Total BS

This right-wing conservative newspaper had this to say about trans children and you need to take your blood pressure meds first.

Girls who would be boys: The rise in teen gender dysphoria
Irreversible Damage: the Transgender Craze seducing our daughters Abigail Shrier, Swift Press, £16.99
Independent
By Emily Hourican
January 17 2021

Well right off by the headline you can tell that this is a hatchet job.

There was a feeling, not very long ago, that debating "trans issues" was sort of a niche occupation. Something remote from everyday lives. Well, if that was ever true, it isn't now.


Historically, there has been a distinct pattern in those presenting with gender dysphoria. They were predominantly pre-school aged boys, and they had usually begun signalling their gender confusion from very young - choosing female roles in games, showing dissatisfaction with their own bodies. And they were rare - around 0.005-0.014pc of the population - ie, fewer than 1 in 10,000 people, for natal males, and much lower again, 0.002-0.003pc, for natal females.


This changed about 10 years ago and, currently, around 2pc of high schoolers in the US identify as transgender, an increase of about 1,000pc. The UK has seen an increase of 4,000pc, and three-quarters are now girls.

Gee I wonder why?

Could it be possible the gatekeepers thought that there were no such thing as a trans masculine?

There has also been a change in the process of how these girls arrive at their sense of identification. Often this has been sudden, without the early signals, and appears in clusters rather than as singular cases. These girls are predominantly white, and middle class. A majority have one or more psychiatric diagnosis, around a third are autistic and almost half have engaged in self-harm prior to the onset of the gender dysphoria. Often, now, identifying as trans occurs before these girls have had any significant sexual experience. These teens - the average age is 12 to 15 - report feeling distressed and isolated.

This sounds like a rehash of the flawed Brown University paper by Lisa Littman.

Then the are goes on to question puberty blockers…

But halting puberty is not without health consequences, including the risk of suppression of normal bone density development and greater risk of osteoporosis, loss of sexual function, interference with brain development, and possibly suppressing peak IQ. These are the physical effects. There are also the psychological effects of remaining in a child-like state while their peers grow and mature. For girls wanting to transition, next comes the question of testosterone, and that too has health implications, including risks of vaginal atrophy, muscle aches, painful cramping due to endometriosis, painful orgasms, increased sweating, moodiness, and aggression. Long-term effects include heightened rates of diabetes, stroke, blood clots, cancer and heart disease.

But read what the Mayo Clinic has to say about puberty blockers,

Are the changes permanent?
Use of GnRH analogues doesn't cause permanent changes in an adolescent's body. Instead, it pauses puberty, providing time to determine if a child's gender identity is long lasting. It also gives children and their families time to think about or plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues ahead.

If an adolescent child stops taking GnRH analogues, puberty will resume.

What are the possible side effects and complications?
It's important for your child to stay on schedule with all related medical appointments. Contact your child's doctor if any changes cause you or your child concern.

Possible side effects of GnRH analogue treatment include:

• Injection site swelling
• Weight gain
• Hot flashes
• Headaches

Use of GnRH analogues might also have long-term effects on:

• Bone density
• Future fertility

Children will likely have their height checked every three months. Your child's doctor might recommend yearly bone density and bone age tests.

As for testosterone, causing diabetes, stroke, blood clots, cancer and heart disease, muscle aches, moodiness, and aggression. Well folks that is what testosterone does to every cismale.

This is a typical right-wing conservative hatchet job designed to stir the conservative base against us.

  

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A follow-up to yesterday post…

The trans student in the Mission school in Canada was attacked a second time.

Girl, 14, arrested after 2nd school attack in a week in Mission

Mission RCMP say a 14-year-old girl was arrested Jan. 15

CBC News

January 18, 2021 

RCMP are now investigating two separate attacks linked to Mission-area schools in the same week.

Cpl. Jason Raaflaub says the latest incident happened Jan. 13 on the grounds of Mission Secondary School.

He says a 15-year-old girl and her mother contacted police after the teen was allegedly assaulted. The incident was caught on video.

"The video shows a female standing over top of another female lying face up on the ground and the other female is seen punching and kicking the one on the ground," Raaflaub said.

A 14-year-old girl was arrested Jan. 15 in connection with the incident. Raaflaub says the video is part of the submission being made to Abbotsford Crown counsel for a charge of assault.

The 14-year-old has been released but is not allowed to contact the victim or go to Mission Secondary School.

So that makes it a total of 3 girls being arrested, you would think that the third girl would have seen that the other two were arrested.

In High Office!

Many of you heard about Dr. Rachel Levine is or should I say was Pennsylvania Health Secretary.

As President-elect Biden picks his cabinet members you might remember that when he was Vice President, Obama had a number trans people in places of importance, well Biden is following in his footsteps.

