Another Law Maker Wants To Screw Us.

A Republican Congressman wants to strip all of gains with a bill he is proposing…

This Lawmaker Wants To Make Absolutely Sure No Law Protects Transgender People
Rep. Pete Olson just wants to make sure everything’s “uniform.”
Think Progress
By Zack Ford
August 19, 2016

This week, the General Services Administration issued a notice ensuring that transgender individuals will have access to facilities to bathrooms that match their identity in more than 9,000 federal buildings and offices. It’s the latest move from the Obama Administration toward recognizing that nondiscrimination protections based on “sex” apply to trans people, but one lawmaker wants to end all of this “executive overreach.”

Congressman Pete Olson (R-TX) filed a bill last month that would eliminate the foundation for these protections. HR 5812 serves only one purpose: clarifying that transgender people do not enjoy protections under the law.

He gave his bill the cute title `Civil Rights Uniformity Act of 2016.' And this is what the proposed law says,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Civil Rights Uniformity Act of
2016.''
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF PURPOSE.
    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Over the past half century, Congress has passed         numerous civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the  basis of ``sex,'' a designation long understood to be grounded in objective biology up to the present day. There is no evidence that Congress or the American people ever understood the word sex or gender in civil rights laws to include subjective self-identification.
            (2) For years, advocates have pressed Congress to include a person's subjective self-declared ``gender identity'' in Federal civil rights laws that prohibit sex discrimination. Congress has declined to do so except for the Shepard-Byrd Act of 2009 and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 where gender identity is defined as ``actual or perceived gender-related characteristics'' with ``gender'', there referring to characteristics associated with biological males  and females.
            (3) This demonstrates that when Congress wants to protect sex, it does so explicitly; when it wants to also elevate gender identity it does so explicitly; and when it does not want to elevate gender identity, it can do so either explicitly or by simply not disturbing the status quo.
            (4) Despite the complete clarity of this point, President Barack Obama's administration has attempted to effectively replace the word ``sex'' with the phrase ``gender identity'' for purposes of Federal antidiscrimination law and policy through a series of unilateral executive actions.
            (5) For example, on December 15, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would reinterpret the ban on ``sex'' discrimination under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to encompass ``gender identity.'' This was followed on March 27, 2015, by an Equal
        Employment Opportunity Commission decision holding that declining to use a female pronoun to address a male who identifies as female constituted ``sex'' discrimination under title VII.
            (6) On May 9, 2016, the Obama administration sued the State of North Carolina and threatened it with fines and loss of Federal funding if it did not adopt the administration's incorrect readings of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
            (7) On May 13, 2016, the Departments of Justice and Education issued a ``significant guidance'' letter stating that under title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 ``when a school provides sex-segregated activities and facilities, transgender students must be allowed to participate in such activities and access such facilities consistent with their gender identity.'' The guidance further states that schools ``must treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex'' including in the context of ``sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, housing, and athletic teams, as well as single-sex classes.'' In other words, the Departments consider it a title IX violation if a person of the male sex who self-identifies as a female is not granted unfettered access to women's or girls' dorms, showers, locker rooms, and bathrooms. This, despite assurance that such a thing would never happen from the likes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg who wrote in 1975 that ``separate places to disrobe, sleep, perform personal bodily functions are permitted, in some situations required, by regard for individual privacy.'' This position was codified in Federal regulations, 34 CFR 106.33, which state that recipients of Federal funds ``may provide separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex,'' with sex obviously referring to biology.
            (8) Also on May 13, 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized regulations that redefined the Affordable Care Act's prohibition on ``sex'' discrimination in federally funded health programs and activities to cover ``gender identity'', thereby opening health care professionals and insurers to extensive liability if they decline to participate in or pay for ``gender transition'' treatments or ``sex change'' operations.
            (9) The Obama administration's actions are an affront to the rule of law, the separation of powers, the will of the people, language, history, safety, privacy, and biological realities.

Notice what is missing in his “Findings” he doesn’t say anything about abut the Supreme Court ruling in the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, there is nothing about all the other courts’ rulings… zip, noting. It makes it sound like these regulations where pulled out of a hat instead of based on law. It is based on an archaic definition of sex and gender.

So this is what he is proposing…

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION OF POLICIES REDEFINING SEX TO MEAN GENDER IDENTITY.
    (a) Rule of Construction.--In determining the meaning of any Federal civil rights law, and of any related ruling, regulation, guidance, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the words ``sex'' and ``gender'' and their equivalents shall not be interpreted to mean ``gender identity'' or its equivalent, and the words ``man'' and ``woman'' and their equivalents shall refer exclusively to a person's sex.
    (b) Rule of Interpretation.--No Federal civil rights law shall be interpreted to treat gender identity or transgender status as a protected class, unless such law expressly designates ``gender identity'' or ``transgender status'' as a protected class.
    (c) Definition of ``Federal Civil Rights Law''.--For purposes of this Act, the term ``Federal civil rights law'' means any Federal law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex or gender, including title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.), the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), and any other Federal law or provision thereof prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex or gender.

When you vote this November think about this, the only thing that will stop legislation like this from a Republican controlled Congress is the President. If the Republicans control both Congress and the Presidency we will see a rash of legislation within the first month to unleash their hate against us to repeal all the human rights that we have won in the last eight years: marriage equality, LGBT people in the military, in employment, housing, and education we will see laws passed to mandate anyone to discriminate against just by saying it is against their religion.

---

This morning I am up UConn School of Social Work as a guest lecturer.

Breaking News: Lady Chablis Dead

I just saw this on Facebook...

Lady Chablis, Trans Icon and Savannah's Grand Empress, Dead at 59
The Advocate
BY NEAL BROVERMAN
SEPTEMBER 08 2016 1:11 PM EDT

Lady Chablis — a fixture in the gay clubs of Georgia and South Carolina before finding stardom in the book and film adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — passed away at age 59.

Chablis helped bring a touch of glamour to Columbia, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., performing her cabaret at gay nightclubs there. Chablis opened Savannnah's Club One in 1988 and would help define the image of Savannah as a sexy, modern city of the South.

Always looking every inch the star she was, Chablis would figure prominently in John Berendt's best-selling non-fiction book Midnight in the Garden of Evil. The book focused on the murder of a male prostitute, allegedly committed by Jim Williams, a Savannah socialite and antiques dealer. Berendt effectively captured the charms of Savannah, and included Chablis as a major character. When Clint Eastwood adapted the film, Chablis insisted on playing herself — and got her wish.
[...]
After the film, Chablis continued her club performances, wrote an autobiography, and appeared on The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Bizarre Foods America: Savannah. Chablis also used her fame for good, raising money for diabetes and LGBT causes. She remained beloved in Savannah, even though she lived in South Carolina.

I saw her in the movie and she was great, a real credit to the community.

Disturbing

I have questions about why Dr. Jill Stein is so cozy with Russian President Putin. I few weeks ago I asked that question and now on America Blog says that the Russian Green Party asks the same question.

Russian Greens blast Jill Stein’s silence on Putin’s human rights abuses
By John Aravosis
September 6, 2016

Two representatives of the Russian Green Party eviscerated American Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein today for her cozy relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Russian Greens said Stein was a willing accomplice of Putin’s human rights abuses against the LGBT community, environmentalists, artists, journalists and political dissidents:

“By silencing Putin’s crimes you are silencing our struggle. By shaking his hand and failing to criticize his regime you are becoming his accomplice. By forgetting what international solidarity means you are insulting the Russian environmental movement.”

In particular, Russian environmental activists Yevgeniya Chirikova and Nadezda Kutepova criticized Stein for her recent trip last winter to Moscow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Russian state propaganda organ. The event included a dinner at which Stein sat at the same dinner table as Putin.

Also on this same trip Trumps military adviser sat at the same table with Dr. Stein and President Putin.

