You Ought To Be In Pictures

I was watching CBS This Morning and they had Laverne Cox on their show, it turns out that she is on a new show and she plays a lawyer.

‘Doubt’ review: Katherine Heigl, Laverne Cox in pioneering drama
News Day
By Verne Gay
February 13, 2017

REVIEW
THE SERIES “Doubt”
WHEN | WHERE Premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. on CBS/2
GRADE B

WHAT IT’S ABOUT Sadie Ellis (Katherine Heigl) is a workaholic defense attorney who almost believes, word for word, the ideals of her firm’s “lefty” founder, Isaiah Roth (Elliott Gould), who insists that he has always “stood by someone accused so that he or she would not have to stand alone.” Almost, until her feelings for a client, Billy Brennan (Steven Pasquale) — accused of killing his girlfriend when both were teens — gets in the way.

Meanwhile, Sadie’s colleague Albert Cobb (Dulé Hill) wants the guy to accept a plea deal, and move on with his life. Another colleague, Tiffany Simon (Dreama Walker), is a newbie, and still learning the Isaiah way. But the firm’s other top attorney, Cameron Wirth (Laverne Cox), knows it cold, and knows injustice, too. She’s a self-identified transgender person.

MY SAY The big news with “Doubt” isn’t just reasonably big, but reasonably historic. This is the first prime-time series on a major broadcast network with a transgender person in a leading role playing a trans character. A key word here is “leading” because trans characters in minor roles have also appeared on “Glee” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” while cable (“The Fosters”) and streaming (“Transparent”) have long been in the forefront of trans characters and issues. Cox, of course, was the pioneer on “Orange Is the New Black,” once again the pioneer here.
[…]
Cox’s character, Cameron Wirth, quickly establishes that she was once a man, now a woman, and, with that out of the way, gets down to business. She’s a competent defense attorney, with a brisk courtroom style. That she is a trans person is irrelevant, except that it is not, and during summation for her defendant client, says: “Do we see him, or do we turn away?”

Yahoo TV said,

Why We're Obsessed With 'Doubt'
CBS' new legal drama is getting tons of buzz thanks to its high-profile cast, which includes Katherine Heigl, who is making her return to TV after NBC's State of Affairs failed to generate any traction and was canceled after one season. The show -- which looks to fill the void left by The Good Wife -- also stars Laverne Cox, who after her historic Emmy nomination for her role on Orange Is the New Black is the first transgender actor to land a series regular role on prime-time TV. "I'm so excited," Cox told ET just hours after CBS announced it was picking up the series. Cox will play defense attorney Cameron Wirth, who, according to the actress, is "extremely passionate about her work and has a little bit of a troubled private life." Wirth and her colleagues will defend high-profile clients, with some procedural stories ripped from the headlines.

Doubt premieres Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Then in France we are breaking new ground in the world of modeling…

French Vogue Makes History With First Transgender Cover Model
“This month we are proud to celebrate transgender beauty,” said the magazine, confirming Valentina Sampaio as its cover star.
Huffington Post Queer Voices
By Rebecca Shapiro
February 14, 2017

For the first time in the magazine’s 97-year history, Vogue Paris put a transgender model on its cover ― Brazil’s Valentina Sampaio.

Sampio appears on the magazine’s March issue, which is the second biggest cover of the year for any fashion magazine. The issue hits newsstands on Feb. 23. The cover’s celebratory headline reads, “Transgender beauty: How they’re shaking up the world.”

“This month we are proud to celebrate transgender beauty and how models like Valentina Sampaio, who is posing for her first ever Vogue cover, are changing the face of fashion and deconstructing prejudice,” Vogue Paris wrote in an Instagram post announcing the cover Monday.
[…]
Vogue Paris Editor-in-Chief Emmanuelle Alt wrote on the magazine’s website that she wanted to feature Sampaio solo on the cover because she is “the absolute equal of Gisele, Daria, Edie or Anna,” referring to the modeling industry’s top stars.

“In a post-gendered world which more and more designers are highlighting on their runways, Trans people, the ultimate symbols of a rejection of conformity, are icons that Vogue supports and chooses to celebrate,” Alt added.

Then in Britain…

Meet Talulah-Eve Brown – Britain’s Next Top Model’s first transgender contestant
Metro UK
By Sarah Deen
8 Feb 2017

Glam Talulah-Eve Brown from Birmingham will be the show’s first-ever transgender contestant.
The 22-year-old is the proud holder of the Miss Transgender, Birmingham title, and she believes she can win because ‘there is no one like me’.
A campaigner for trans-rights, she adds that her best feature is her legs, and she doesn’t dislike anything about her body.
[…]
Brown, an event hostess, has previously spoken of abuse she has received because she is transgender, but is adamant that she won’t let it keep her down.

She told PA Real Life in 2015: ‘The level of abuse I get is hurtful, but if I was to report every instance of hate crime I’ve experienced to the police, I would be in court every single day.

‘Instead, I just hold my head up high. There have been times where I could have potentially been beaten up, but I refuse to hide away and let these people see that they’ve upset me.

And then over in India…

India’s first transgender model Anjali Lama makes catwalk debut at Lakme Fashion Week
'I knew even as a child that I didn't like being a boy, wearing those clothes', says fashion star
Independent
By Muneeza Naqvi
February 13, 2017

It was her big moment. Anjali Lama sashayed down the catwalk in the swanky Mumbai auditorium. A fitted, cream dress highlighted her tall, slender frame. Her pulled-back hair showed off her high cheekbones.

Modeling at Lakme Fashion Week often seemed like a dream far beyond her reach, but Lama has become the first transgender woman to model at one of the top events on India's fashion calendar and one sponsored by a top Indian cosmetics brand.

Growing up as the fifth son in a poor farming family in Nepal, Lama didn't dream early in life to be a fashion model. First was the painful struggle to accept that he felt deeply female.
[…]
She felt close to her dream but it continued to elude her. After years of struggling and getting only small gigs in her home country, Lama decided to try her luck in India's massive fashion industry.

“I felt I had to at least try and take a chance.”

And that chance came in December when after two failed auditions she finally made the cut.

“I'm very, very excited. I'm trying to just enjoy this moment,” she said, giggling over the phone. “This is a dream come true.”

I remember Tula, Caroline Cossey who was a model back in the eighties who had a small part in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” but the time wasn’t right for a trans woman to be in the movies or as a model.

It’s About Me Today

I have been scanning the news looking for something that I could write about other than the bad news coming out of Washington and I couldn’t find anything. So…

Yesterday I did an outreach at a college a couple miles from my house, Central Connecticut State University for a PSYC class. I have been talking in her class for about 6 or 7 years, when I first started I was on a panel of about 4 or 5 LGBT people and over time the organization that was arranging the panel members fell through and now she contacts me directly.

I have moved away from panel discussions for a couple of reasons, first when it is an LGBT panel there usually isn’t any B’s on the panel and second most of the questions are for us the “T.” Another reason is there are some horrible answers from the other panel members; I remember one time someone on the panel said that the best time to come out is over a holiday! She said she came out at Thanksgiving… UGH! That is the very worst time to come out.

What I like is when the professor turns the class over to me to give a lecture. A couple of professors that I had in grad school do that, a friend who teaches as an adjunct professors in three colleges invites me to teach his classes for the day. I also do a lot of training for businesses and state agencies. I am working on a date to do training at a court house in the state, a social worker saw my presentation at a National Association of Social Workers. She thought it would be good training for the judges and staff.

Most of the questions yesterday were pretty standard question about coming out to family and friends, how does hormones affect you, how did you pick your name, etc. and I have the answers down pat and do not really cover what future therapist will need to know for their practice. That is why I like it when I do the class, they get information that they can use when they graduate.