Biden Picks Pa.'s Dr. Levine to Be Assistant Health Secretary, Would Make History If Confirmed

• President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate.
• Levine is a pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general and was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017.
• Levine is one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide and has emerged as the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ch 10 NBC News Philadelphia
By Will Weissert
January 19, 2021


President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond," Biden said in a statement. "She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”

All I can say is WOW!

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What I was planning on writing about this morning was about a Canadian town that stood up in support a trans student who was receiving bullying…

Vehicle parade in Mission draws strong support for transgender student attacked and beaten by peers
Police are recommending charges against two teen girls from École Heritage Park Middle School
CBC News
January 17, 2021


Hundreds of vehicles festooned with pink balloons, rainbow signs and anti-bullying messages drove slowly through a riverfront area of Mission B.C. on Sunday to offer support to a teen who was beaten by two other students at their school on Monday.

AJ Gopinath, one of the organizers of the rally, said when details of the violence emerged, he knew he had to do something in response.

"For us, just standing by and watching someone get assaulted in a manner that is not accepted by the community and, as a person, I couldn't step back and allow it to happen," he said from the rally on Sunday while wearing a pink T-shirt with the message, 'Say no to bullying' on it.

On Monday a video was posted on social media that showed the victim, who rally organizers describe as a non-binary transgender teen, being punched and kicked by two girls on school grounds of École Heritage Park Middle School.
[…]
The two attackers were arrested and police are recommending charges against them including assault and uttering threats.

It is nice and encouraging to see support like this, especially in today’s climate.

---

I published this early because I getting my COVID-19 vaccination this morning and my arm might be too sore and if I don’t feel to bad after the shot then I will head in to the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective to help out there with the quarterly survey.

With A New Legislature Season Republican Legislators Are Attacking Us

A number of new anti-trans bills have been introduced around the country, they are mainly anti-trans athlete bills.

Conservative legislators want transgender kids' lives as the new battlefield in their culture war
In many states, Republican lawmakers are pushing pseudoscientific, stereotype-ridden bills that will hurt trans kids under the guise of protecting them.
NBC News
By Chase Strangio, trans activist and staff attorney, ACLU
January 17, 2021


We are not yet three weeks into 2021, President-elect Joe Biden has yet to be inaugurated and already powerful forces on the right have made clear what will be the next front in their so-called culture war — which is to say, their effort to maintain political power by demonizing the bodies, private lives and personal decisions of Americans they’ve deemed unworthy of such autonomy.

This time, they’ve chosen transgender youth as their target, seeking to capitalize on insidious stereotypes about trans people, preposterous pseudoscience and a divisive cadre of supposed women’s rights campaigners who believe the only way to achieve gender equality is to oppress other people.

These efforts to attack trans young people are driven by the same fundamental goals as previous attempts to restrict all transgender people from using public restrooms: to exclude transgender youth from participating in public and educational life alongside their peers and to perpetuate the myth that transness is itself harmful and should be eradicated. Despite all the high-minded rhetoric about “protecting children” and “saving women’s sports” behind these legislative efforts, these bills will actively harm young people, not help them, and will compromise women’s sports, not save them.

In at least 12 states right now, efforts are afoot that include actually criminalizing health care for transgender youth (as in, send doctors to prison for following medical treatment protocols to help trans youth) as well as banning all transgender young people from participating in age-appropriate athletic programs.

The question is why are they against us?

My theory is that they are playing to their evangelical Christian and white supremacists base. In another NBC article…

Montana Republican targets transgender youth with 2 new bills
State Rep. John Fuller, the bills’ sponsor, called gender-affirming care for transgender youth “barbaric.”
By Dan Avery
January 15, 2021


A Republican lawmaker in Montana has introduced a pair of bills targeting transgender youth.

House Bill 112, authored by state Rep. John Fuller, requires athletic teams at all public educational institutions — from elementary schools to colleges — to be designated based on “biological sex.” The measure, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, would prohibit transgender students from joining teams that match their gender identity, no matter how long ago they transitioned.

“Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls may not be open to students of the male sex,” it reads in part.
[…]
Another bill, also penned by Fuller, would bar health care professionals from providing transgender minors certain transition-related care.

Under House Bill 113, also known as An Act Providing for Youth Health Protection, physicians and other medical professionals are prohibited from treating gender dysphoria in minors by prescribing, providing or administering puberty-suppressing drugs or cross-sex hormones (including estrogen and testosterone); performing gender-reassignment surgery; or removing “any otherwise healthy or nondiseased body part or tissue.” Penalties for providers who violate the law would include fines of up to $50,000.

Do you remember when the Republicans mantra was to get government out of our lives?

What could be more invasive then government getting between you and your doctors? How many trans people will die so that the Republicans can stay in power?

The Republicans don’t care who they hurt, all they care about is power and money.

The Courts

There is a Supreme Court case coming up that can have profound impact on us, voiding all the non-discrimination laws in the country.

