and coke, then when I couldn’t have any caffeine I started drinking Cape Coders and now it is white wines.

5) Paula has been dancing since age 8 and, as you can see from the video, Paula moves very well in heels. Tell us about your most comfy shoes.
Sneakers. I live in sneakers, but during the summer I do wear some comfy sandals a lot.

6) Paula admits it was her passion for jewelry and that inspired her to design her own line for QVC and Avon. What is your favorite thing to go shopping for? 
Groceries! Food…

7) She advises young girls to "keep the faith and don't lose your gut instinct." How about you? Are you more logical or instinctive?
Logical, it’s my engineering background.

8) In May, Paula traveled to Austria for The Life Ball, a fundraiser to help those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. When is the last time you left the country?
Wow, it was so long ago that I can’t even remember.

9) Paula Abdul is a spokeswoman for Avon's "Go Check Yourself" campaign for breast health awareness. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Do you know anyone who has been touched by this disease?
It doesn’t run in the family (but that doesn’t mean I don’t get checked), however it has touched my neighbors.

A Bunch Of…

Charges were dropped against two men who assaulted a trans woman in front of witness for lack of evidence.

Charges dropped in Spokane transgender attack
KREM
By Lindsay Nadrich
October 1, 2015

SPOKANE, Wash.—A lack of evidence forced the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office to drop charges in September against two men accused of attacking a transgender woman.
[…]
A witness who saw the January 30 assault on Carla said it is clear the victim was targeted because she is a transgender woman.

Police said two males entered Boots Bakery around 10:00 p.m. Friday night. Upon entering, detectives said, the men assaulted a female, and then fled from the location on foot.

But all charges were dropped… why?

The Inlander blog had this to say about the charges,

“I find the dropping of all charges against the suspects to be troubling and shocking,” said Blaine Stum, the chair of the city’s Human Rights Commission, in a statement emailed to the Inlander. “The victim’s testimony, as well as eye witness accounts, corroborate the fact that she was assaulted by these men in act of violence fueled by bias. Dropping malicious harassment charges would have been egregious enough, but to not pursue any charges is a travesty.”

The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning that they can be refiled if the prosecution later finds more evidence. The prosecuting attorney on the case wasn’t available for comment.

There was some mention of comments made the attackers before the assault and the victim spit on the attackers after derogatory remarks were made.

Love Wins Over Hate!

I wish it was true every time but at least love won this time…

Community rallies in support of school's first transgender homecoming queen
KCTV
By Chris Oberholtz, Heather Staggers, and DeAnn Smith
Posted: Oct 01, 2015

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
Students are rallying around a transgender homecoming queen at a Northland high school.

Landon Patterson came out as a transgender female last year while staying active as a cheerleader and show choir member at Oak Park High School. Classmates made their acceptance clear through the annual nomination and voting process for homecoming queen.
[…]
On Thursday, members of the Westboro Baptist Church protested at the school, but students and members of the community struck  first with a rally of support at Oak Grove Park.

Far more people attended the event organized as love and support for Patterson than were at the Westboro event.

It was so great that the students came out in support of their fellow student and to stand up against hate.

KCTV5

# # # # #

This morning I am down at a college in New Haven talking to public health students on healthcare disparities that we face.

Then this afternoon I will be at the local senior center for the Friday meeting of the photo club and that is going to be followed by a meeting at the CT chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. It is going to be a long day.

I Agree Mostly…

I agree that it is not really Equality that we should strive for but rather Equity. On Medium Eli Erlick writes,

In an era of unprecedented visibility, the transgender community is at a crossroads. Do we work transgender people into current systems such as education and the military or do we work to significantly transform these structures and society as a whole? While the majority of media attention has gone towards integrating trans people into the dominant culture, is this the right decision for the community? Many activists, scholars, and community members say no.

I totally agree, the focus should not be assimilating in to society but rather to be able to live our lives as we want. If you notice the Connecticut non-discrimination law nowhere in the law does it enforce the binary, it doesn’t say that your gender identity and expression has to either male or female.

Equality is something that only benefits the most privileged of the community. In the past year alone, over 1,000 people, mostly people of color, have been killed by police. While most police protect white cisgender citizens, they disproportionately target transgender people, particularly transgender people of color.

And those that are usually targeted are those who do not fit into societies binary, they are the ones who do not visually conform to the gender binary.