Some of the student responses from various classes were,

I got to class on weds at 4 minutes past 2pm. When I walked into the class I was given a soft accepting smile from the person who appeared to be teaching for the day, so I quickly put down my stuff, shook off all the wet, (it was absolutely pouring outside, which is why I was a little late((people can't drive in the rain in Hartford)) and begin to listen. I was very taken by how brave she was and I found her life story to be quite moving and inspiring. The video clips that she played were particularly touching and I found it hard to turn away. Especially the girl that wanted her parent to call her Jazz and to block her puberty. Overall, I learned a lot on weds and I must admit I knew nothing about the subject of trans gender before I walked into class, but I knew a ton after I left..

++++++++++++++

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 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 transsexual [sic].
Now being an educated grad student I was fully aware of was exactly a transsexual was and that the transexual [sic] community is growing every day, however, as far as I know, this was my first time meeting one. The weird thing however was that it didn’t seem like I was meeting a transsexual [sic], but rather just another women - a guest lecturer. Once you get past the deep voice and the 6’2” figure, there was nothing weird or different here, just another woman. When the lecture started I was expecting to learn all about life as a transsexual, and while she did touch on this a little, she was focused more on the big picture. The picture being that there are thousands of transexuals and people dreaming of being a different gender all around us, and often times they either go unnoticed or are looked as weirdly or differently. I think the message she was trying to tell us is that although on the outside we may look a little strange, it is really who they are on the inside that matters.

++++++++++++++

Hello Diana,
I wanted to write and thank you so much for your presentation at CMHS at UCONN [University of Connecticut Counseling and Mental Health Services] last Thursday. When I picked up my daughters (ages 12 and 13) after school that I day I told them I had just heard from one of the bravest people I'd ever met. We then had a very long conversation about what it means to not identify with your birth gender and the challenges and discrimination faced by the Trans-Gender community.

When I give a professional training I usually dress in business casual; slacks, a blouses, and low heel pumps or ankle boots or sandals depending upon the season. While for college classes I wear jeans, a tee shirt or a blouse with ankle boots or sneakers.

I go back to her class again this afternoon to talk to her other section.

Edited : 12:30 PM Added about what I wear to college lectures.

Verrry Interesting!

I was there once and always wanted to go back to the island off the coast of Cape Cod.

MVCS launches transgender support group
A safe place to be understood and accepted.
MV Times
By Gwyn McAllister –
February 9, 2017

When Martha’s Vineyard Community Services launched a transgender support group last December, the response was immediate. “I was surprised at how many people called within two weeks of putting out the word right before Christmas,” says the group’s facilitator, Rikki Pashen, Psy.D. “I got over a dozen calls. I didn’t know there would be that many that quickly.”

The group, which has now met three times, currently includes seven dedicated members, who range in age from 13 to mid-60s, and represent a broad range of community members. “The kids and the people in this group just want to be understood and be accepted and valued,” says Ms. Pashen.

For such a small winter population for me having seven members is amazing.

“I started the group because I got a couple of transgender patients who were referred to me by community members who weren’t sure where they should go,” says Ms. Pashen, who worked extensively in the mental health field with LGBT groups before moving to the Vineyard in 2015. “Each transgender person I met with says that there was nobody else on the Island for them to talk to. The only transgender people they knew were from online support groups. I knew that there were different transgender people out there, but because of confidentiality issues, I couldn’t introduce them to one another.”

I wonder if they get their Cross Gender Hormones there or if they have to travel back to the mainland to get healthcare? It sounds like it is the former, that they get their hormone on the island at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Service.

What Is Their Future?

Last year President Obama authorized trans people to serve in the military along with lesbians and gays and now many of them are wondering what is their future in the military under the Trump administration.

Meanwhile over in Britain…

TRANS TROOPS Thirty four serving members of the Armed Forces are having transgender treatment
Troops are undergoing treatments ranging from hormone therapy to surgical procedures
The Sun
By Lauren Probert
13th February 2017

THIRTY-four serving UK troops are having transgender treatment, defence chiefs said.
The specialist treatment is available on the NHS and could span from hormone therapy for some patients to £20,000 worth of surgery for others.

The number of people undergoing transgender treatment has been revealed by the Ministry of Defence’s Surgeon General Secretariat following a Freedom of Information request.

It is not known whether the 34 troops are paying for the treatment themselves or from the public purse.

The Sun exclusively revealed how Guardsman Chloe Allen, 24, became Britain’s first female infantry soldier.

She joined the army as a man in 2012 but last year changed her name and started gender reassignment surgery last year.

Most of our allies allow trans service members but now LGBT service members are in limbo, my guess is that those who came out should now think about civilian life because in this anti-LGBT Trump administration I see them banned from serving their country.

The Onslaught Begins

Remember last month all the headlines said the Trump would keep President’s protections in place for us? Well that didn’t last long, his true colors are starting to show.

US Withdraws Stay Request in Transgender Bathroom Case
ABC News
By Jamie Stengle, AP Dallas
February 11, 2017

President Donald Trump's administration is stepping back from a request made by former President Barack Obama's administration in an ongoing lawsuit over bathroom rights for transgender students in public schools.

In a filing Friday with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the federal government asked to withdraw a motion filed last year that asked a judge to scale back a temporary injunction blocking Obama's guidance on the issue.

The Department of Justice's filing, which came a day after Jeff Sessions was sworn in as Trump's attorney general, said the parties were "currently considering how best to proceed in this appeal."

Texas and 12 other states filed the lawsuit last year challenging the former president's guidance, which directed public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

The Washington Blade reported that,

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, placed the blame of the brief seeking to undermine the transgender student protections squarely with Sessions.

“After being on the job for less than 48 hours, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signaled his intent to undermine the equal dignity of transgender students,” Griffin said. “Transgender students are entitled to the full protection of the United States Constitution and our federal nondiscrimination laws. It is heartbreaking and wrong that the agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws would instead work to subvert them for political interests. President Trump must immediately reverse course and direct the DOJ to uphold guidance protecting transgender students.”

And it doesn’t stop with the case in Texas,

Betsy DeVos Poses Immediate Danger To LGBT Students
Huffington Post
By Matt Baume
February 8, 2017

Meet your new principal, America: Betsy DeVos, Donald’s new Secretary of Education. She’s now in charge of the nation’s schools — or at least, in charge what’s going to be left, once she’s finished dismantling them. Betsy’s built her career on undermining public schools; and wouldn’t you know it, among the things she’s likely to take apart are some potentially life-saving protections for LGBT students.
[…]
Anyway, her money seems to have been well spent, because she’s influenced her way into an administration with a plan to move $20 billion out of public schools, where LGBT kids are guaranteed equal access to education, and into private schools, where they are guaranteed nothing whatsoever. But the taxpayers still have to pay for it!

There’s no mistaking Betsy’s ideological slant: Her family’s given upwards of $200 million to groups like the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family — groups that explicitly oppose equality for queer people, and even promote ex-gay junk science. Some of that money went through a foundation that listed Betsy as the Vice President, but when asked about it, she said that was a misunderstanding — she had nothing to do with that family organization, and was simply identified as its Vice President by mistake. For thirteen years. That’s exactly the kind of rigorous attention to detail that qualifies a person to run the nation’s school.

And so it begins. The dismantling of all the court rulings in our favor over the years going all the way back to the Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins 1989 Supreme Court decision that ruled sex discrimination also includes sex stereotyping, in other words when people do not behave or look like a typical male or female. The courts over the years have applied that ruling to cover us because we definitely do not look or behave like a typical man or woman.

And now before the Supreme Court the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board which will be heard on March 28 where Gavin Grimm sued the Board of Education because they wouldn’t let him use the boy’s bathroom. They did let him use the boy’s bathroom until outside agitators came in stirred up trouble.

I give the Supreme Court a 60% chance of finding in favor of Grimm even if Judge Neil Gorsuch is on the bench. I think Kennedy will find in favor of him. I also predict that if he wins Congress will pass a law forcing us to use the bathrooms of our birth gender and it will be even worse because they can say it applies to ALL schools that receive federal funding and that means all public schools even the ones here in Connecticut!

Texans Love Their Football

So maybe this will get their attention… but I doubt it.

NFL COMMENTS ON PROPOSED TRANSGENDER LEGISLATION REGARDING BATHROOMS
Bleacher Report
By Adam Wells
February 10, 2017

A controversial Texas bill being proposed by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has drawn a response from the NFL.