Here is the letter that the Russian Green Party sent to Dr. Stein,

Open letter to Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 election

Dear Dr. Stein

We are writing to you in the spirit of green values and principles, which include fighting for a sustainable future, defending the environment and human rights, and engaging in international solidarity. We are also writing to you as eco-activists, women and mothers.

 In November of this year, you will face an important challenge which will have an impact all over the world, even far away from US borders. As Russian eco-activists, we are following the US presidential election with curiosity and fear. Curiosity for your democratic system and fear for the impact that the result of this election could have on our lives and the lives of our children.

As environmentalists and human rights defenders, we often support Green candidates all over the world when they run for local, national or continental election. However, we are asking ourselves if we can support your candidature for the Presidency of the United States of America. We have carefully read your program and your website and we have to admit that we are deeply shocked by the position you expressed during your visit to Moscow and your meeting with Mr. Vladimir Putin.

During the last few years, Russian authorities have continued the destruction of the rich and unique Russian environment. The Kremlin is heavily contributing to global climate change and the destruction of global biodiversity by over-using Russian natural resources and promoting unsafe nuclear energy. Corruption and anti-democratic behavior of the current Russian government has also led to negative impacts on Russia’s unique forests and natural heritage. Russian eco-activists and human rights defenders are also facing an increasingly repressive system which was constructed under Putin’s regime. The list of the victims of this system is unfortunately becoming longer and longer. Russian environmentalist Yevgeniy Vitishko spent 22 months in prison for a non-violent action. Journalist Mikhail Beketov was violently attacked in 2008, suffered serious injuries, and died in 2013. Our personal cases are also symbolic: because of our activism, and in order to protect our children, we were both forced to leave Russia and to seek political asylum in the European Union.

After your visit to Moscow and your meeting with Vladimir Putin you said that “the world deserve[s] a new commitment to collaborative dialogue between our governments to avert disastrous wars for geopolitical domination, destruction of the climate, and cascading injustices that promote violence and terrorism.” We agree with you. But how can this new “collaborative dialogue” be possible when Mr. Putin has deliberately built a system based on corruption, injustice, falsification of elections, and violation of human rights and international law? How is it possible to have a discussion with Mr. Putin and not mention, not even once, the fate of Russian political prisoners, or the attacks against Russian journalists, artists, and environmentalists? Is it fair to speak with him about “geopolitics” and not mention new Russian laws against freedom of speech, restrictions on NGOs and activists, or the shameful law that forbids “homosexual propaganda”?

By silencing Putin’s crimes you are silencing our struggle. By shaking his hand and failing to criticize his regime you are becoming his accomplice. By forgetting what international solidarity means you are insulting the Russian environmental movement.

Dr. Stein, you still have several weeks before the elections in order to clarify your position on the anti-democratic and anti-environmental elements of Putin’s regime. We sincerely hope that our voices will be heard and that our questions will not go unanswered
Best regards,
Evgeniya Chirikova
Nadezda Kutepova

I have to wonder on the friendliness between Russian President Putin and Dr. Stein and also between Putin and Mr. Trump. You have to wonder what is involved especially after the Russians hacked into the Democratic National Committee.

We Are Making Headway

Around the world we are slowly make advances in our rights sometimes it is where you would least expect it.

Bolivia's transgender citizens celebrate new ID cards
Reuters
By Karishma Singh
September 6, 2016

Feted by activists carrying a rainbow flag, transgender citizens in La Paz are celebrating their newfound right to register for identity cards with updated details under Bolivia's new gender law.
[…]
The law, which means transgender citizens can register for ID cards using the names and details of their assumed gender, comes into effect under the leftist government of President Evo Morales.

Bolivia's move to grant new ID cards to its transgender citizens follows similar legislation in Britain, Colombia and Australia.

And then in the Middle East…

Sex-change surgery is now legal in the UAE
StepFeed
By Leyal Khalife
September 7, 2016

The United Arab Emirates has just passed a federal decree that introduces substantial changes to healthcare in the Gulf state, and challenges prevailing cultural norms.

Federal Decree No. 4 permits doctors to refrain from resuscitation and to conduct sexual reassignment surgery. These amendments are one of several under Decree No. 4 that reduce doctors’ criminal liability.

Under article 7 of the law governing healthcare, doctors can now perform sex change operations so long as there are “psychological” and “physiological” signs of gender and sex disparity. The law also requires that the patient undergoing sex change surgery receive mental health care to “psychologically prepare” patients for the transition.

The UAE would be the second state in the Arabian Gulf to legalize sex reassignment surgery, after Iran. Certain schools of Islamic jurisprudence recognize transgenderism, and the laws do not necessarily fly in the face of religious teachings. Islam has a long and nuanced history with the subject, which, many argue, is not as straightforward as it might appear at the outset.

It is a small step but it is important step when you consider the consequences if you are gay and hopefully this will not be forced on anyone like it is rumored in Iran when gays are given a choice,   death or surgery.

Are We Ever Safe Anywhere?

When we go out in public sometimes we have a false sense of security because we are going to a LGBT event but you never know.

Performer known as 'Drag King' attacked in Olympia
KOMO News
By Jennifer Sullivan
September 5th 2016

OLYMPIA - In the nearly 10 years that Lila Hadway has taken the stage in drag, she has occasionally felt harassed and threatened.

But, a violent attack in Olympia early Sunday has left her scared for her safety and the safety of other performers.

Just after midnight, Hadway, a “drag king” known as “Parker Perry,” was loading up her gear after a benefit show at the Fourth Avenue Tavern. After a transgender friend was heckled and Hadway’s own wife, Angela, was threatened, Hadway stepped in.

Hadway recalled saying, “I was like ‘hey can we just leave this alone?’"

The article goes on to say,

"The assailant was calling them filthy gay and anti-transgender slurs while they were being beaten," she said.

On Tuesday, Olympia police reversed earlier statements and said a hate crime may have been committed.

Um… let’s see they called her “filthy gay and anti-transgender slurs” and beat her up, so exactly why wasn’t this attack a hate crime?

A while ago at a gay bar in Hartford a gay man was attacked when he left the bar, they now have security guards at the bar to patrol the parking lot.

One time on a warm summer night I was leaving a LGBT event and I had to walk by a bar where there were guys hanging out outside of the bar to get to my car. I hesitated standing in the doorway from the event and this group of lesbians was also leaving as they walked past me one of them stopped and turned, she asked me where my car was parked. I told her in the parking lot down the street, she said come and join them.

For us trans women we were not brought up to survey our surroundings and by on our guard.

Happenings Down In North Carolina

A couple of news items about the court cases against the draconian HB2 law.

North Carolina transgender bathroom trial delayed
Fox News US
By Associated Press
Published September 02, 2016

RALEIGH, N.C. –  The trial over a North Carolina law governing transgender restroom access is being pushed back by several months, an attorney for residents challenging the law said Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joi Elizabeth Peake partly granted a request to delay the North Carolina proceedings while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hear a Virginia case on transgender restroom access, according to a brief entry in the federal court docket.

James Esseks, an ACLU lawyer on the team representing three transgender residents, said the judge's order means the case will be pushed back from its November trial date until May.
[…]
The ACLU and the U.S. Justice Department are challenging the law, while North Carolina's Republican governor and legislative leaders are defending it.

The Republican leaders had asked the court to halt the proceedings while the Supreme Court decides if it will take the Virginia case, which centers around a transgender high school student who is asking officials to allow him to use a male restroom.

There is an injunction on the implementing the law that was issued by U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder.

Also LGBT Nation Reported that,

Citizen group drops lawsuit over North Carolina’s ‘bathroom bill’
By Associated Press
Friday, September 2, 2016

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A citizens group has dropped its lawsuit defending a North Carolina law that limits LGBT rights and requires transgender people to use bathrooms in many public buildings matching the sex on their birth certificate.

North Carolinians for Privacy filed a notice Wednesday that it was dismissing its case, one of several pending in federal court.

The state’s Republican leaders are continuing to defend the law in two other cases. A trial is scheduled for November.