The case is called Fulton v. City of Philadelphia and it involves the Catholic Church, they want to refuse LGBTQ people from adopting children from their agency. The city says when the adoption agency took the public funding they signed a contract saying that they would not discriminate.

Faith, LGBTQ Rights Collide At Supreme Court
NPR
By Nina Totenberg
November 4, 2020


Elections come and go, but Supreme Court decisions can last forever. One of those potentially pivotal cases is before the court Wednesday. A case both poignant and profound, it pits the rights of a city to enforce its anti-discrimination policies in contracting against the rights of religious groups.

On one side is the City of Philadelphia, which contracts with private foster care agencies, and as part of the contract requires that those agencies abide by the city's ban on discriminating against LGBTQ couples. On the other side is Catholic Social Services, which contends that complying with the city's requirement would violate its constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.

Okay, here is the thing… you and I paid for those services through our taxes and this agency that is taking our tax dollars and refusing to allow us access to those services.

When the Catholic Social Services signed the contract with the city for the funding…

That said, however, the city has refused to renew the $2.9 million contract for future home foster care placements by CSS. As the city sees it, CSS has violated the terms of its contract by its policy of refusing to consider same-sex married couples for placement.

"You can't on Monday sign a contract that says we won't discriminate and on Tuesday go ahead and discriminate," says Katyal. And he notes that the Supreme Court has long said governments are at the apex of their power in contracting for goods and services.

Isn’t there a commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor?”

---

This issue before the court is not the first time a case where someone said a law violated their “Religious Freedom” back in 1990 the article goes on to say,

In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that when the government has a "generally applicable" law or regulation and enforces that law neutrally, the government's action is presumptively legitimate even if it has some "incidental" adverse impact on some citizens.

The court said that an individual's religious beliefs do not excuse him from compliance with an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that government is free to regulate. Allowing exceptions to every state law or regulation affecting religion, the court said, "would open the prospect of constitutionally required exemptions from civic obligations of almost every conceivable kind," from compulsory military service to vaccination requirements, and child-neglect laws.

The author of that opinion was the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon and a devout Catholic...

Now they are trying to reverse Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Several of the Supreme Court's most conservative justices have in fact urged revisiting Justice Scalia's 1990 decision. And the Court's newest Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, served on the board of her children's private religious school, which, according to the Associated Press, did not admit the children of same-sex couples.

---

Consider substituting another protected class for LGBTQ discrimination…

If the adoption agency said that they would not allow Black people to adopt do you think that would have been allowed?

Or suppose that the Catholic Social Services said that they will not let disabled persons in wheelchairs adopt because they cannot care for a child properly how do you that would fly?

There would be a great outcry if the Catholic Social Services banned any of those protected classes because it would violate their religious beliefs.

To justify racial discrimination in the South back when the Civil Rights Act of 1963 was being passed there were some Congresspeople who said it would be against their religious values.

On the morning of 10 June 1964, Senator Robert C. Byrd, a former Kleagle of the West Virginia Ku Klux Klan, was concluding a fourteen-hour and thirteen-minute monologue on the floor of the United States Senate. His speech was part of a two-week-long filibuster of the United States Civil Rights Act…

...To Byrd, Genesis9 meant that God had endorsed racial separation and discrimination. In
using Genesis 9 to support segregation and the continuance of Jim Crow, Byrd was relying upon the so-called “Curse of Ham.” According to the mythology that developed around this story, Noah cursed his son Ham to perpetual slavery. Ham, according to Genesis 10, was the founding father of Africa. Thus, Africans are an accursed race predestined by God to inferiority and slavery.

So would the Supreme Court allow someone to use “Religious Freedom” to allow segregation or slavery? Or would the court only allow “Religious Freedom” against LGBTQ people?

Wouldn’t that in itself be discriminatory? That of all the protected classes that only discrimination LGBTQ people could claim “Religious Freedom?” I think that would violate the Fourteenth Amendment.

This court case has far reaching impact and every law written where someone can ignore a law because it violates their religious belief. All one would have to do to ignore a law just declare that the law violates their religious beliefs.

---

Religious Freedom has already been used in the defense of a group of people who left water in the desert for undocumented immigrants.

Judge Reverses Convictions of Activists Who Left Water for Migrants
A federal judge found that four volunteers with the group “No More Deaths” were acting on their religious beliefs when they left food and water for migrants in the desert.
New York Times
By Maria Cramer
February 5, 2020


Four women who drove into a forbidding desert and left food and water for migrants crossing illegally into the United States were following their religious beliefs, not violating federal laws, a federal judge has ruled, reversing their criminal convictions.

Judge Rosemary Márquez of the United District Court in Arizona decided last week in favor of the women, members of the organization No More Deaths, a faith-based group in Tucson that aims to alleviate suffering at the border.