In January, per Chuck Lindell of the Austin-American Statesman, Patrick and Texas senator Lois Kolkhorst unveiled Senate Bill 6 at the Texas Senate chamber that would overturn local ordinances and prevent transgender people from using the bathroom of the gender which they identify.

As a result of the proposal discriminating against transgender people, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy issued a brief statement about the situation.

"The NFL embraces inclusiveness," McCarthy said in an email to Ileana Najarro of the Houston Chronicle. "We want all fans to feel welcomed at our events, and NFL policies prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard."

Najarro also noted McCarthy deemed the measure "discriminatory or inconsistent with our values" and could potentially discourage the NFL from holding future Super Bowls in the state.

So will this mean no more Super Bowls in Texas?

Does this mean that the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans will not play home games? Or will it just be games as usual? My guess it will be games as usual because there is big $bucks$ to be made in Texas and they will just ignore the law unless someone complains.

Saturday 9: Love Yourself

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Love Yourself (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) In this song, Justin sings that he doesn't like to admit he's wrong. When did you most recently cop to a mistake?
I never make a mistake!
But when I do I do owe up to it and then move on.

2) He also complains that his girl doesn't like his friends. Who is someone that you've met recently and liked?
I usually like everyone until they prove me wrong.

3) Justin first performed this song live on The Ellen Degeneres Show. Who is your favorite talk show host?
Um… I don’t know because I don’t watch any talk shows.

4) Young Mr. Bieber recently had his credit card rejected ... at a Subway Sandwich Shop. Think about your last trip to a fast food restaurant. Did you pay with cash or plastic or your phone?
Hmm… I’m trying to remember the last time I went to a fast food restaurant. Does coffee count? I went to DD last Wednesday before I went to the health clinic where I volunteer and I paid in cash.

Even though we're featuring a lack-of-love song, this is the last Saturday  9 before Valentine's Day and so this morning we shall focus on the upcoming holiday.

5) In Victorian England, it was considered bad luck to sign a Valentine. Have you ever received an anonymous card from a secret admirer?
Back in grammar school.

6) Retailers report that approximately 3% of pet owners buy Valentines for their furry friends. Have you ever purchased a gift for a pet on a special occasion?
Nope… I just can’t see buying a pet a gift; it is not like that they are cognizant of the special occasion.

7) It was once believed that if a maiden ate a heavy meal before bed on February 13, her dreams that night would reveal the identity of the man she would eventually marry. Do you find that eating too close to bedtime disrupts your sleep?
You mean like the cold piece of pizza I ate just before bed and that gave me indigestion all night?

8) The postmaster in Verona, Italy, reports that Shakespeare's Juliet Capulet still receives love letters. Without looking it up, can you give us a quote from Romeo and Juliet?
Nope. That was an easy question to answer.

9) Necco's Sweethearts -- those little candy hearts that say things like "Be Mine" -- are Valentine Day's top-selling confection. Sam never could stand eating these candies. Do you like them?
They are poison! I don’t eat and sugary candies anymore and I never liked them as an adult.

Science And Politics

An interesting article is in the LA Times this morning about the brain, feminists, and trans people. Is our brain different? Are trans women brains more like a women’s brain? Are trans men brains more like a man’s brain? And how does politics affect us?

Op-Ed Are gender feminists and transgender activists undermining science?
By Debra W. Soh
February 10, 2017

In the world of radical identity politics, two groups with very different philosophies have been ignoring science in the name of advancing equality: gender feminists and transgender activists.

Gender feminists — who are distinct from traditional equity feminists — refuse to acknowledge the role of evolution in shaping the human brain, and instead promote the idea that sex differences are caused by a socialization process that begins at birth. Gender, according to them, is a construct; we are born as blank slates and it is parents and society at large that produce the differences we see between women and men in adulthood.

The idea that our brains are identical sounds lovely, but the scientific evidence suggests otherwise. Many studies, for instance, have documented the masculinizing effects of prenatal testosterone on the developing brain. And a recent study in the journal Nature’s Scientific Reports showed that testosterone exposure alters the programming of neural stem cells responsible for brain growth and sex differences.

Gender feminists often point to a single study, published in 2015, which claimed it isn’t possible to tell apart male and female brains. But when a group of researchers reanalyzed the underlying data, they found that brains could be correctly identified as female or male with 69% to 77% accuracy. In another study, published in 2016, researchers used a larger sample in conjunction with higher-resolution neuroimaging and were able to successfully classify a brain by its sex 93% of the time.

Meanwhile according to the author many trans activists…

Unlike gender feminists, transgender activists firmly believe that gender is a biological, rather than social, reality — but of course they don’t believe that it’s necessarily tied to sex at birth. They also believe that gender identity is quite stable early on, warranting a transition not only for transgender adults, but also young children who say they were born in the wrong body.

From a scientific perspective, they’re partially right: Gender identity is fixed, but only in adults; the same can’t be said for children, whose gender identity is flexible and doesn’t become stable until puberty.

Currently available research literature — including four studies published in the last nine years — suggests that 61% to 88% of gender dysphoric children will desist and grow up to be gay adults. (Or, in my case, a straight adult). They won’t continue to identify as the opposite sex in adulthood. In one study of 139 gender dysphoric boys, 122 (88%) of the boys desisted.

WRONG! That study was not with children who met the DSM V diagnostic criteria and it also labeled anyone who dropped out from the study as detransitioning. The studies that she noted did not differentiate between children who just acted more masculine or feminine than their birth sex. And it also discredits her as being biased.

Then she goes on to the TREF rant…

Nevertheless, transgender activists and their allies have branded desistance as a “myth,” and those who suggest otherwise are called bigots or, dismissively, trolls. It’s not hard to understand why. The idea that some gender dysphoric people may grow up to be comfortable in their birth sex is interpreted as a threat to the community. Acknowledging that reality may seem like a slippery slope to denying the need for gender reassignment surgery even in adults.

Looking at the author information I see,

Debra W. Soh is a sex writer and sexual neuroscientist at York University in Toronto.

When I saw that a red flag went up. So I googled her and found out she has done many papers with doctors from… are you ready for this? Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) which is better known for where doctor Zucker practiced his brand of conversion therapy and was closed down recently.  She was a student of James Cantor on of the doctors at CAMH.

Enough said.

Being Run Out Of Town

It seems like wherever we are we face discrimination not only by the politicians but also by the police. Over in Pakistan the police are running trans people out of town as undesirables and a judge steps in.

CJP comes to transgender people’s rescue  
Daily Times
February 10, 2017


ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar has taken notice of the complaint that police are pressing transgender people to leave Mardan.

An NGO "Vision Pakistan" submitted an application on behalf of transgender people alleging that the Mardan police were raiding the houses of transgender people and harassing them to leave Mardan.

Police are also allegedly pressing the landlords who rented their houses to transgender people to have them vacated.

Reportedly, police were forced to take action by people who are not prepared to treat transgender people as human beings.

The CJP directed the Mardan district and Sessions Judge to take up the matter and to apprise the Supreme Court in this regard.
[…]
The police said transgender people would not be harassed and full protection would be provided to them.

Let’s see if the matter is settled or will I be reading about this again at a later date.

We as a marginalized community face discrimination wherever we go and most times those who face discrimination the most are already from other marginalized community such as race.

Those who can integrate in to society have less discrimination and violence than those who cannot and if you also black or Latino the discrimination and violence is compounded.

Let The Child Lead The Way

It is something that the community knew long before the researchers knew, that the child knows best who they are but now researcher are catching up.

Good Outcomes With Early Transition in Transgender Youth
Medscape
By Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW
February 08, 2017

Transgender children who socially transition early are comparable to other children in measures of mental health, new research shows.

In "striking contrast" to previous work showing high rates of depression and anxiety in nontransitioned children, the current analysis shows that although transgender children who had socially transitioned reported marginally higher anxiety than matched control persons or their sibling peers, they did not differ in reports of depression and self-worth.