What I do not agree with in her essay is what she says about hate crimes,

Hate crime legislation does nothing to protect trans people. Instead, it only increases sentencing for offenders. Is doubling a 7-year sentence going to deter crime? Statistically, the answer is no. Hate crime laws do not look at the roots of the problem, including systemic racism and transphobia. Individualizing the problem by sending one person to prison does very little for our community as a whole and does not work within a restorative justice framework…

But that can be said about any crime. Most criminal justice systems do not go to the root of the problem, social injustice. Drugs, gangs, street crimes, and others acts of violence has its roots in socioeconomic inequality.

…People who have committed these acts can be educated along with the public on transgender issues, which will actually stop the violence. This is not to mention many people incorrectly think anti-transgender victimization has ended when hate crime legislation has passed — and then proceed to ignore the perpetual violence we still face. Hate crime laws are just one of many examples of where “equality” fails to work for the trans community.

I do not believe education can end violence, it will help alleviate violence because of hate but it will never eliminate it. Violence against protected classes is increasing, the number of hate crimes because of race and religion has increased along with attacks on LGBT people.

We recognize motive when it comes to violent crimes. Killing someone is not just one charge but we break it down to motive, manslaughter is usually divided into voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. While murder is usually divided into first degree murder which usually involves deliberate planning, premeditation, or malice, and second degree murder without premeditation or deliberation.

Hate crime laws are not to end violence but rather goes to the motive behind the crime. Assaults are also broken down by motive and the difference in all three it is the difference to which one person injures another person. A hate crime is because of the motive of the attack, the violence is not just directed at the individual but at the community.

Life Following Television

This morning I wrote about Law & Order SVU show where a boy kills a trans students and now this happened...

Boy, 12, opens fire on transgender woman in possible hate crime
WFTV

shooting in Orlando could soon be charged with a hate crime, Channel 9 has learned.

A 26-year-old transgender woman said she was chased down the street and shot at several times just before midnight Thursday, police said.

The woman, identified as Andrew West, told police that the child emptied the gun while firing, but missed every time.

West said the boy was on the phone and that she heard him say, "I'm going to kill this (expletive)," before opening fire.

She said she was running for her life but when she realized the shooter was out of bullets, she turned around and began chasing him.

And the similarities are even more amazing,

The child was later identified as 12-year-old Joseph Smith. Smith lives with his grandmother, who said he got out of the house without her knowledge.

Did You See SVU Last Night?

Did you see Law & Order Special Victims Unit last night about the trans student?
The Advocate wrote this about the show,

“Transgender Bridge,” tonight’s episode of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, is summarized by the network as a tale of “transgender tragedy”: “When a transgender teen is taunted by high school kids, bullying escalates to tragedy.”
[…]
Tonight, a 15-year-old transgender girl named Avery Parker is shown walking home from school through New York City’s Fort Tryon Park, where she’s surrounded by a group of rowdy boys.

“Taunts and jokes intensify to pushing and shoving,” reads the show’s official description, “leaving Avery in the hospital and three assailants under arrest.”

I thought the topic was handled well; they raised a lot of questions for the viewer to think about while at the same time pointing out that discrimination and violence is wrong. Entertainment Weekly said,

The conversation in the episode turns to the lack of understanding surrounding transgender individuals, and the conversation at the roundtable followed suit.

“We’re at a moment where it’s becoming understood in certain classes and certain parts of society,” Leight said. “I love that kids now grow up without the stigma attached to homosexuality that, when I was growing up, that was the worst insult you could give someone. A lot of kids are growing up without that stigma in their head, and it’s beginning to go that way for transgender kids. The essential kid in our episode, she’s growing up in a home that’s evolved and supportive, in a school where people look out for her. But she’s prey on the streets. Her guard is down, because she’s received enough acceptance that her guard is dropped on the streets.”

The parents of the trans child do not want the teenager charged with a hate crime because their daughter believed in forgiveness, while the prosecutor wants to prosecute the child as an adult and with a hate crime to make a point that it is not acceptable to assault a transgender person. The Advocate goes on to say,

When the worst happens and the district attorney’s office decides to try one of the culprits as an adult, “the SVU squad agonizes over whether the punishment fits the crime, and must deal with the pain of both families involved,” according to a spokeswoman for NBC.

So did you see the show? If you did what did you think? Should he have been charged as a hate crime? What about his sentence, was it too harsh?