“The depth, importance and centrality of these beliefs caused defendants to restructure their lives to engage in this volunteer work,” Judge Márquez said in a 22-page ruling that was released on Monday.
[…]
Judge Márquez, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, agreed that “the prosecution of defendants for these actions substantially burdens their religious exercise.”

Saturday 9: Thank U, Next

Sam’s Saturday 9: Thank U, Next (2018)

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, Ariana Grande thanks her former boyfriends for what they taught her about love, life, patience and pain. Do you believe you have learned more from your successes, or your mistakes?
Both.
You learn what worked by your successes and you learn also by your mistakes.

2) One of the young men mentioned in the song is Pete Davidson, a cast member of Saturday Night Live. SNL has been on for more than 45 years now. Who is your all-time favorite cast member?
Well I never watched it, it was past my bedtime. During the week I had to be at work at 7 AM.

3) Thinking of funny people ... As you can see from the video, Ariana performed "Thank U, Next" on Ellen Degeneres' talk show. Ellen makes people laugh every afternoon. Who in your life can you always count on to make you laugh or smile?
I’m a sourpuss

4) It looks like Ariana Grande's personal romantic saga will have a happy ending because at Christmastime, she announced her engagement. Do you know anyone who is getting married in 2021?
Nope, my niece and nephews are all married and my grandnieces and grandnephews are still too young.

5) Ariana loves Harry Potter and named her dogs Snape, Lily and Sirius Black after characters in the J.K. Rowling books. Are you a Harry Potter fan?
I am a Harry Potter fan but not J.K. Rowling and I wouldn’t buy any of her books now.

6) She loves board games, especially Monopoly. Sam isn't crazy about Monopoly because it takes so long. How about you? Are you a Monopoly fan?
Most definitely yes but not the electronic or online version… you can’t cheat.

7) In 2018, the year this song was released, Toys R Us closed all its stores and went out of business. Who received the last toy you purchased? What was it?
Whoa… I don’t remember. All my grandnieces and grandnephews are too old for toys.

8) Also in 2018, Aretha Franklin died. What's your favorite Aretha song?
Well I think that it is hands down Respect followed by You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman


9) Random question: Are you more likely to shed a tear at a wedding or during a movie?
Yes.
Probably during a movie because there are no weddings in the foreseeable future.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Fallout

The attack on the Capitol is having an impact all around the world and it is becoming obvious that Trump shot himself in the foot.

His banker Deutsche Bank dropped him. The PGA stripped the Trump’s New Jersey golf course the championship. Businesses are moving away from anything Trump because they don’t want the visibility.

The Republicans are also feeling the fallout from the attempted coup with major donors backing off.

Now heighten security are at all government buildings, court houses, state capitols as result of the armed rioters taking over the Capitol.

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Updated: 3:30 PM

Yahoo News reported that Axios that...

The post-Trump Republican Party has been gutted in almost every way imaginable

By Jim VandeHei

January 15, 2021

Republicans will emerge from the Trump era gutted financially, institutionally and structurally.

The big picture: The losses are stark and substantial.

They lost their congressional power.

Their two leaders, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, are hamstrung by corporate blacklisting of their election-denying members.

The GOP brand is radioactive for a huge chunk of America.

The corporate bans on giving to the 147 House and Senate Republicans who voted against election certification are growing and virtually certain to hold.

The RNC is a shell of its former self and run by a Trump loyalist.

Democrats crushed them in fundraising when they were out of power. Imagine their edge with it.

Sheldon Adelson, the party's biggest donor, died Monday.

The NRA is weaker than it has ever been, after massive leadership scandals.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, once controlled by rock-ribbed Republicans, also gave to Democrats in 2020.

Rank-and-file Republicans are now scattered on encrypted channels like Signal and fearful of Big Tech platforms.

Men With Tool Belts

In the past I have had bad experiences with men in tool belts so I am always leery when I needs a trade person.

One time when I had my car serviced a parade of mechanics found a reason to walk through the waiting room. I could see a water fountain in the shop area but the mechanics had to walk in to the waiting room to get a cup of water there.

Another time my kitchen sink was clogged and I tried my snake but it didn’t clear it so I had to call a plumber. When he started working he said he had to go out to his truck, being summer I had all the windows open and I overheard him saying on his that there is one of those [derogatory team] here followed by laughter.

The company that cares for my furnace are really good, I have never had a problem with them.

When I was in an accident and needed my car repaired and brought my car to the car hospital I could the moment when he released I was trans. However, after a few minutes he was relaxed again and now when I need my car repaired again he remembers me.

So yesterday when I needed my garage door repaired I held my breath and call a garage door repair company. The guy came out, I held my breath and answered the door. He didn’t even blink.

It is a crap shoot when you need a man-in-a-tool belt.

Some Good News

With all the negative news coming out of Washington how about some good news?