"We found remarkably good mental health outcomes in socially transitioned transgender children in the present study," the researchers, led by Lily Durwood, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington, Seattle, conclude.

I think that we as trans people knew that already, if you know any child who transitioned early in life you could see how happy they are and if they had any problems it can usually be traced back to bullying and harassment, not problems with their transition.

The article continues,

Social Transition
Many young transgender children have regarded their gender identity as different from their natal sex for months or years. In response, some parents have allowed these children to socially transition — to change his or her first name, pronouns, hairstyle, and clothing so as to live everyday life as the opposite gender. This approach has been regarded with skepticism in lay and scientific communities, the authors explain.

But "previous research has actually found high rates of depression and anxiety in gender-nonconforming children who had not transitioned," Durwood pointed out.

To assess the mental health of socially transitioned transgender children, the researchers studied participants in the TransYouth Project, a national longitudinal study of socially transitioned transgender children from 23 US states and one Canadian province.

Children reported on anxiety and depression using the pediatric short form of the National Institutes of Health's Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement System (PROMIS) scale, and parents completed the proxy version of the anxiety and depression PROMIS scales. Self-worth scores were obtained using the Global Self-Worth Subscale of the Harter Self-perception Profile for Children.

REFINERY29 in article about the research wrote,

Yet, greater media representation has not dispelled some pervasive myths about transgender people — including that simply being transgender means you're more likely to be depressed.

There's certainly scientific evidence that young transgender people can be at greater risk for depression and anxiety than their cisgender peers. But these studies often don't take into account whether or not their subjects have support from family or friends.
[…]
Each of the kids surveyed in this study have full support from their families and had already transitioned socially. Unlike many transgender people, who may struggle for years trying to conform to the gender they were assigned at birth or face backlash from family and friends when they come out, the kids in this study are already using the pronouns and wearing the clothing appropriate to their gender, with support from their families.

And it makes a huge difference. Compared to both their peers and their siblings, children who have been allowed to transition socially are at no greater risk of depression. This study confirms findings of a similar study done in February of 2016.

Having support of their family makes all the difference in the world! Also having a support network of friends and classmates, a supportive school further enhances a positive outcome.

But having all the above do not mean that the risks are zero, there’re some who will hard time transitioning.

I Am Not A Fan Of Barney Frank* But…

He makes some good points about effective lobbying.

Barney Frank: Here's how to not waste your time pressuring lawmakers
Policy Mic
By Barney Frank
February 07, 2017

After 32 years in the House of Representatives, here is my advice on how people opposed to President Donald Trump’s assault on our basic values — a majority of those who voted last November — can best influence members of Congress. Done the right way, communications from citizens can have a significant impact on legislators, even when they claim to be immune to “pressure.” (“Pressure,” in legislative jargon, is the expression of views with which legislators disagree, as opposed to “public opinion” — the term used for sentiments that reinforce their own.)

The key to doing it right is being clear about the goal, which is to persuade the Senator or Representative receiving the communication that how he or she votes on the issue in question will affect how the sender will vote the next time the legislator is on the ballot.

So what does he say?

• Make sure you’re registered to vote — lawmakers check.
• Lawmakers don’t care about people outside of their district.
• Your signature — physical or electronic — on a mass petition will mean little.
• Know where your representative stands.
• Communicate — even if you and your representative disagree.
• Say “thank you.”
• Enlist the help of friends in other districts.
• Every point he made is valid.

I have spent many hours in lobbying training. In one workshop one of our state legislators said that she has her aids sort her email each morning by title lumping all the canned emails  and files them in a well-known circular file. They then look at the other emails that were personally written.

She said that the order of importance is…

An in person visit
A handwritten letter
A phone call
A personal email
A petition
And last is a canned email that you just click on.

Another important thing is what Mr.Frank said “Know where your representative stands” you don’t want to get into a long winded speech about why he should support the bill if he already supports the bill, but instead a “Thank You for your support “ works wonders, it lets them know that you support them.

You can read my tips on lobbying and how to write you testimony here.

So how do I know so much about lobbying?

Well for one thing I have been doing it since 2007 and for another I had this training.

• 2011 – Campaign School, Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, University of Connecticut, School of Social Work, West Hartford, CT, – 2 days
• 2008 – Lobbying Training – Connecticut Lobbying Conference, Betty Gallo & Company, Hartford CT – 8hr.
• 2007 – Grassroots Organizing, New York Power Summit, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury NY – How to organizing house parties, phone banks and door – to – door canvassing, – 2 ½ days
• 2006 – Albany Trans Rights Conference – National Center for Transgender Equality and by National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Grassroots Organizing, Albany New York, – 1 ½ da

I am not an expert, but I do know my way around the LOB and the capitol.

*A couple of times I lobbied in Washington DC for ENDA and in 2007 he introduced a gender identity ENDA and he said that he was behind the bill 100% but he then pulled the bill and replaced it with a non-gender identity ENDA. He said that he did it because we (the trans community) haven’t paid our dues and that the Gays and lesbians have been lobbying since the seventies, he totally ignored the lobbying that members of the trans community have also been doing since the seventies.

It’s The Law

On Facebook I was asked the other day exactly what is Public Accommodation and are we protected from religious zealots banning us from restaurants?

She was worried about what would happen if Washington passes a “religious freedom” law to Connecticut. I posted…

CT Find Law defines "Public accommodations are places that serve the public, such as hotels, coffee shops, bus stops, laundromats, zoos, bowling alleys, and more" that is a very broad definition.

As for the religious exemptions when we were working to pass the non-discrimination law we were told that the exemption only applies to places of worship . The CT Safe Harbors Project says...
"The exemption applies concerning employment of those who perform work to carry out the activities of such religious organizations, as well as to matters of discipline, faith, internal organization or rules established by the religious entity. Although the exemption is broad, it is not a carte blanche for an employer to use his or her religious beliefs as a justification for discriminating against a gay person"

Then this morning I found this article about a law suit in California where a trans person was denied a haircut.

Trans soldier settles lawsuit against barber who denied haircut for ‘religious’ reasons
Pink News
By Joseph Patrick McCormick
7th February 2017

An army sergeant who sued a barbers which refused to serve them because they are trans has settled in their lawsuit.

The trans sergeant from California Kendall Oliver took legal action against the barbershop after the owner refused to give them a haircut.

Oliver has now settled in the lawsuit. The settlement amount has not been disclosed.
But as part of the settlement, the barbers is now required to serve anyone who walks through their doors, and to stop discriminating based on religious belief.

The barber shop owner Richard Hernandez, admitted he had broken the law by refusing to serve Oliver.

Well I suppose this is a case of good news, bad news, and good news.

The good news was that the barber won’t cut her hair because she is a woman. The bad news is that he would not cut her hair and the good news was she won her case.

Connecticut has a similar gender inclusive non-discrimination law that has a religious exemption so we should be protected if Congress passes a so called “Religious Freedom” law.

Free Speech…

…Isn’t free. I believe in a free intercourse of ideas but can you have a civil discussion with a person who denies your existence and uses hurtful language purposely to stir up hate?

Julia Serano has a good essay on the topic.

Free Speech and the Paradox of Tolerance
Medium
February 6, 2017

Any time activists (regardless of affiliation) protest a public speaking event, or the publication of a particular book or article, there will inevitably be claims that such actions threaten “free speech” or constitute “censorship.” Lately, these sorts of claims have been heard following the presidential-inauguration-day silencing (via punching) of white nationalist leader Richard Spencer while he was being interviewed, and after protesters attempted to force the cancellation of Brietbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’s speaking engagements at University of Washington and UC Berkeley. Some people who take such a stance do so for purely political reasons — they share Spencer’s and Yiannopoulos’s views, and invoke “free speech” to make their ideologies appear unassailable. Many others who do not share these views may instead adhere to free speech absolutism, and their reasoning might be summarized as follows:

1) The First Amendment to the Constitution (or analogous statutes in other countries) ensures our right to “freedom of speech.”
2) Therefore, even if we detest Spencer’s and Yiannopoulos’s extreme racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic beliefs, we must nevertheless defend their right to freely express them.
3) Any attempt to suppress or silence Spencer or Yiannopoulos (or their views) is essentially an attack on freedom of speech itself. And once we start down that slippery slope, it is only a matter of time before we find that our own freedom of speech is in jeopardy as well.