Stay tune for the latest chapter in the continuing saga of HB2.

I Am Not A Big Fan Of Polls, But…

…This one I find amazing. it was a poll done at the Minnesota State Fair.

MN State Fair-goers overwhelmingly voted ‘no’ on anti-transgender poll
By TheColu.mn
September 6, 2016

In a poll conducted at the Minnesota State Fair by the Minnesota House Public Information Services, 59 percent of State Fair attendees said ‘no’ to the question: “Should schools and businesses be able to require individuals to use restroom and locker room facilities based on biological sex, as defined at birth?”

Thirty-one percent said bathroom should be restricted by based on “biological sex.” Ten percent were undecided or didn’t have an opinion. The question was inspired by a bill offered by anti-LGBTQ Republican Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen.

Here are the vote totals and counts:
Yes 30.6% (1,962)
No 59.2% (3,796)
Undecided/No Opinion 10.2% (655)

Um… this wide margin is really impressive considering the way the Republican there have attacked up, they control the House but the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party have a slight edge in the Senate and also the governor is a Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.

Some of the other questions that were asked at the fair were,

2. Should criminal background checks be required on all gun sales, including private transactions and at gun shows?
Yes................................................... 86.2%.................. (5,556)
No.................................................... 11.5%..................... (739)
Undecided/No Opinion ................... 2.3%....................... (150)

7. Should it be mandatory that employees in workplaces with six or more workers accumulate one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, with a maximum of 40 hours of accrual each year?
Yes................................................... 58.9%.................. (3,724)
No.................................................... 28.4%.................. (1,799)
Undecided/No Opinion ................... 12.7%..................... (802)

They also said that taxes should be increased if it goes to improve highways and mass transportation; they also favor something that hasn’t gotten much traction here in Connecticut,

8. When a mentally capable adult is dying from a terminal illness, do you think this adult should be allowed to receive a prescription for life-ending medication they may self-administer?
Yes................................................... 66.8%.................. (4,226)
No.................................................... 22.8%.................. (1,441)
Undecided/No Opinion ................... 10.5%..................... (664)

As I said I am amazed that the people are so strongly behind us.

Leading The Way

I went to graduate school at the University of Connecticut and one of the things that I liked was that they were very supportive of trans people. Basically the Rainbow Center sent out a Dear Colleague” letter to the faculty and staff.

Gender Diversity Inclusion in the Classroom
Dear Faculty and Staff,

Thank you for your interest in contributing to an inclusive classroom for UConn’s diverse community of gender identities and expressions, particularly those who are transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary students.  Often they are misgendered and mistreated in the classroom which feels like a hostile learning environment.  Misgendering could include not only using the wrong pronouns, but utilizing only binary language like “you guys,” sir, ma’am, policeman, fireman and others (Instead, use language such as “you all,” folks, everyone, police officer, firefighter, etc.).  Not only is gender identity a protected class in the state of Connecticut, but diversity is a critical component of our mission and values at UConn.

The Rainbow Center community would like to create a new campus norm where everyone shares their pronouns with their name, including cisgender people.  I have my pronouns on my syllabus, team roster, name tag, door tag, e-mail signature and even my UConn business card. However, gender diversity inclusion involves more than pronouns. Please take a brief moment to learn about facilitating a gender diversity inclusive classroom by watching the video and reading a brief article titled: Supporting Transgender Students in the Classroom.

They also list other campus resources for trans students.

They also have a “Gender Transition Guidelines” to help students, faculty, and staff in their transition and I have a number of training sessions for healthcare providers and just last week I did training for the Student Union’s student employees. And during the training one of the student felt comfortable enough to come out as trans. This Friday I am giving a lecture for a social work class that one of my former professor teaches.

When I applied to the School of Social Work my transcripts from my undergraduate school had my old name on it, the admission office had a question about my old name but once I explained it they were okay.

Homophobic Nation

This is what happens when a nation goes homophobic and go after their children.

Police arrest 8-year-old girl over ‘lesbianism’
Pink News
By Joe Williams
2nd September 2016

The girl could be sent to prison if found guilty.

Police in Uganda have taken a young girl into custody after she became “involved in romantic relationships” with her female classmates.

Authorities allege that the girls would demonstrate to various sexual acts in front of each other.
Police say they are investigating claims that someone could have trained the girl and instructed her to pass on the knowledge to the other girls.

Ms Wobuyaga said parents should watch out for adults who coerce underage children into “illicit relationships”.

Earlier this year, homophobic Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni remained in office for a fifth term, as he won a general election amid accusations of corruption.

President Museveni signed the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill in February 2014.

There is a parallel between the North Carolina law and the Uganda law in that they were pushed through so fast no one had a chance to comment on the bill.

However, the country’s Constitutional Court later struck down the bill, finding that the speaker of parliament acted illegally by moving ahead with a vote on the law despite at least three lawmakers objecting to a lack of quorum.

In North Carolina the federal judge put an injunction against the law, he questioned if they had proper hearings on the bill.

It seems like the homophobes know they can’t legally pass an anti-LGBT bill so they sneak it through when no one is looking.

A Judge Who Is Doing His Job

Surprise, surprise… some judges do base their rulings on the law.

Down in Texas one judge doesn't let little things like legal precedence and Supreme Court rulings get in the way of their agenda. The judge who is hearing the North Carolina case on HB2 is asking all the right questions.

Federal judge has lots of questions about HB2
How is it enforced, Judge Thomas Schroeder asked. “There is no enforcement mechanism of the law,” McCrory's attorney told him. “Then why have it?” the judge asked.
Charlotte Observer
By Anne Blythe
August 1, 2016

WINSTON-SALEM
The federal judge who will decide whether House Bill 2 should be suspended while lawsuits make their way through court had pointed questions Monday for attorneys representing Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators at a hearing.

“How does this law make bathrooms and changing facilities safer?” U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder asked South Carolina-based attorney Butch Bowers, who represented McCrory at the three-hour hearing.

How is it enforced, Schroeder also asked in many different ways.

“There is no enforcement mechanism of the law,” Bowers told him.

“Then why have it?” Schroeder asked.

For much of Monday morning and the first hour of the afternoon, Schroeder, a George W. Bush appointee, raised question after question for attorneys arguing for and against the four-month-old law, which was adopted to nullify a Charlotte ordinance that expanded non-discrimination protections to gay, lesbian and transgender people.
[…]
Schroeder noted in his questioning of the attorneys Monday that he had no transcripts or evidence that lawmakers had discussed the issue publicly before voting on the bill.

“Was there any kind of hearing on this bill?” Schroeder asked.

Last week the judge made his ruling,

Federal judge issues limited injunction against HB2, cites Title IX protections
Winston-Salem Journal
By Michael Hewlett
August 27, 2016


A transgender girl who is a high school student at UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem will be able to use the restroom that aligns with her gender identity, according to a ruling Friday by a federal judge that narrowly and temporarily blocks a part of North Carolina’s House Bill 2.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits the UNC system from enforcing the restroom portion of HB2 against Hunter Schafer, the high school student at UNCSA, and two other transgender plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits filed by several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and the U.S. Department of Justice.
[…]
In an 83-page ruling, Schroeder said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that HB2 violates federal anti-discrimination law Title IX, as interpreted by the U.S. Department of Education. His decision comes less than a month after he presided over a hearing in U.S. District Court in Winston-Salem about the motion for a preliminary motion.

The judge went on to write,

Schroeder wrote in his decision released Friday that so far the defendants have not provided any evidence that allowing transgender people to use the restroom of their gender identity poses a privacy or public-safety risk.

“Ultimately, the record reflects what counsel for Governor McCrory candidly speculates was the status quo ante in North Carolina in recent years: some transgender individuals have been quietly using bathrooms and other facilities that match their gender identity, without public awareness or incident,” Schroeder wrote.