The first trans person to be elected to a state senate was sworn in last week, she follows in the steps of Danica Roem!

Delaware's Sarah McBride sworn in as first openly transgender state senator
WPVI Ch6 ABC
By 6abc Digital Staff and Ashley Johnson
January 13, 2021


Delaware Senator Sarah McBride became a "first" on Tuesday when she took the oath in Claymont. She's the country's first openly transgender state senator and the highest-ranking transgender elected official in the nation.

"As I reflect on the journey till today I am reminded of the change that it reflects: that we are a community and a country that has continuously opened our hearts and changed our minds and increasingly judged people on their skills and talents not on their identities," McBride said.

USA Today wrote back in November,

McBride is also the first openly-transgender individual to ever be elected to office in Delaware. And as a state senator, she will be the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official nationwide.

We are making great inroads in the political arena but we have a long ways to go, the opposition tried to make the issue her being trans but the voters would have none of that and instead voted on the issues important to Delaware.

The New York Daily News reported on a troll…

The answer is simple.

Newly elected Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender state senator in the U.S., had a pretty straightforward answer to someone who inquired about her gender.

“I am confused, are you a boy or a girl?” came the troll-like text to her phone.

“I’m a senator,” she replied.

“Hope that clears things up,” she tweeted, along with a screenshot of the exchange.

Virginia’s House of Delegates Danica Roem had other legislators who didn’t take her seriously but they soon learned to take her seriously and they will also learn to take Senator McBride seriously.

Blocked!

A hate crime bill was blocked in Arkansas Republicans because LGBTQ+ was included in the bill.

Conservative opposition to LGBTQ inclusion jeopardizes Arkansas hate crime bill
Arkansas, South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states in the country without hate crime laws.
NBC Out
By The Associated Press
January 8, 2021


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A push to finally enact a hate crimes law in Arkansas, a state with a history of white supremacists, appeared to have all the elements for success: a popular Republican governor who made it a priority, major corporations endorsing the idea and support from communities where hate groups have flourished.

But the chance to end Arkansas' distinction as one of only three states without such a law is in jeopardy even before lawmakers return to the Capitol. Conservatives have moved to defeat the bill in the majority-GOP Legislature, though similar measures have passed in other red states.
[…]
The bill's dimming prospects threaten a legislative priority for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who as a U.S. attorney prosecuted racist militia members but without a hate crimes law's specific penalties.
[…]
The proposal in Arkansas would impose up to 20 percent additional jail time or fines for targeting someone because of several factors, including race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Prosecutors would have to prove the victim’s attributes was a substantial factor in the crime being committed.

But it will never be passed because of the hate that Republicans in Arkansas have for us.
Hate groups have long claimed Arkansas as a haven. Dozens of members of the New Aryan Empire, a white supremacist group that prosecutors said engaged in drug trafficking and witness intimidation, were indicted on federal charges in the state last year.
Hate groups have a haven in the deep south but Connecticut is no immune according to the Southern Poverty Law Center there are 8 hate groups here.

HRHRHRHR

On Monday I wrote about Education Secretary of Education DeVos parting shot at us well she wasn’t the Secretary of Health and Human Services also stabbed us in the back as he was leaving.

In 'nasty parting shot,' HHS finalizes rule axing LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections
Under the new Health Department rule, taxpayer-funded adoption agencies can refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages and turn away qualified LGBTQ parents.
NBC News
By Dan Avery
January 12, 2021


With little more than a week left to the Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has finalized a rule permitting social-service providers that receive government funds to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Critics claim the new guidance could have wide-ranging implications for agencies that address adoption and foster-parenting, as well as homelessness, HIV prevention, elder care and other public services.

“Even as Trump administration officials abandon ship, HHS has announced yet another dangerous rule that invites discrimination against the very people federal grant programs are meant to help,” Sasha Buchert, senior attorney for the LGBTQ civil rights group Lambda Legal, said.
[…]
Slated to take effect on Feb. 11, the rule change is targeted at child welfare organizations, according to Julie Kruse, director of federal policy for LGBTQ advocacy group Family Equality. Whether private adoption agencies receiving taxpayer money can deny services to same-sex potential parents is at the heart of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, now before the Supreme Court.

Kruse said both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have made allowing discrimination in adoption and foster care a priority over the last four years.

What this does is to give special right to certain religions in violation of the First Amendment, they can disobey laws at their whim.

With the Trump and Republican stacked Supreme Court you know that they are going to allow the discrimination. 

There is concept called the Neutral Law where a law does not take religion into account, such as Social Security. Back in 1982 the Supreme Court ruled that Social Security did not violate the First Amendment because…

(a) While there is a conflict between the Amish faith and the obligations imposed by the social security system, not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional. The state may justify a limitation on religious liberty by showing that it is essential to accomplish an overriding governmental interest. Pp. 455 U. S. 256-258.