While the free speech absolutist position may sound compelling on the surface — indeed, it is what most of us were taught in school, and what most intellectuals espouse — the reality is not nearly so clear-cut. For instance, the courts have ruled that false statements of fact, defamation, obscenity, fighting words, and incitement (e.g., shouting “fire” in a crowded theater) do not qualify as protected speech. There are also occasions where our right to free speech bumps up against (and therefore, may be restricted by) other rights (e.g., privacy) and laws (e.g., copyright protection).

Being trans I have developed thick skin, I realize that some people don’t like us and they are within their rights to say it, but when they use demeaning and derogatory language they crossed the line. They are using their “free speech” rights to inflame others to violence against us.

She now goes in to the politics of free speech…

While it is important to keep these well-established limitations on free speech in mind, what I really want to focus on in this essay — especially given the steep rise in openly expressed white nationalist rhetoric over the last year — is the paradox of free speech. Here is what I mean: Spencer has used his right to free speech to call for “peaceful ethnic cleansing” — presumably this entails scaring people into fleeing and/or using the legal system to forcibly purge all people of color and indigenous peoples from the United States. Wouldn’t that be tantamount to silencing these groups, thereby violating their freedom of speech (not to mention countless other rights)? Or take what happened to actor/comedian Leslie Jones last summer: She was forced to leave the social media platform Twitter and had to shut down her personal website after Yiannopoulos incited a fierce campaign of doxxing and harassment against her. In other words, he used his free speech to suppress her free speech. (And for the record, he has done this to many other people.)

That is what dictators do, shut down the opposition with intimidation, so what is the difference between us when try to shut them down?

Years later, thanks to the invention of Internet search engines, I discovered that the line of reasoning that I had forwarded had been previously (and more eloquently) expressed by someone who had considered this problem far longer and in more depth than most of the rest of us have. In The Open Society and Its Enemies, philosopher Karl Popper described this as “the paradox of tolerance.” Here is how he put it:

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right even to suppress them, for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to anything as deceptive as rational argument, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, exactly as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping; or as we should consider incitement to the revival of the slave trade.

The difference between us and them is that they are attacking us and we are defending ourselves. When someone calls you a pervert, a pedophile, and other lies you have a right to opposes them and their lies.

I Have To Agree.

One time I was doing a workshop with a lesbian who said that she “gets it” and is supportive of trans people. Then later in the workshop she said “that she won’t date a trans women” when pressed by some in the audience she said it was because her friends would not understand. Loving a trans person is hard.

Loving a Transgender Person IS a Revolutionary Act
Huffington Post
By Brynn Tannehill
February 02, 2016

Being transgender is seen as so vile that our partners, parents and children often reject us. We learn that love isn’t unconditional, that in fact we cannot be loved by the people who mean the most to us. We are sent the message over and over again, that no one could love us as romantic partners. Life holds only a promise of loneliness and abandonment, and that we deserve solitude for refusing to remain in the closet.
[…]
In the face of such unremitting and remorseless pressure to despair, we dream of simply being loved by anyone, even if it is only in the internal security of believing a higher power does so. Yet, even that simple hope is often asking too much. In response, we do not dry up, fester, sag, crust over or explode.

We implode.

It takes a lot to be a friend with a trans person, all your friends will wonder why you are hanging out with “one of those people” our transness rubs off on them. Guilty by association.

Being loved requires friends, partners and family to embrace a belief that runs against our cultural dogma, act despite the stigma of being seen with “those people”, and embrace an unpopular people that are not their own.

This is why loving a transgender person is a truly revolutionary act.

The woman that I was dating broke off the relationship and I don’t really know why, but it was right after we went out to dinner with some of my trans friends; did she find it hard to be with us because of the looks we were getting from the other patrons in the restaurant? I don’t know. But I do know that for some it is very hard to be seen out in public with a trans person.

I Would Love To No Super Bowls In Texas Or North Carolina

The NCAA is doing it, why can’t the NFL? Why can’t they refuse to hold Super Bowls in states that discriminate?

NCAA may pull top events from North Carolina over transgender bathroom law; could Texas be next?
Dallas News
Written by Lauren McGaughy, Austin bureau
February 6, 2017

AUSTIN — North Carolina won't host any future NCAA championship events if it doesn't repeal its transgender bathroom law, officials with the college sports organization have warned, a possible precedent as Texas lawmakers consider a similar measure.

North Carolina institutions are bidding to host 133 championship-level NCAA events over the next six years. But the North Carolina Sporting Association said Monday that the state could lose the chance to host any of them if state lawmakers don't repeal House Bill 2, a law that strikes down local LGBT non-discrimination laws and bans transgender people from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

And Texas is going to follow in North Carolina’s footsteps.

Texas lawmakers will soon debate their own version of the bathroom ban. The Lone Star State is scheduled to host 11 NCAA and National Junior College Athletic Association events in the next two years, including the 2018 men's basketball first- and second-round games in Dallas and a 2018 men's football championship in Frisco.

Texas' bathroom bill, as it is written now, is far narrower than North Carolina's law — it would exempt arenas and convention centers from its restroom rules and let private businesses set their own policies — but business and tourism groups in Texas have warned it would have disastrous effects on cities' ability to keep the state "open for business."

Hopefully, if they pass the law that it will hurt them where it counts, in their pocketbooks

You Would Think That This Is A Good Idea

Other states have special wings for trans prisoner that separate them from the general prison population. In Texas they are raising concerns over the special trans wing and there concerns are valid.

New detention center's transgender unit in Texas raises concerns over intentions
Prairieland immigration facility reserves 36 beds for transgender inmates who are more likely to face abuse, but advocates worry about isolation and quality of care.
The Guardian
By Tom Dart
Monday 6 February 2017

During the week of the inauguration of a president whose policies will lead to a sharp increase in migrant arrests, America’s newest immigrant detention centre opened in rural north Texas.

Known as Prairieland, it has an unusual feature designed to protect an especially vulnerable section of the population: a unit for transgender detainees. Some LGBT advocates, though, question whether holding transgender people in a detached pod in a remote location will do more harm than good.

The privately run centre 40 miles from Dallas stands as a monument to the Obama administration’s commitment to migrant detention, a practice it reinforced from 2014 as the southern border saw a surge in crossings by families and unaccompanied minors seeking to escape danger in troubled central American nations.

Many trans people are running away from violence and are seeking asylum here in the U.S.

Many of these detainees have fled to the US precisely because of their gender identity, only to find themselves in places where their risk of being sexually abused is significantly higher compared to cisgender heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual detainees, according to the Human Rights Watch report.

There is a federal law, the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 which mandates prisons to provide a safe space and this I would guess is an easy way from them to follow the law.

Prairieland is the second facility in the country with a specialised transgender unit. Out of 612 beds, 36 are designated for transgender people. The only other ICE facility that houses transgender immigrants in separate dormitories is in the Los Angeles area, in space rented in the Santa Ana city jail. It is reportedly ending its deal with ICE in 2020.

ICE said last week there were 55 self-identified transgender people in detention across the country, representing about 0.13% of all detainees; none were yet in Prairieland.

Let’s warehouse them in a separate facility… out of sight, out of mind.

Doing The Right Thing And Learning

When you make a mistake, you owe up to it, and learn from it. Well that is what Katie Couric has done.

‘I Think I Made a Mistake’: Katie Couric On Her Transgender Evolution
Katie Couric says she was an “insensitive buffoon” for asking about a trans model’s “private parts.” Now she’s made a documentary about trans and intersex issues.
The Daily Beast
By Samantha Allen
February 5, 2017

Katie Couric is not afraid to admit she got it wrong.