And since I pointed out that the judge in the Texas that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor was appointed by President George W. Bush, I should point out that judge Thomas Schroeder was also appointed by President George W. Bush.

Passing

I hate that word, it has a negative connotation, and blending or integrating might be better words to use. How well you can fit in society has a lot to do with how well you can survive and earn a living.

Since this is Labor Day here is a post about working…

At Work in Two Genders
Observations from accomplished trans women about power and leadership in the office
The Altantic
By Sacha Zimmerman
September 2, 2016

“I want to literally make people smarter by jamming things in their brains,” Vivienne Ming, a theoretical neurophysicist and entrepreneur in Berkeley, California, told me. “Of course, that involves discretionary brain surgery.” So most of the time, Ming focuses on what comes before the operations, closely studying the physical components of the brain  in an attempt to target the approaches most likely to find success. After all, said Ming, “the space of what could be true is so enormous,” but what’s actually true is precise.
[…]
At work, women leaders experience more sexual harassment, lower pay, and less respect than their male peers. But what about transgender women at the tops of their fields? What is their experience of gender discrimination at work? What I found among the various accomplished trans women I spoke to was that, for them, leadership and professionalism aren’t functions of gender; they are a matter of making sure that one’s inner life and public life are in harmony.

Looking at Vivienne Ming you wouldn’t know that she is trans and that makes a lot of difference in getting a job and being able to survive, I know a lot of trans woman who are as smart as Ming but just looking at them you can tell they are trans and they have a very hard time getting and holding a job.

The article goes on to talk about another trans woman Michaela Mendelsohn,

“Authenticity resonates,” said Michaela Mendelsohn, the CEO of Los Angeles’s Pollo West Corp., one of the largest franchisees for the fast-food empire El Pollo Loco. “Finding my voice as a woman gave me new strength, and now I get more respect than I did as Michael,” Mendelsohn said. It’s not about being a man or a woman; it’s about “integrating as one whole person.”

“I never felt comfortable doing business as a male,” said Mendelsohn, who told me her life as a man—she transitioned in her 50s—was “hyper-masculine.” “There was always a feeling of being out of place,” she said—being a successful “businessman took a concerted effort at all times.” But when she finally “got a handle on my gender issues,” Mendelsohn said, “for the first time in my life, my body and mind were working together.” It used to be that going into work, she said, “every day I had a gigantic hill to climb, and for the first time, that hill leveled out.”

She also can integrate into society. For those that can’t life is hard, very hard.

One of the things that we get to see first hand is gender discrimination, the lyrics for the “Big Yellow Taxi” says it best…

 No no no
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
Til its gone

When we lose or gain male privilege it becomes very noticeable.

Being authentic and a better leader, of course, does not insulate trans women from sexism. But the women I talked to said they experience sexism differently—as a contrast with life as a man.

“Almost overnight, they stopped asking me math questions,” said Ming. During her transition, she was working as a scientist, and her colleagues thought highly of her skills. She had even developed a unique, complex algorithm as a grad student—an algorithm she used to create an artificial intelligence that learned to hear, which she then put into a neuro-prosthetic cochlear implant. (She’s not kidding when she says she wants to jam things into people’s brains.) But after her transition, nobody asked her about math anymore. This was a striking moment for a person who had grown up with the “arbitrary privilege” of being male: “Nobody told me I couldn’t do math or be a scientist,” she said.
[…]
But the benefits of being an Asian male had worked in her favor for the majority of her career so far. “I had a level of male privilege—unquestionably,” See told me.

Mendelsohn used the same language: “I got where I got with male privilege, and I recognize that.” It was an insight she learned quickly. “The first time I walked into a boardroom as Michaela, I was invisible.” Previously, Mendelsohn had had a “macho, physical way” of getting her point across. “I used to speak authoritatively and command respect,” she said. At first, going from “one box to another, in some ways, was worse,” she said. Mendelsohn did ultimately find her way as a woman and earned back that respect—although sometimes she still finds herself reaching for that tough guy: “I can’t back down,” she said. “I’m lucky guys don’t want to hit a woman!”

This is so unique, not many people get to experience life from both sides and the differences is amazing. For me I tend to blend in until I am close enough or I start talking that I am identified as trans. Last week when I went on the LGBT bus trip one of the guys thought we were two lesbians until he overheard us talking.

One time when I was a guest lecturer one of the students wrote,

When it was announced that we would have a guest speaker for our next class I originally thought nothing of it. I’ve had a good experience with guest speakers in the TCPCG [Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates] program so far and I was excited to hear what the guest lecturer would say. When I walked into class on Wednesday I remember seeing the back of a tall woman standing in front of our class, thinking she was our guest, and proceeded to sit down and open up my computer. About 5 minutes later the guest came forward and she said that we were going to start the lecture. Once the guest lecturer starting talking and I began to look at her a bit more in detail, I realized something very interesting - our guest speaker was a transexual.

So I do get to see the results of gender bias but I can’t really tell if it is gender bias or the fact that they identified me as trans and it is trans bias that they are reacting to.

But one thing is obvious, there is bias.

Did This Strike A Bell With Me.

I have watched a number of TED Talks, some I have for interesting, and some didn’t, while others have resonated with me. This one is one that resonated.

The topic has nothing to do with being trans but when I listened to the talk my thoughts were OMG she is talking about what it is to be trans.

I have a bachelor’s in social work, a master’s in social work, and I was getting my Ph.D. in social work, so my entire academic career was surrounded by people who kind of believed in the “life’s messy, love it.” And I’m more of the, “life’s messy, clean it up, organize it and put it into a bento box.” And so to think that I had found my way, to found a career that takes me — really, one of the big sayings in social work is, “Lean into the discomfort of the work.” And I’m like, knock discomfort upside the head and move it over and get all A’s. That was my mantra.

So I was very excited about this. And so I thought, you know what, this is the career for me, because I am interested in some messy topics. But I want to be able to make them not messy. I want to understand them. I want to hack into these things I know are important and lay the code out for everyone to see.

So far nothing resonated with me other than she is a social worker.

Connection
So where I started was with connection. Because, by the time you’re a social worker for 10 years, what you realize is that connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives. This is what it’s all about. It doesn’t matter whether you talk to people who work in social justice and mental health and abuse and neglect, what we know is that connection, the ability to feel connected, is — neurobiologically that’s how we’re wired — it’s why we’re here.
[…]
ShameSo very quickly — really about six weeks into this research — I ran into this unnamed thing that absolutely unraveled connection in a way that I didn’t understand or had never seen. And so I pulled back out of the research and thought, I need to figure out what this is. And it turned out to be shame. And shame is really easily understood as the fear of disconnection: Is there something about me that, if other people know it or see it, that I won’t be worthy of connection? The things I can tell you about it: it’s universal; we all have it. The only people who don’t experience shame have no capacity for human empathy or connection. No one wants to talk about it, and the less you talk about it the more you have it. What underpinned this shame, this “I’m not good enough,” — which we all know that feeling: “I’m not blank enough. I’m not thin enough, rich enough, beautiful enough, smart enough, promoted enough.” The thing that underpinned this was excruciating vulnerability, this idea of, in order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen.

Well gee… I know about shame, I lived with it for fifty years. Shame kept me in the closet. If anyone found out about me being trans my world would end.

And you know how I feel about vulnerability. I hate vulnerability. And so I thought, this is my chance to beat it back with my measuring stick. I’m going in, I’m going to figure this stuff out, I’m going to spend a year, I’m going to totally deconstruct shame, I’m going to understand how vulnerability works, and I’m going to outsmart it. So I was ready, and I was really excited. As you know, it’s not going to turn out well. You know this. So, I could tell you a lot about shame, but I’d have to borrow everyone else’s time. But here’s what I can tell you that it boils down to — and this may be one of the most important things that I’ve ever learned in the decade of doing this research. My one year turned into six years: thousands of stories, hundreds of long interviews, focus groups. At one point, people were sending me journal pages and sending me their stories — thousands of pieces of data in six years. And I kind of got a handle on it.