But that ruling is being eroded.

Back in 1990 a man was fired to taking peyote as part of his religion, as an indigenous people they used peyote as a religious sacrament. The case made it to the Supreme Court and the court upheld the law.

As a result Congress passed the Religious Freedom law and that law is pushing the envelope by exempting people from the law.

A Look Into The Past

Trans people have been around since the beginning of time, here is a look into our past in Paris.

By  Christer Strömholm

Transgender Women On The Streets Of Paris In The 1950s And 1960s
"These are images of people whose lives I shared and whom I think I understood" - Christer Strömholm
FlashBak
By Karen Strike
June 1, 2015


In the 1950s and early 1960s Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm took these gorgeous photographs of transgender women in Paris. The women were pictured on the streets around Place Blanche and Pigalle where Strömholm was living.

Strömholm compiled the pictures in his 1983 book Les Amies de Place Blanche. He wrote:

“This is a book about the quest for self-identity, about the right to live, about the right to own and control one’s body. …These are images of people whose lives I shared and whom I think I understood.”
[…]
These beautiful ladies dreamt of travelling to Casablanca to undergo surgery. The outcome of a transformation started a long time ago. These women were biologically born as men. They lived here, in the place Blanche neighbourhood. They worked in cabarets, sang, did stripteases. They were outspoken and they answered back immediately to the public, it was a typical Parisian tradition. A cocky and saucy sense of humour.

They earned 60 French francs a day, enough to pay for the food and the hotel room but not enough to afford the 40,000 francs surgery. The streets were their only solution. Some of them had loyal customers, others stood in the same place on the street. Here, prostitution was part of the neighbourhood life. A way to survive.
[…]
Gina, she had surgery at the Clinique du Parc in Casablanca. She came back to place Blanche with a new identity. She bought herself a small white sports car and an apartment. A few years later, she died of cancer

I remember reading an article in Newsweek or Time about Casablanca, that was the only place back them did Gender Confirming Surgery.

Six transsexuals lived on my floor. Each of us rented a room for the month. Some had gas, which allowed us to cook a little. We remained quiet, in our respective homes. We had turned the day into night. It was in these moments that Cobra and others broke taboos by wearing skirts.

Every once in awhile there would be an article in a magazine about trans people back in the 60s and 70s that I would go out and buy. I remember going out to buy a copy of Playboy that had an article about Caroline "Tula" Cossey (I still have that issue) and then going out to buy her book. Cosmopolitan has an article about the article in Playboy…

In the early 1980s, Caroline "Tula" Cossey was living the dream of every aspiring model. She was cast to play a Bond girl in the film For Your Eyes Only alongside Roger Moore. To accompany the film's release, she appeared in a spread for Playboy, featuring her and other Bond girls from the film.

Then, just as the Bond movie came out, a tabloid called News of the World outed Cossey against her will in a headline that read "James Bond Girl Was a Boy." The tabloid's headline sparked a media firestorm and Cossey was thrust into the spotlight as a trailblazer. She instantly became a role model for trans women. Since then, Cossey carried on with her acting and modeling, making it into the pages of Playboy once again in 1991 as well as penning two autobiographies.

Good Riddance

The outgoing Secretary of Education just passed an edict that flies in the face of the Supreme Court, totally ignoring the court’s ruling last spring.

Title IX Protections Apply Only to ‘Biological Sex,’ Education Department Memo Says
Ed Week
By Mark Walsh
January 10, 2021


The U.S. Department of Education has released an internal memorandum from its acting general counsel that stakes out the view that “sex” in Title IX refers only to biological sex, and that schools do not violate the law by refusing to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms or participate in athletics consistent with their gender identity.

Did you catch that?

The “...that “sex” in Title IX refers only to biological sex” this is from their top lawyer!

Now I am not a lawyer and most of you are probably lot lawyer either but read what the Supreme Court said about Title VII that uses the exact same language as Title IX…

The court found that the statute’s message for these cases “is equally simple and momentous: An individual’s homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions. That’s because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.”

But still the Secretary of Education and her lawyer totally ignored the court. The Ed Week article went on to say,

“[B]ased on controlling authorities, we must give effect to the ordinary public meaning at the time of enactment and construe the term ‘sex’ in Title IX to mean biological sex, male or female,” says the Jan. 8 memorandum from Reed D. Rubinstein, the department’s principal deputy general counsel, to Kimberley M. Richey, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “Congress has the authority to rewrite Title IX and redefine its terms at any time. To date, however, Congress has chosen not to do so.”

The Education Department released the memo publicly less than two weeks before President Donald Trump’s term in office ends.

The article also cites the court ruling.

The memo is “is unconscionable and legally flawed,” said a statement from Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based LGBTQ rights organization.
[…]
Rubinstein, in the memo, stresses that the high court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., concerned Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which covers sex discrimination and certain other forms of workplace bias, and that the ruling did not construe Title IX, a law that primarily concerns discrimination against students.