On a January 2014 episode of her ABC daytime talk show Katie, the veteran TV journalist famously came under fire for asking transgender model Carmen Carrera awkward questions like “Was the whole process painful, physically, for you?” and “Your private parts are different now, aren’t they?”
[…]
The headlines the next day were harsh: BuzzFeed called the exchange “cringeworthy,” Salon labeled Couric’s questions “invasive,” and Slate slammed the interview as “really offensive.”

“When some people were very critical, of course it hurt me,” Couric told me over the phone in a conversation about Gender Revolution, her forthcoming National Geographic documentary on transgender and intersex issues. “I felt terrible.”

What critics didn't realize about the controversy at the time is that Couric, since 2014 global news anchor for Yahoo, had ample opportunity to avoid it altogether. The interview had been pre-taped weeks in advance and the producers, Couric told me, offered to remove the offending portion before the episode aired.

Couric knew that she had misstepped—but she refused.

She could have done many things but she had them back on her show…

“I think that I made a mistake,” she told the Daily Beast. “And I wanted to make sure that people knew that I recognized I made a mistake.”

And she has learned from her mistake,

Couric’s curiosity is evident throughout the program, but so is her care. At one point, instead of asking a young transgender woman named Allison what she was called before transition, she asks if she can ask that question. When Allison says she’d “prefer not,” Couric uses it as an opportunity for an impromptu conversation about previous names, and how they can function as a distressing reminder of pre-transition life.

It’s an example of the way in which Couric has learned to create educational opportunities out of potentially challenging moments.

Tonight on the National Geographic channel at 9 PM EST is going to be showing “Gender Revolution: with Katie Couric.” I will be watching it tonight and I bet she doesn’t make any more mistakes.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

That the hearing for the new Supreme Court Justice is delayed until April.

Supreme Court will hear Gavin Grimm’s landmark transgender rights case in March
LGBTQ Nation
By Erin Rook
February 5, 2017

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a groundbreaking transgender rights case this March, according to a schedule released Friday.

After Donald Trump‘s election, there was some question about whether the court would uphold last October’s decision to hear the case of transgender teen Gavin Grimm, who is suing his Virginia high school for the right to use the restroom and locker room that corresponds with his gender.

The justices are scheduled to hear the case on March 28 and Grimm is preparing for the spotlight. Grimm was initially allowed to use the boys’ restroom at his high school, but after receiving complaints, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use the restroom that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth or be segregated to a single-stall restroom.

If the hearings are delayed and the new justice is not appointed until after the case is heard we have a better chance of a ruling in our favor then if the new justice is on the bench. I think we would still have a chance with the new justice but it could be risky. The whole case hinges on Justice Kennedy, if he rules in our favor either with or without the new justice we win. If Kennedy votes against us before the new justice the lower court ruling stands for that district but if the new judge is on the bench then we lose.

So keep your fingers crossed.

This Requires More Research

Back in the seventies and eighties, medical providers started to notice a trend in women whose mother’s took a drug called DES (Diethylstilbestrol) to prevent miscarriages, The DES Daughters were at risk of  clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the vagina and cervix, reproductive tract structural differences, pregnancy complications, and infertility, while the DES Sons had an increased risk for non-cancerous epididymal cysts.

Many trans women all believe that it increased the chances of having some degree of Gender Dysphoria. Now there is another drug that possiblely might have an effect on us.

Women Fear Drug They Used To Halt Puberty Led To Health Problems
Kaiser Health Network
By Christina Jewett
February 2, 2017

For years, Sharissa Derricott, 30, had no idea why her body seemed to be failing. At 21, a surgeon replaced her deteriorated jaw joint. She’s been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. Her teeth are shedding enamel and cracking.

None of it made sense to her until she discovered a community of women online who describe similar symptoms and have one thing in common: All had taken a drug called Lupron.

Thousands of parents chose to inject their daughters with the drug, which was approved to shut down puberty in young girls but also is commonly used off-label to help short kids grow taller.

The drug’s pediatric version comes with few warnings about long-term side effects. It is also used in adults to fight prostate cancer or relieve uterine pain and the Food and Drug Administration has warnings on the drug’s adult labels about a variety of side effects.

More than 10,000 adverse event reports filed with the FDA reflect the experiences of women who’ve taken Lupron. The reports describe everything from brittle bones to faulty joints.

So what is the trans connection?

Well trans children take Lupron to stop puberty so are they at risk?

We do not know because that is another “off label” use of the drug and we don’t have any data on its use by trans children and I doubt that any drug company will want to study us.

So what should we do? Well for one thing our healthcare providers should know our history including all the meds that we are taking and have taken.

For adults the recommendation is,

There is insufficient evidence to guide recommendations for bone density testing in transgender women or men. Transgender people (regardless of birth-assigned sex) should begin bone density screening at age 65. Screening between ages 50 and 64 should be considered for those with established risk factors for osteoporosis. Transgender people (regardless of birth assigned sex) who have undergone gonadectomy and have a history of at least 5 years without hormone replacement should also be considered for bone density testing, regardless of age.

I am scheduled to a bone density test this spring for my 6 months endo check-up.

The only information that I found on trans children is from NPR,

The Endocrine Society’s guidelines suggest starting puberty blockers for transgender children when they hit a stage of development known as Tanner stage 2 — usually around 10 or 11 years old for a girl and 11 or 12 years old for a boy. The same guidelines suggest giving cross sex hormones — estrogen for transgender girls and testosterone for transgender boys — at age 16. However, doctors caution that estrogen and testosterone, the hormones that are blocked by these medications, also play a role in a child’s neurological development and bone growth.

“We do know that there is some decrease in bone density during treatment with pubertal suppression,” Finlayson said, adding that initial studies have shown that starting estrogen and testosterone can help regain the bone density. What Finlayson said there isn’t enough research on is whether someone who was on puberty blockers will regain all their bone strength, or if they might be at risk for osteoporosis in the future.

So what should we do?

I believe in informed consent, when discussing taking Cross Gender Hormones (CGH) or puberty blockers we should be aware of all the risks and have the necessary medical test done.

Sad News

I not going to into details because her story is like many trans teenagers when they transition, their teenage years is probably the most stressful time of their life and couple that with transitioning the stress can become agonizing. Even with total support from the family, school, and church it is still taxing on teens, and in one case it was unbearable.

The News Times reported that she had support from her parents, the other students, the school, and her church…

It wasn’t a lack of support from family, friends or school officials that led to Emelia’s death, her mother said. “It was suicidal depression,” she said.
.”
[…]
…She was proud member of St. Paul’s Church in Norwalk and was on the church’s choir and a member of its music ministry for eight years
[…]
Hormone treatment or not, her school and friends had tried to make her more comfortable. The school was planning to allow her to live in the girls’ dormitory rooms, her classmate said. And no one knew of bullying or harsh words for Emelia.

Then why, if she had all that support?

That is one thing that we will never know.

When I posted the article on a support groups Facebook page a number of members asked what they can do to help other trans children. My reply was that they just took the first step and now they must take to the second step.

I told them that there are many non-profits that help LGBT students such as GLSEN and here in Connecticut True Colors and if you want to help; volunteer to become a mentor! They are always looking mentors and they are also always looking for foster parents. You will have to go to training and have a DCF background check.

But the thing is you have to be committed! You can’t start and then drop out because then you hurt others who are now counting on you. You will be just another adult who is letting them down.

Burn-Out

When I did my first internship for my Master in Social Work, my field supervisor asked me what my support network was. I didn’t know what she was talking about and then when I figured out that she was talking about who I turn to when I needed support I said my brother. I also thought I’m in community organizing I don’t need a support network; it is not like a therapist where they hear other people’s problems all day.

I was wrong.

Community organizers do need a support network. I wrote this Thursday on Facebook.

I'm getting in another blue funk mood. With all the stuff coming out of Washington it is getting depression.

I getting emails about protesting but I don't think it will make any difference. They just don't give a fuck about us. Sorry for my language but they have their agenda tear apart the government. To get rid of all the social programs, to strip the EPA, to do away with the Department of Education, HUD, everything. To sell off the federal lands. To strip Social Security and Medicare.