I kind of understood, this is what shame is, this is how it works. I wrote a book, I published a theory, but something was not okay — and what it was is that, if I roughly took the people I interviewed and divided them into people who really have a sense of worthiness — that’s what this comes down to, a sense of worthiness — they have a strong sense of love and belonging — and folks who struggle for it, and folks who are always wondering if they’re good enough. There was only one variable that separated the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people who really struggle for it. And that was, the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they’re worthy of love and belonging. That’s it. They believe they’re worthy. And to me, the hard part of the one thing that keeps us out of connection is our fear that we’re not worthy of connection, was something that, personally and professionally, I felt like I needed to understand better. So what I did is I took all of the interviews where I saw worthiness, where I saw people living that way, and just looked at those.

Shame, vulnerability, now we are getting closer. My little secret made me very vulnerable.

Courage, the original definition of courage, when it first came into the English language — it’s from the Latin word cor, meaning heart — and the original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart. And so these folks had, very simply, the courage to be imperfect. They had the compassion to be kind to themselves first and then to others, because, as it turns out, we can’t practice compassion with other people if we can’t treat ourselves kindly. And the last was they had connection, and — this was the hard part — as a result of authenticity, they were willing to let go of who they thought they should be in order to be who they were, which you have to absolutely do that for connection.

The other thing that they had in common was this: They fully embraced vulnerability. They believed that what made them vulnerable made them beautiful. They didn’t talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor did they really talk about it being excruciating — as I had heard it earlier in the shame interviewing. They just talked about it being necessary. They talked about the willingness to say, “I love you” first, the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees, the willingness to breathe through waiting for the doctor to call after your mammogram. They’re willing to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. They thought this was fundamental.

Whoa! That is it!

Shame leads to vulnerability which in turn leads to courage to come out and transition.

I urge you to take twenty minutes and listen to her talk and see if you can find the parallels with transitioning.

Saturday 9: It's a Man's Man's Man's World

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: It's a Man's Man's Man's World (1966)

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

Since Labor Day was introduced to celebrate the American worker, we are highlighting the hardest working man in show business: James Brown. Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.


1) Before he was able to support himself as a musician, James Brown shined shoes, boxed, picked peanuts and delivered groceries. He admitted he didn't enjoy any of those jobs. What was your least favorite job?
Hmm… I would have to say it is the last job I had.

2) What job have you enjoyed the most?
Hmm… I would have to say it is the last job I had.
You see we were bought out by a multinational company and they made life miserable with paperwork but before then I liked my job a lot. However, once the bean counters started in on us they laid off a lot of employees and we all had to do not only our work but also their work and I am not a typist. I use what I call the Christopher Columbus method of typing… discover the key and land on it.

3) James loved performing and in the mid-60s, played 335-350 dates/year. Do you have time off this weekend? Or will you be working? 
Hey, I am retired and I can  work when are where I want.

4) With that grueling schedule, James spent a lot of time on the road. Do you enjoy traveling and staying in hotels? Or are you a homebody who prefers to sleep in your own bed?
I like to travel but it is so great when you get home and can sleep in your own bed again.

5) While Millennials are the largest generation in the workforce, millions of Baby Boomers are still part of American labor. Do you think it's easy or hard for people of different generations to work together? Or don't you think age matters?
It takes work but yes we can work together.
I facilitated a discuss group a couple of weeks ago and the discussion turned rather heated.
It was a “Conversation between the generations.” It was between older LGBT people and the younger generation, the older generation was all about we fought for your rights and you don’t understand what we went through. The younger LGBT said you don’t understand anything about us. Me I was stuck in the middle trying to keep everyone’s tempers under control. Very interesting!

6) 72% of employers report that they give their employees sick days. Tell us about a time when you called in sick, but weren't. 
I didn’t really do that. The company that I worked for had a very liberal vacation/sick days’ policy. Basically if you got your job done they didn’t care if took days off as long as you didn’t abuse it. However, that all changed when the when the multinational took us over.

7) According to the 2010 Census, 5.9 million Americans regularly work from home. Is working from home something you have/you would enjoy? Or do you benefit from interaction with coworkers?
What I miss most now that I am retired is the social aspect of work.

8) 12% of workers report they prefer to report for work early -- before 7:00 AM -- so they can get more done. Are you a morning person?
Ha! I started a 3 AM club on Facebook. Does that answer your question?

9) The NFL season starts on September 8. How do you think your team will do this year?
That presupposes that I am interested in sports.

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I have to apologize in advance, once again I am going to be up at the cottage in New Hampshire this weekend so I will not be able to answer your posts.

"Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It."

We all have heard of that saying and it is also true that if you don’t know your history it might be stolen from you.

We Could All Use a Refresher on LGBT 101
Contrary to some, not all LGBT millennials are dismissive of the earlier generations' hard-won victories. But there's still a huge knowledge gap when it comes to history, writes Terry Beswick of the GLBT Historical Society.
The Advocate
By Terry Besick
February 9, 2016

A few days ago, a friend posted a viral YouTube rant called “Show Some F*cking Respect!” In the video, a young gay activist who calls himself Davey Wavey laments his queer peers’ disrespect and ageism towards their elders, accusing young, entitled gays of taking the LGBT community’s hard-won victories for granted. The video racked up more than 5 million views in less than a week.
[…]
But later that night, I attended the GLBT History Museum’s fifth anniversary party in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, where I live — and was impressed to see a packed, diverse crowd that included a fair proportion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people mixing with their elders.
[…]
Just in the last 30 years of my adult life, there has been so much struggle for historic change in the LGBT community: legalizing consensual sex between adults, opening up the military, domestic partnerships, marriage equality, electoral representation, the rise and fall of AIDS, transgender visibility — with all the amazing individual stories of courage and profound love, and of tragedy and triumph along the way.

But I also find with the telling certain parts get left out or changed depending upon the teller.

I remember when I was first coming out there was a “LGBT” (I put it in quotes because they said they were a LGBT paper but in reality it was a G paper and I use a capital G because it was for rich gays only) newspaper in Hartford called the Metroline and they ran a piece on Stonewall and they said it was the “Gays” who rebelled. When he was called out on that by trans people and lesbians he dug his heels in and went on a rant.

And that is not an isolated case, I seen it happen over and over. A doctoral candidate presented a paper on LGBT people on television and she didn’t have one trans person listed that was in a TV show and when we called her out on it she said she couldn’t find a show with a trans person in it and I told that I would give her an “F” (I have since found her paper on-line and she changed the title to L&G in television). I went to a workshop at the True Color’s conference on LGBT history that was given by a professor from, I think, Brown University and she didn’t have any trans history. I called her out about and she gave the same excuse there is no trans history (I gave her a list of books on our history).

And rewriting our history can have disastrous effects on us. Congressman  Barney Frank pulled us out of the 2007 ENDA saying that we can’t expect to come in at the last minute and expect to be added at the last minute to the legislation. He totally ignore our lobbying efforts for inclusion into ENDA, people like Phyllis Frye and Karen Kerin who lobbied Congress back in 1994.

So knowing our history is important and speaking up for our history is equally important.

Some books you might want to read;
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
by Julia Serano
Paperback –280 pages (Jun 1, 2007), Seal Press; ISBN-10: 1580051545

Transgender Rights
by Paisley Currah (Editor), Richard M. Juang (Editor), Shannon Price Minter (Editor)
Paperback - 400 pages; (August 18, 2006); Univ Of Minnesota Press; ISBN-10: 0816643121;

Becoming a Visible Man
by Jamison Green
Paperback - 264 pages (June 4, 2004) Vanderbilt University Press; ISBN-10: 082651457X

tone Butch Blues
By Lislie Fienberg
Paperback - 320 pages (April 1, 2004), Alyson Books; ISBN-10: 1555838537

Transgender Nation
By Gordene MacKenzie
Paperback - 190 pages (April 1994), Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press; ISBN-10: 0879725974

How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States
By  Joanne Meyerowitz
Paperback - 400 pages (April 1, 2004), Harvard University Press; ISBN-100674013794

Transgender History
By Susan Stryker
Paperback - 208 pages (May 6, 2008), Seal Press; illustrated edition; ISBN-10: 158005224X

I Just Paid $86 For Three Months Of Hormones

And I am one of the lucky ones, I can afford it and I have insurance that covers my hormones but for many trans people that is even too much to pay so they look for cheaper meds.