These conservatives just hate us and are trying to wiggle around the law...

On restrooms and locker rooms, Rubinstein said the Education Department’s controlling 1970s-era Title IX regulations permit “schools to provide separate bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers ‘on the basis of sex,’ as long as the school provides comparable facilities for ‘each sex.’”

The memo continues: “Therefore, we believe the plain ordinary public meaning of the controlling statutory and regulatory text requires a recipient providing ‘separate toilet, locker room, and shower facilities on the basis of sex’ to regulate access based on biological sex.”

The thing is that they do not consider us to be women or men which the Supreme Court does.

Thank fully there is only nine days left to Trump’s term and then sanity returns.

We Need Answers!

I think that why the Pentagon withheld National Guard troops from being sent to defend the Capitol building needs to be investigated?

Maryland Governor Says Pentagon ‘Repeatedly Denied’ Approval To Send National Guard To Capitol

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that the Department of Defense “repeatedly denied” to authorize deployment of Maryland’s National Guard troops to help quell violence at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Forbes

By Andrew Solender

January 7, 2021

Hogan said during a press conference that he convened an emergency meeting of his “unified command team” when he was informed of a mob of Trump supporters descending on the Capitol as lawmakers attempted to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Hogan says he mobilized 200 “specially trained” state troopers and instructed Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, the general of the Maryland National Guard, to mobilize his troops.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Hogan from an “undisclosed bunker” and were “pleading” with him for assistance from his state and national forces, the governor said.

However, Hogan, who requires the Department of Defense’s authority to mobilize his National Guard troops, said he was “repeatedly denied” approval to do so from the Pentagon despite being “ready, willing and able” to assist.

The Pentagon was so eager to use them against the Black Lives Movement and to clear the streets for Trump's photo op with the Bible but refused to use them to prevent the destruction of the Capitol building.

But their hands were tied because of new orders...

Pentagon placed limits on D.C. Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests due to narrow mission

The Washington Post

By Paul Sonne, Peter Hermann and Missy Ryan

January 7, 2021

The Pentagon placed tight limits on the D.C. National Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests this week, trying to ensure the use of military force remained constrained, as the Guard carried out a narrow, unarmed mission requested by the city’s mayor to help handle traffic ahead of planned protests.

In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials familiar with the orders. The limits were established because the Guard hadn’t been asked to assist with crowd or riot control.

The D.C. Guard was also told it would be allowed to deploy a quick-reaction force only as a measure of last resort, the officials said.

[…]

On the call [The call was from the Capitol Police and city officials], Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund was asked whether he wanted help from the National Guard. “There was a pause,” one of the D.C. officials said. And Sund said yes. “Then there was another pause, and an official from the [office of the] secretary of the Army said that wasn’t going to be possible.”

The Army official — who was speaking on behalf of the secretary of the Army, who was de facto commanding the D.C. Guard but was not on the call — said the “optics” of soldiers inside the Capitol building was not something they wanted, the two District officials said.

Was that why Trump fired the Pentagon's senior defense officials and installs loyalists back in November, to prevent the Guard from helping to still  the uprising? Was that also why he replaced Secretary of Defense Mark Esper with Christopher Miller.

‘Devastating’: Top Pentagon leadership gutted as fears rise over national securityTrio of resignations follow defense secretary's firing.

Politico

By Lara Seligman and Daniel Lippman

November 10, 2020

The firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper kicked off a rapid-fire series of high-level departures at the Pentagon on Tuesday, setting off alarms on Capitol Hill that the White House was installing loyalists to carry out President Donald Trump’s wishes during an already tense transition.

In quick succession, top officials overseeing policy, intelligence and the defense secretary’s staff all had resigned by the end of the day Tuesday, replaced by political operatives who are fiercely loyal to Trump and have trafficked in “deep state” conspiracy theories.

The firings raised alarm bells.

Trump administration removes senior defense officials and installs loyalists, triggering alarm at Pentagon

CNN

By Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen and Ryan Browne

November 13, 2020

The Trump administration has carried out sweeping changes atop the Defense Department's civilian leadership structure, removing several of its most senior officials and replacing them with perceived loyalists to the President.

The flurry of changes, announced by the Department of Defense in a statement roughly 24 hours after President Donald Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, has put officials inside the Pentagon on edge and fueled a growing sense of alarm among military and civilian officials, who are concerned about what could come next.

Four senior civilian officials have been fired or have resigned since Monday, including Esper, his chief of staff and the top officials overseeing policy and intelligence. They were replaced by perceived Trump loyalists, including a controversial figure who promoted fringe conspiracy theories and called former President Barack Obama a terrorist.

Was Trump planning the invasion of the Capitol as far back as November?

Was this supposed to be a coup d'é·tat on Wednesday?