There are even some reports that some Republicans want to reply the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

They are like kids in a candy store fighting over who gets their pet project first.

I had someone that walked into the health collective wanting to change their documentation as soon as possible because they were worried about not being able to change it in a couple of months. That rubs off on you after a while.

On top of all that I threw my back out over the weekend and I had had the guy out here twice to fix the hot water heater. There is nothing like getting ready to take a hot and finding out you have no hot water. This new guy said he found the problem, but then so did the guy before him.

It does get to you after awhile, the terrible frustration, trying to keep a stiff upper lip while people are telling you that they are scared when all you want to do is agree with them.

So I decided that I am going to concentrate on local helping, I am going to keep helping out at the Hartford Gay & Lesbian Health Collective, I am going to continue doing training and guest lectures, I will also still work with the agencies and non-profits that are going to homeless shelters to train their staff, I will continue helping out at the NASW, and I will still work on the Trans Health & Law Conference until the after the conference. I will also continue my blog. But I will not take part in any national protests.

Nationally it seems like we are banging out heads against a brick wall, and I will let those who more energy fight that battle.

Oh and about the support network, I have developed friends who I can also turn to in times of crisis who understand what it is like to get burned out because they also been there.

Saturday 9: Some Guys Have All the Luck

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Some Guys Have All the Luck (1984)

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

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

1) Do you consider yourself lucky?
Nope, I don’t believe in luck.

2) When did you last risk money in a game of chance (lottery, raffle ticket, slot machine, etc.)? How did you do?
It was maybe ten years ago, I lost. I figure it is entertainment and if I win it is icing on the cake.

3)  There's a major football game this weekend. Will you be watching? Do you have any money riding on the outcome?  
Nope and nope.

4) The composer of this song, Jeff Fortgang, is an interesting guy who's had two disparate careers: first pop musician, then Yale-educated clinical psychologist. It's possible that many of the patients who see him for help with anxiety or depression have no idea that he wrote this song. What's something your coworkers (or, if you're not working, casual friends) would be surprised to know about you?
Well, I already told most of the stuff about myself and they were surprised that I have a degree in electronics.

5) Similarly, fans are often surprised to learn that this week's featured artist, Rod Stewart, is a history buff who loves reading about WWII. Is there a period of time or historic event that has captured your interest?
I am a big fan of Outlander, I would love to go back to the mid-1700s and I’m a big fan of SiFi and I would love to travel to the future to see how badly we goofed.

6) Rod met his current wife as the result of a dare. Penny Lancaster, then in her 20s, spotted the decades-older celebrity in a bar and only approached him because her friends bet her she didn't have the guts to talk to him. Are you, like Penny, vulnerable to peer pressure? Can your friends talk you into doing things you might not otherwise do?
I am very shy and an introverted so it would be very hard to talk me into something like talking to a stranger.

7) Rod vividly recalls being 11 years old and going to see  Little Richard perform in a film comedy called The Girl Can't Help It. When you were a kid, did you enjoy going to the movies? What do you recall seeing?
I remember going to see Goldfinger when I was little

8) The lyrics tell of when Rod's car overheats and he calls a friend, who doesn't come through. Tell us about a time recently when you were there and helped a buddy out.
A friend has OCD, PTSD, and a whole host of other disorders and I am there if he needs someone to talk to or help out. I figure it will take time off for good behavior in purgatory.

9) The lyrics mention that "some guys do nothing but complain." Who do you know who is like that? Do you have a friend, relative or coworker who just always seems to find fault?
See my answer for question 8.

We Will Have Our Own Historic District.

Where else, but in San Francisco where the Compton’s Cafeteria rebellion began.

Transgender cultural district planned for San Francisco’s Tenderloin
Developer and city supervisor work together to create nation’s first trans neighborhood
Curbed SF
By Brock Keeling
February 2, 2017

In collaboration with D6 Supervisor Jane Kim and Group i, the developer in charge of the upcoming 950 Market space, part of San Francisco’s Tenderloin is poised to become the nation’s first ever transgender district.

Supervisor Kim and several transgender activists announced legislation Tuesdat to rechristen part of the TL as the Compton’s Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (TLGB) District, named after the eatery that marked the first transgender civil rights uprising in the United States. If enacted, the Compton’s District will be the first legally recognized transgender district in the world.

“The lower Tenderloin is the most important neighborhood in America for transgender history, culture, and civil rights,” said Supervisor Kim, who represents the Tenderloin. “By creating the Compton’s TLGB District we are honoring this vibrant community built by transgender people, and are sending a message to the world that trans people are welcome here.”

In 1966, Compton’s Cafeteria, a former coffeeshop at Taylor and Turk, was the site of a resistance by San Francisco’s transgender community. After continued abuse by Compton’s Cafeteria employees and the San Francisco Police Department, transwomen initiated a two-day riot rebellion that made its way out onto streets of the Tenderloin, predating the Stonewall riots by three years.
[…]
Supervisor Kim went on to stress the importance of having such a district, saying: “In the last few weeks our federal government has made it clear that minority communities have never been more at risk in America.”

Yeah, somehow I don’t think that Trump & company will make it a national historic landmark.

I can just picture the tour buses going through the district... "And now this where all the transsexuals rose up against oppression." I can just picture all the grey hair women and men with their faces pressed against the windows... as one of them cries out "I see one of them now!"

There was a movie that was made by Susan Stryker called Screaming Queens, I have seen the movie a couple of times and before the movie came out, she came to Fantasia Fair to give talk about her research and to give a sneak preview of clips from the movie.

I Remember…

…When I was little sitting on the banks of the Housatonic River with some friends watching the river change colors from the chemical plants upriver. We would see how many colors that we could pick out and name.

I remember driving up route 8 to Waterbury along the Naugatuck River and having all the windows up in the car on a summer day because of the stench of the river and seeing mounds of foam piled high at the rapids because of the chemical plants in Naugatuck.

I remember coming down the hill on the Wilbur Cross Parkway, Route 5, in Wethersfield and seeing the Travelers Tower disappearing in a smog of brown.

I remember sitting at traffic lights and seeing billowing blue smoke rising up from the cars.

That is all past.

Or is it?

George W. Bush's EPA Head Is 'Worried' About President Trump's Nominee
Time
By Justin Worland
Jan 31, 2017

President Trump's first decisions on the environment and the appointment of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency has left scientists at the agency "nervous" about their ability to fulfill their mission, former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman tells TIME.

Whitman, who served as President George W. Bush's first EPA administrator, spoke with TIME shortly after Pruitt's nomination and again this week before Wednesday's expect confirmation vote.

"He’s really someone who doesn’t believe in the mission of the agency," she says, noting the many times Pruitt has sued the EPA. "It puts him in the presumption of an adversarial position with the career staff, which is going to make it difficult to do anything."

Pruitt, who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the oil and gas industry, earned notoriety leading a charge against President Obama's environmental regulations. He sued the agency 13 times in his capacity as Oklahoma's attorney general, most famously to halt the Clean Power Plan. The Senate is expected to confirm the nomination Wednesday despite strong opposition from Democrats in Congress.

Then there is this article in Inside Climate News,

Their criticisms go back to the beginning of Pruitt's tenure. Shortly after taking office in 2011, Pruitt dismantled the office's Environmental Protection Unit, established by his Democratic predecessor in 1996 to pursue violators of the state's environmental laws. The unit pursued dozens of cases against polluters, especially in the farming industry. In 1997, it helped establish the state's Environmental Crimes Task Force, which launched 142 investigations and 56 criminal prosecutions, according to the unit's former chief, Kelly Hunter Foster.
[…]
Since Trump announced his EPA pick earlier this month, news reports have underscored Pruitt's sustained attack on the agency he's been appointed to head and his apparent reluctance to enforce environmental regulation. As attorney general, Pruitt has pursued 14 lawsuits against the EPA, while receiving nearly $240,000 from the fossil fuel industry or associations that represent it. (ICN has documented Pruitt's deep ties to the industry, including its support for his political career.)
[…]
Pruitt, who assumed the attorney general's post in 2011, has failed to pursue a 2005 lawsuit filed by his predecessor against Tyson Foods and a dozen other poultry companies, accusing them of polluting the scenic Illinois River in the northeastern part of the state. The Environmental Working Group, after taking a dive into campaign finance records, revealed that executives and lawyers for those companies gave more than $40,000 to Pruitt's 2010 election campaign.