Sketchy Pharmacies Are Selling Hormones to Transgender People
Burdened by cost and medical discrimination, many people are taking a do-it-yourself approach to transitioning.
The Atlantic
By Gillian Bransetter
August 31, 2016

Two years ago at Burning Man, Andrea tripped on ayahuasca and had visions of herself as a woman in a past life. At the time, Andrea, a 33-year-old transgender woman, identified as a man, but she had struggled with gender dysphoria since high school. “Growing up I had no transgender role models, and there was nobody to tell me that what I felt was something anyone else had,” she says. “I was unhappy with how I was living, and I really wished I had been born with a female body.”

After meeting a few transgender women at the famed music and arts festival, Andrea decided to pursue her own transition. But when she sought out feminizing hormones through clinics around her home in Philadelphia, she ran into lengthy waiting lists and high costs. So she decided to experiment on her own. She ordered Estradiol, a commonly prescribed form of estrogen, and Spironolactone, a testosterone blocker traditionally prescribed to transgender women, from an online pharmacy without a prescription.

Andrea’s decision to manage her own transition outside of a doctor’s care is common. With a lack of transgender-related services across the country, as well as discrimination from medical professionals and insurance companies, many transgender patients are conducting their own hormone replacement therapy, a regiment of medications meant to help them develop some of the secondary sexual characteristics of their gender identity.

Here in Connecticut I only know of one place where you can get hormones on a sliding scale, Planned Parenthood in New Haven but they are backed up for months as you can imagine. However, Medicaid’s Husky plans do cover hormones and other related transitioning expenses but the you have to find an endocrine specialist that takes Husky and trans patients.

Transface

There are probably over a hundred trans actresses and actors out there who can’t find jobs while parts for trans characters are being giving to non- trans actresses and actors.

The Advocate says,

Thanks to an era of burgeoning gender diversity on television and in independent films, a new crop of transgender actresses has emerged. They’re more capable of taking on trans roles, and as we movr toward gender identitThanks to an era of burgeoning gender diversity on television and in independent films, a new crop of transgender actresses has emerged. They’re more capable of taking on trans roles, and as we move toward gender identity becoming a nonissue, why shouldn’t they be considered for any female role?

They list sixteen actresses some of the actresses they say should be considered are Candis Cayne, Laverne Cox, Alexandra Billings and Rebecca Root. And I would like to add Michelle Hendley to the list.

Fusion has an article of what trans actresses have to say about Matt Bomer playing a trans woman,

7 actresses who are trans explain why casting cis actors in trans roles is a problem
By John Walker
August 30, 2016

…This is frustrating, as it typifies Hollywood’s ongoing issue of casting cisgender actors in trans roles—roles that could easily go to any number of capable, if lesser known, trans performers. Countless trans actors and actresses have already broken down why this trend is a problem. (They’re asked about it in literally every interview they give.) So, let’s revisit what Laverne Cox, Hari Nef, Mya Taylor, and four other actresses have already said over and over and over and over and over again.

1. Jen Richards (co-star, co-writer, and co-producer of Emmy-nominated web series Her Story)“What people have internalized through things like Eddie Redmayne playing [Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl] is [the idea] that a trans woman is really a man… Behind the character of Maura on Transparent, we see a straight guy, Jeffrey Tambor… Behind the Dallas Buyers Club‘s Rayon character, we see Jared Leto. That’s who the audience knows. So when we see this beautiful woman onscreen, we think, ‘That’s really Jared Leto. That’s really a man.’ That’s the attitude that gets internalized. So when…a straight guy sees me, is attracted to me as a woman…that triggers a crisis in him… He thinks everyone else is going to think [he’s] gay because to everyone else this trans woman is really a man, and this, in certain communities, leads to violence.” – CBC Radio One’s q

4. Hari Nef (recurring cast member on Transparent and IMG model)“I feel like the clock is ticking in terms of how long can these studios and these producers [can] really get away with casting cis people in trans roles when, like, I’m here… Laverne [Cox is] here. Trace Lysette’s here. Alexandra Billings is here. We’re all here, and we’re trans… We can come to set with years—months of lived experience that a cis actor would have to study for months and months and months… Yes, Jeffrey Tambor kills [the role of Maura on Transparent]. Eddie Redmayne’s a great actor and is fabulous in The Danish Girl… But at the end of the day, trans people deserve the opportunity to tell our own stories, and I hope, moving forward, we can see more of these castings.” — The Huffington Post‘s Queer Voices

6. Trace Lysette (recurring cast member on Transparent)
“Trans talent is not even making it into the audition room, and we’re not even being afforded the opportunity to tell our own stories. I feel that is problematic… If a cis person can be more trans than me, then so be it…but I strongly doubt it. Unless you have lived as a trans person and had to deal with the day-to-day struggles and experienced the cultural flavor specific to trans identity, then there is bound to be some inauthenticity there… Trans folk are so often pushed to the margins and not afforded the resources and opportunities that some nontrans people are. Anytime you give a trans person an opportunity, especially an opportunity to be ourselves, you are promoting a shift in the way society sees us.” — The Advocate

That is the thing; we are not even getting a chance to try out for the roles. We have an immense pool of talent; there are some who have been nominated for Emmy Awards like the show “Her Story” and Michelle Hendley who won the best actresses award at an independent film festival.

We are being blackballed and frozen out. You cannot say anymore that we are not known because trans actresses and becoming well known in the business. It is time that we stop making excuses about why trans actresses and actors are not being cast in movies… it is just simple discrimination.

I leave you with the trailer for “Boy Meets Girl,” you be the judge. Michelle Hendley does a fabulous job in the movie and you can see why she got the “Best Actress” award.

Staycation - West Point

Yesterday I went on a senior bus trip to the Culinary Institute of America for an excellent lunch and then we headed over to West Point.

We arrived at the CIA early so we walked around the main building and then we had lunch at 11:30…

We had an unbelievable salad and for the main course of pork tenderloin followed by desert.

After lunch we headed over to West Point and the bus driver’s GPS lead use all around the narrow streets of Highland Falls where a bus shouldn’t really go. We ended up at the main gate where we shouldn’t have been and the civilian guard told us to turn around and go back to the Bradley tank… Um… it wasn’t a Bradley Tank but a World War II Sherman Tank.

We then picked up our tour guide who was a nice southern woman who husband was an officer at the point doing his two years as an instructor. Next stop was the Chapel.

You can see that the American flags are different flags that the Army has fought under and the other flags are the regimental flags.

After we left the Chapel we drove around to the Battle Monument to the West Point graduates who fought for either side and died in the Civil War.

Then we drove by the General Tadeusz Kosciuszko monument, General Kosciuszko was a Polish officer who fortified the Revolutionary War defenses at West Point, Fort Clinton to block the Hudson River to the British.

What made it so important was the bend in the river. Back in the colonial days, sailing ships had to tack to make the bend in the river. They would come to a complete stop in order to make the turn bring the ship within the range of the fort's cannon and they also floated a chain across the river.

We left the post and went back to the visitor center and left our tour guide off and headed home.

It was a great bus trip, I had great company and my new friends.

Texas

Another one word title that says it all.  It seems like the Lone Star state want to keep on poking us.

Texas leads suit against transgender health rules
The Star-Telegram
By Alexa Ura The Texas Tribune
August 24, 2016

Ramping up its resistance to the federal government’s anti-discrimination rules regarding transgender people, the Texas attorney general’s office filed suit Tuesday to block a federal regulation prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in some health programs.