Now watch this eight minute Bill Moyer’s video…

I fear that we are going back to the sixties again. Where the rivers change colors and the sky is brown.

Trump To Sign Special Rights Executive Order

Do you remember that on Tuesday I posted a blog on the two news reports, one the Trump was keeping the Obama’s Executive Order in place that banned discrimination against LGBT employees and the other article about how he was going to scrap the EO. Well now we know how he is going to weasel around it.

Report: Trump to Sign Religious Freedom Order Amid Retention of Homosexual, Transgender Protections
Christian News Service
By Heather Clark
February 2, 2017

WASHINGTON — Reports state that President Trump might soon issue an executive order protecting the rights of religious groups following his decision to keep an Obama-era order banning groups that contract with the federal government from “discriminating” against homosexuals and transgenders in their business or non-profit organization.

The outlet The Nation obtained a leaked copy of the order, which allegedly protects faith-based entities “when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with federal, state or local governments.”

So he is going to leave Obama’s Executive Order in place but give special rights to ignore the EO. All you have to do is just say it is against my beliefs. What that means is you call for an ambulance because you are having chest pains that might be a heart attack, the EMTs arrive and see that you are trans and walk away. They say it is against their beliefs to treat a trans person and there is nothing your relatives can do except to attend your funeral.

It also reportedly protects the tax-exempt status of any group that “believes, speaks, or acts (or declines to act) in accordance with the belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, sexual relations are properly reserved for such a marriage, male and female and their equivalents refer to an individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy, physiology, or genetics at or before birth, and that human life begins at conception and merits protection at all stages of life.”

What that means is if you go to a homeless shelter they can put you in the section for your birth gender so that you can be beaten up and or raped.

This Is Wrong

A child should not be separated from a parent because of religious beliefs and that is what the court did.

Transgender woman stopped from seeing children because it is 'incompatible' with their Jewish faith
Exclusive: the parent believes she is the first transgender person to have left the ultra-orthodox Charedi community 
The Independent
By Dina Rickman, Siobhan Fenton
31 January 2017

A transgender woman has been blocked from seeing her five children after a family court ruled it was not compatible with her ex-wife’s ultra-orthodox Jewish background.

The landmark ruling, seen by The Independent, was issued by Justice Peter Jackson at the family court in Manchester. It has been handed down after 12 months of the transgender woman asking for access to her five children.

At the centre of the fight between two parents were claims that the transgender parent, who is living as a woman, should not be allowed direct access to her children after leaving the ultra-orthodox Jewish community.

This is because, barristers acting for the mother argued, it would lead to her children being ostracised by their ultra-orthodox community and unable to live normal lives due to their association with a transgender parent. However, Orthodox Jewish rabbis acting for the parent argued that Judaism did not believe transgender individuals should be punished in this way.

Despite that, Justice Jackson concluded that the “risk” that “these children and their mother would be rejected by their community if the children were to have face-to-face contact with their father” was too great to allow direct contact.

So what would happen if she wasn’t trans, would the court still take away custody if say she no long was a member of the religion? Or was it simply because the judge has a bias against trans people? I tend to think it is because of the latter.

Some of the comments...

Arguement to be made that LGBTQI have more rights in US under Trump than they do here in UK
Where will the demos be against this judgement setting a precedent that the bigotry of fundamentalist religions prevails over human rights ?

I don't suppose anyone asked the children what they wanted?

When it comes to orthodoxy under any of its many guises the children are the last to be considered worthy of an opinion....... which is why in the end they all FAIL....... AFTER A HUMONGOUS WASTE OF TIME AND BREATH
Someone should smuggle a copy of the book 'The Jewish Snitch' to the children of this community so they can better grasp the madness of isolationism, and, be motivated to escape its grasp!
Next step... The European Court, right ?

More pandering to religious bigotry. The more I see of religion the more convinced its actually the root of most evil in the world. 

I hope she appeals the judges decision.

Her Honor The Mayor…

Way down in a town in Texas they have a new woman mayor,

A small town Texas mayor just came out as trans in a brilliantly nonchalant letter
PinkNews
By Joseph Patrick McCormick
1st February 2017

The mayor of a small town in North Texas just came out as transgender.

Jess Herbst, who is the mayor of New Hope, wrote an open letter to residents of the town saying she is trans.

Herbst also urged constituents to ask questions if they are unsure about anything to do with her transition.

She says she will continue to serve as the mayor of New Hope.

The article also has the letter she sent out to the towns people. I hope that the towns people get to know her and reelect her the next time she comes up for election, they will see that she is still the same person as they elected.

I Saw An Up Tick.

Right after the election I saw an increase in the number of question that I received on the CTAC phone line and at the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective  but they have now drop off now.

Transgender Americans rush to change IDs for Trump era
CNN
By Emanuella Grinberg and Dani Stewart
January 31, 2017

East Point, Georgia (CNN)On a recent Friday morning, Cazembe Jackson donned a sharp blue suit and green paisley tie and made his way to Atlanta's Midtown US passport office.

It was a day he had long been waiting for, one he thought might never come. He took a number and sat with friends who were there for the same reason.

It was not only his first time applying for a passport. It would be the first time a government employee identified him as a man, calling him "Mr. Jackson," and made it official on a document.

The 36-year-old social justice organizer began to identify as a transgender man two years ago. At the time, he lived in Tennessee, which requires a court order or physician's statement certifying that "necessary medical procedures" had been completed to change gender on a state-issued identification. Similarly, his new home state of Georgia requires proof of gender reassignment surgery to change gender on a state-issued identification.

I except for my birth certificate I changed all of my documentations years ago and I did my birth certificate this past fall. And really if you have transitioned you should change your paperwork now while you still can because you never know when Trump with issue one of his famous Executive Orders.

You can find all the links to the forms and instructions for Connecticut residents at the CTAC website here.

You Don’t Usually Think Of Her As An Activist

I don’t think of Dolly Parton as an activist but she is and activist for LGBT people.

Flashback: See Dolly Parton Stand for Transgender Equality
"Travelin' Thru" earned Oscar nod, hate mail for outspoken icon in 2006
Rolling Stone
By Stephen L. Betts
January 31, 2017

As a performer and songwriter, Dolly Parton has long been an outspoken advocate at the forefront of controversial issues. As far back as 1991, at the height of the AIDS crisis, her Eagle When She Flies LP included the song, "Family," which noted, rather matter-of-factly, that some families include members who are gay - a simple, yet bold step at the time.

In 2006, Parton embraced and encouraged inclusion by writing the theme tune for Transamerica, a big-screen film about a pre-operative transgender woman meeting and traveling cross-country with the son she never knew. It may have been a risky proposition for a Hollywood film, and perhaps even more so for a country icon, but Parton took it all in stride, in spite of revealing to USA Today at the time that her support of the LGBT community has subjected her to hate mail.
[…]
In a somewhat prescient bit of movie magic, just five years later Parton would appear in another LGBT-inclusive feature called Hollywood to Dollywood, a documentary film about gay twin brothers Gary and Larry Lane, who traveled from their home in L.A. to Parton's Smoky Mountains theme park to hand-deliver a screenplay they had written with her in mind. She has continued to champion LGBT rights and in the wake of North Carolina's controversial, so-called "bathroom bill" – which forced transgender individuals to use restrooms associated with their gender assigned at birth – Parton posted a video in which she said, "I think everybody should be treated with respect. I don't judge people. I try not to get too caught up in all the controversy of things. I hope that everybody gets a chance to be who and what they are."

Hopefully she will continue to speak up for up during the Trump administration.

I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt why she didn't cancel her performance in North Carolina, maybe she felt she could do more good by holding the concert or maybe there were legal obligations.