Texas, on behalf of the Franciscan Alliance, a religious hospital network, and four other states say a federal regulation implemented last month would force doctors to perform gender transition procedures on children. The suit asks the court to block the federal government from enforcing the regulation.

The federal rule on nondiscrimination in health-care prohibits denying or limiting coverage for transgender people, including health services related to gender transition.

Translate… Hey our President Bush appointed judge is on our side; let’s see if we can go two for two.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, who on Monday sided with the state in a request for an injunction to block the Obama administration’s guidelines on accommodating transgender students in public schools. Those guidelines say that schools must treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for the purposes of complying with federal nondiscrimination statutes.

Unfortunately I think they are.

Houston Press put it this way…

Texas Seeks to Allow Doctors Right to Refuse Treating Transgender Patients
By Meagan Flynn
August 24, 2016

The crusade against transgender rights in Texas — along with Attorney General Ken Paxton's race to break the record for most lawsuits filed against the federal government—is ripe and thriving.

While the lawsuit Texas filed against the feds for directing school districts to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities makes its way through court, Paxton has got to work on a new anti-trans project, this time suing the feds for issuing a rule that prevents healthcare providers from discriminating against transgender patients.

Now, Paxton is pushing to give physicians the right to deny transgender people medical treatment — similar to the way he attempted to give cake bakers and even public officials the right to deny gay people service and rights.

This is not good news. These ruling by Judge O’Connor are having an impact on the lives of LGBT child and adults. People might die because of this. What they are doing is denying medically necessary treatment because of political reasons.

And I would like to point out that every single person who have sued to block proper health care and to block Title IX is a Republican.

Reality

Sometimes reality is hard to face but sometimes you don’t have a choice.

The title says it all, “I’d Rather Have a Living Son Than a Dead Daughter”

WNYC the PBS station in where else New York City went to a gender clinic in North Caroline to interview people there including a mother of a trans child.

Earlier this year, North Carolina passed HB2, the so-called "bathroom bill." The law bans anyone from using a public restroom that doesn't match up with his/her biological sex. HB2 put the state in the middle of a national fight about gender. But North Carolina is also home to one of the few gender clinics for kids in the South, at Duke University's Children's Hospital.

This week, we spend a day in that gender clinic, the only one in North Carolina. We wanted to know how a clinic like this one operates in this political climate. And we wanted to find out how these patients are coping.

Dr. Deanna Adkins, a pediatric endocrinologist, started the clinic a year ago. Over the course of our day, we met three of her very different patients. Drew Adams is a 15-year-old trans man who came with his mom, Erica, all the way from Jacksonville, Florida. On the drive up, Drew wore a T-shirt with "This is What Trans Looks Like" printed on it. He told us he decided to change out of it before he stopped for a bathroom break in North Carolina; he used the men's room. When Dr. Adkins told Drew that not only would he get a prescription for testosterone, but that he could give himself his first shot that very day, Drew stood up and cheered.

They also shadowed a doctor at the clinic and they interviewed another trans person.

You can hear the show here….

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Today I am off to West Point on a LGBT senior bus tour and we are also stopping off at the Culinary Institute of America. Pictures to come...

Connecticut Is Ahead Of The Curve

We have been training homeless shelter about trans inclusion for over a year now.

Homeless Shelters Could Soon Become More Welcoming To Trans Residents
New proposed regulations would ensure transgender people can stay in shelters matching their gender identity.
Huffington Post
By Sarah Grossman
August 22, 2016

Shelters may soon be safer and more welcoming to homeless people who are transgender.

New rules proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would allow transgender people to stay in the homeless shelters that correspond to the gender they identify with.

“Anybody who is seeking services at a homeless shelter is already in crisis or in need ― and it’s important for them to be treated with dignity and respect,”David Stacy, of LGBT advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign, told The Huffington Post. “A transgender person should have their gender identity recognized and treated appropriately ― and that’s what these regulations do.”
[…]
Current regulations on housing protections for LGBT people were established in 2012 and prohibit shelters from turning away someone because they are transgender, but those rules don’t explicitly say you have to house people according to their gender identity, according to Stacy.

The new proposed regulations build off guidelines that HUD issued to shelters last year specifying that transgender people should be allowed access to shelters based on the gender they identify with. But while guidelines are informal ― and it’s up to shelters whether to follow them ― the new regulations would be mandatory and enforceable, according to Stacy. 

Our training covers the 2012 regulations, our slides list the regulations…

• HUD published  the Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity final rule (Equal Access Rule) (77 FR 5662) on February 3, 2012

• The Equal Access Rule requires that HUD’s housing programs be made available to individuals and families without regard to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status

• It prohibits owners and administrators of HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing, approved lenders in an FHA mortgage insurance program, and any other recipients or subrecipients of HUD funds from inquiring about sexual orientation or gender identity to determine eligibility for HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing

• It provides a limited exception for inquiries about the sex of an individual to determine eligibility for temporary, emergency, shelters with shared sleeping areas or bathrooms, or to determine the number of bedrooms to which a household may be entitled

• HUD has subsequently determined it is necessary to provide additional guidance on how best to provide shelter to transgender persons in a single-sex facility. HUD is continuing to evaluate whether setting a national policy through rulemaking is necessary.

[…]
If HUD finds a recipient or subrecipient has failed to meet program requirements, HUD may take actions such as those described in 24 CFR 576.501 (Enforcement) or 24 CFR 576.540 (Deobligation of Funds[translated from bureaucratic talk... take back the monies]).

Of course you know that the conservatives are all up in a tizzy over the proposed regulation

The proposed regulations have provoked backlash from some conservative organizations.

“Why do you have to force other people to feel really uncomfortable, and in some cases unsafe, just to make your political point?” Tim Wildmon, president of the conservative American Family Association, told The Hill.

Our training also points out that it is behavior that is important, if someone is causing a problem then there are the one who should be dealt with, not the victim.

LGBT advocates do not agree that the safety of others would be threatened by transgender people accessing spaces corresponding with their gender identity.

“There’s not a real problem here,” Stacy said. “Any person can pose a threat to others, and nothing in these regulations says you can’t deal with appropriate threats. If there are concerns about someone that are not based on factors related to their gender, but based on relevant factors, such as them being violent, those criteria still apply, and they apply equally to all people.”

Our training program came about because a trans woman was placed in a men’s shelter and was attacked by another resident and she was the one who was thrown out of the shelter on a cold January night at 11 o’clock in the dark of the night.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs…

Any trans person knows this about getting a job, no matter how much the companies say they don’t discriminate we know otherwise.

Transgender and unemployed: businesses shut doors to trans workers'When employers aren't supporting [trans people], they're compromising the health of those people'CBC News
By David Burke,
Posted: Aug 30, 2016

'I've never had to look for a job'
"I've noticed that I haven't made it through first-round phone interviews, which is a new experience in my career. You're talking to someone, I've never had to look for a job. Before I transitioned I never even had a resume, it was just I was really good at what I did, people knew that and I got work, that's it, now I can't. It's just a different ball game."

Leard isn't alone, every month the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project hears from people who have either been fired after starting their transition, or simply weren't hired after applying for a job.

"I hear routinely from folks who said I was going to transition and I disclosed that to my employer and they fired me a week later, that's really, really common," said Áine Morse, co-chair of the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project.

Just like with age discrimination or sex discrimination the companies know all the right words to say.

We did fire/not hire you because    “Fill in the blank”     we fired/didn’t hire you because “you were making too much money” or “we are downsizing” or “over/under qualified” but for us it is all the same… no job.

Inclusive business
There are businesses in Halifax that are working to become more inclusive; Pavia Gallery, espresso bar and cafe is leading that change. It already has trans inclusive policies in its employees handbook.

But no matter what the employee handbooks says it all boils down to the person who is doing the hiring and their biases.

When someone tells me that they are looking for a job and are planning on transitioning I tell them if at all possible wait to transition until they are off the probationary employment period and when you had a performance review. That way the company cannot say you didn't perform up to expectations.

The Party's Over

Still on vacation with some friends up on the lake, today is clean-up day.

Saturday 9: Hello

Crazy Sam's Saturday 9: Hello (2015)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun...
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This video begins with Adele and her flip phone. Is your cell phone a simple or a smart phone?
Just a flip phone which is usually turned off. If you listen to my voice message it says, “You can leave a message and I will get back to you when I hear you message but be aware it might be not for several months.

2) As soon as her cell is fully charged, Sam disconnects the adapter from the outlet to save electricity. Are you careful about conserving energy?
No, you know that your chargers use so little electricity that when you run your electric dryer for an hour you probably used more electricity than you use in your lifetime leaving plugged in. Cell power charges use millwatts (1/1000 of a watt) and the dryer uses kilowatts (1000 watts)

3) Adele sings that she must have a called a thousand times but her former lover never picked up. Think about the last call you made. Did you get through? Did you leave a voice mail? Or did you just hang up? 
It depends. For business I leave voice mail, for all other it depends upon what the call is about.

4) Adele brews a cup of tea in the video. How often do you drink tea? Year round? Only in winter? Never?
Year round, but right now I’m sun tea. I just leave tea bags in water on the counter for a couple of hours; I have a 2 quart jar that I put two regular tea bags and one peach-orange tea bag.

5) Adele told Glamour magazine she like two sugars in her tea. Do you watch your sugar intake?
Most definitely, being diabetic I count carbs.

6) This song is about reaching out to someone and extending an apology. When is the last time you said, "I'm sorry?"
I have no problem apologizing. If you made a mistake, apologize for it and move on.

7) Adele was a heavy smoker who enjoyed the habit and didn't quit until 2015, after doctors convinced her it contributed to her chronic throat problems. What's something you know you should do for your health?
 Exercise! I really need to get out there and walk a couple of miles a day.

8) Even though she is one of the world's highest-earning entertainers, she recently had her credit card rejected while shopping at H&M. She admits she was "mortified." Have you ever experienced that moment at the counter when your card was rejected?
No, but I have been asked to show my driver license a couple of times.

9) Random question: When you were a kid, did you keep a neat or messy bedroom?
Messy and it carried over into adulthood.

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I am up at the cottage this weekend with company and I don't know when I will get free time to answer your comments.

I'm On Vacation

I will be up in New Hampshire until Tuesday and I am having a whole cottage full of friends over the weekend, so will be just posting Saturday 9

There Is Are Differences

In certain areas of our brains there is a section that determines our gender.

Researchers demonstrate gender identity is reflected in the brain, including transgenderism
MedicalXpress
August 23, 2016

Women and men often show marked differences as regards mental illnesses. In order to learn more about this phenomenon, a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF explored how opposite-sex hormonal therapy applied to transgender individuals influences the brain

In basic research, breakthroughs are often the result of a combination of curiosity and chance. In order to explore biological factors in mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety disorders, a team of researchers at the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Wien) investigated the impact of sex hormones on the brain. Working in close cooperation with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy and the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, the scholars from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy were rewarded with a significant new insight. They demonstrated that gender identity is reflected in the brain, including the brains of transgender individuals, formerly also known as transsexual

It was research into the trans brain that lead to this finding.

Hormonal effects on the brain
Using magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), the researchers examined both transsexual subjects and control subjects to observe what happens in the brain when opposite-sex hormones are administered over a prolonged period in order to achieve opposite-sex hormonal blood levels. "We were able to demonstrate the effect of hormones on language processing, on functions such as risk-taking behaviour, spatial cognition and impulsiveness, as well as on structural brain connections between female and male subjects", Lanzenberger explains. It was interesting that the scans also showed that, prior to hormonal treatment, the brain structure of transgender individuals exhibited levels falling in the mid-range between the two sexes.

Testosterone as a key factor
In concrete terms, the research teams from MedUni Wien were able to show that an increase of blood testosterone levels induced a decrease in the volume of two brain regions of central importance for language processing, and it also changed their connections. "This suggests that the impact of testosterone on language processing occurs via the influence it has on the structure of grey and white matter in the corresponding brain region", notes Lanzenberger and goes on to say: "We assume that some of the difference in white matter we found may emerge very early on, perhaps in the womb or before puberty. That would make it a type of biological information, a marker for gender identity."

The knowledge that brain connections and their functions can change as a result of hormone administration even in adulthood may be important in certain situations, for instance when the neuroplasticity of the brain is reduced, as is presumably the case in depression. Using another imaging procedure, positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers therefore explored the impact of hormones on the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is known to improve an individual's mood. The result showed that testosterone significantly increased serotonin transporter density.

A 2014 article in Psychology Today also discusses the differences…

Brain Differences Between Genders
Do you ever wonder why men and women think so differently?
By  Gregory L. Jantz Ph.D
Feb 27, 2014

It’s no secret that boys and girls are different—very different. The differences between genders, however, extend beyond what the eye can see. Research reveals major distinguishers between male and female brains.

Scientists generally study four primary areas of difference in male and female brains: processing, chemistry, structure, and activity. The differences between male and female brains in these areas show up all over the world, but scientists also have discovered exceptions to every so-called gender rule. You may know some boys who are very sensitive, immensely talkative about feelings, and just generally don’t seem to fit the “boy” way of doing things. As with all gender differences, no one way of doing things is better or worse. The differences listed below are simply generalized differences in typical brain functioning, and it is important to remember that all differences have advantages and disadvantages.

Processing
Male brains utilize nearly seven times more gray matter for activity while female brains utilize nearly ten times more white matter. What does this mean?

Gray matter areas of the brain are localized. They are information- and action-processing centers in specific splotches in a specific area of the brain. This can translate to a kind of tunnel vision when they are doing something. Once they are deeply engaged in a task or game, they may not demonstrate much sensitivity to other people or their surroundings.

White matter is the networking grid that connects the brain’s gray matter and other processing centers with one another. This profound brain-processing difference is probably one reason you may have noticed that girls tend to more quickly transition between tasks than boys do. The gray-white matter difference may explain why, in adulthood, females are great multi-taskers, while men excel in highly task-focused projects.

They also found chemical differences in the brain,

Male and female brains process the same neurochemicals but to different degrees and through gender-specific body-brain connections. Some dominant neurochemicals are serotonin, which, among other things, helps us sit still; testosterone, our sex and aggression chemical; estrogen, a female growth and reproductive chemical; and oxytocin, a bonding-relationship chemical.

But more important is the brain structure, in the research on the brain they are able to tell the difference between male and female brain structure.

Structural DifferencesA number of structural elements in the human brain differ between males and females. “Structural” refers to actual parts of the brain and the way they are built, including their size and/or mass.

Females often have a larger hippocampus, our human memory center. Females also often have a higher density of neural connections into the hippocampus. As a result, girls and women tend to input or absorb more sensorial and emotive information than males do. By “sensorial” we mean information to and from all five senses. If you note your observations over the next months of boys and girls and women and men, you will find that females tend to sense a lot more of what is going on around them throughout the day, and they retain that sensorial information more than men.

Additionally, before boys or girls are born, their brains developed with different hemispheric divisions of labor. The right and left hemispheres of the male and female brains are not set up exactly the same way. For instance, females tend to have verbal centers on both sides of the brain, while males tend to have verbal centers on only the left hemisphere. This is a significant difference. Girls tend to use more words when discussing or describing incidence, story, person, object, feeling, or place. Males not only have fewer verbal centers in general but also, often, have less connectivity between their word centers and their memories or feelings. When it comes to discussing feelings and emotions and senses together, girls tend to have an advantage, and they tend to have more interest in talking about these things.

And guess what, our brains match the gender of our identity. I use this video when I teach cultural competency.

Gender is a lot more than what is between our legs and is a lot more than our chromosomes.