Was Trump going to declare marshal law over the violence that he stirred-up at the Capitol and seize power?

We need answers.

---

Then the Republican Attorneys General Association sent out robocalls for the rally the day before…

Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging march to the Capitol

“At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.

NBC News

By Laura Strickler and Lisa Cavazuti

January 8, 2021

An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob.

“At 1 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.

The calls, which did not advocate violence or suggest the building should be breached, was sent out by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association. The groups share funding, staff and office space in Washington, D.C.

The person who runs the fund said this…

“I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this week’s rally,” said Marshall, who assumed his role Nov. 10. “Despite currently transitioning into my role as the newly elected chairman of RLDF, it is unacceptable that I was neither consulted about nor informed of those decisions. I have directed an internal review of this matter.”

Now consider this… these are the people who enforce the law, these are the people who prosecute criminals and they are endorsing fraudulent claims of voter fraud! They know it is a fraud and now they took part in furthering the lie and fraud which resulted in death of a police officer and the destruction of  the Capitol.

We Are The Boogeyman

According to Wikipedia a Boogeyman… “is a type of mythical creature used by adults to frighten children into good behavior.”

Well trans people have been made in to boogeyman by Trump Jr.

Trump Jr. Incited Capitol Mob With Anti-Transgender Rant

Donald Trump Jr. had lambasted trans women athletes at a rally of his father's supporters who later invaded the U.S. Capitol.

The Advocate

By Trudy Ring

January 8, 2021


At the same rally where his father encouraged supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump Jr. lambasted transgender athletes.

Trump Jr. stirred the crowd on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Wednesday by citing a recent study that suggested trans female athletes retain an advantage over cisgender women and girls for a year after beginning hormone treatment.

“That shows you the mentality of where the Democratic Party is,” he said. “They spent money on a study that came to the incredible conclusion yesterday that trans women playing female sports have a competitive advantage. No shit! Who could have seen that coming?” The clip was captured by Fox News, which cut away from his speech just after that remark. It was shared on Twitter by Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast.

However like most things that come out of a Republican politician it is full of half truths.

Lead author Timothy Roberts, a pediatrician in Kansas City, Mo., told NBC News the Democratic Party did not fund the study, which was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. He also said its findings were more complex than Trump Jr.’s characterization.

The article makes an important point, sports is not a level playing field.

But the point is that Junior used us to stir up hate, he used us just like other Republican politicians use us for votes and campaign donations… they demonize us to stir up hate. 

They demonize other minorities and they don’t care what the results are to those who the disparage.

Saturday 9: All Shook Up

Sam’s Saturday 9: All Shook Up (1957)

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


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

Chosen because January 8 is the anniversary of Elvis Presley's birth.

1) In this song, Elvis shares quite a list of maladies: he's itching, his hands are shaky, his knees are weak, he has chills ... How are you feeling this morning?

I’m all shook up with this COVID thing, I can’t wait for when it is my turn to get vaccinated.

2) He also mentions being "tongue tied." The dictionary defines it as, "unable to speak freely, as from shyness." Do you often find yourself tongue tied?

Yes. Many of you know that I do a lot of public speaking and television news interviews but I do get tongue tied and talk in circles. The worst are live to tape interviews like the one that I did for a local Sunday morning state news show.

When I was getting ready to speak at the Women's March on Hartford CT

Added 12:10 PM

3) Even after he was wealthy, Elvis never lived away from his parents. At one point Graceland Mansion was home to four generations of the family: his grandmother, his father and stepmother, Elvis, his wife and daughter. Have you ever lived in a multi-generational household?

Yes, my grandmother lived with us for about fifteen years and then when my mother’s sister retired she moved in with us.

4) Thinking of family, Elvis Presley was a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter. Both of their family trees can be traced back to the 18th century and Thomas Preslar (before the surname was changed to Presley in the early 1800s). Have you traced your ancestry? If not, is it something you'd like to do?

Nope, and nope. Rumor has it that we are related to Benedict Arnold.

5) As an adult, Elvis never wore denim (except for a movie role). That's because when he was in school, his classmates teased him for "dressing poor" in jeans and coveralls. Is denim a big part of your wardrobe today?

Most definitely.

Right now I have on a black turtleneck with a gold chain, denim skirt and jacket.

6) Before becoming famous, Elvis drove a truck in and around Memphis. Have you ever had a job that kept you behind the wheel most of the day?

In high school taking inventory of state owned equipment in high schools and we had to drive all over Connecticut in a state car.

7) In 1957, the year this song was a hit, the Allstate Mechanical Freight Set was popular, too. Kids would wind up the engine and watch it pull two cars and a caboose around the track. To enhance the realism, sparks would shoot from the engine's smoke stack as it rumbled by. Did you ever play with a toy train? If not, tell us about a childhood plaything you remember fondly.

We had a Lionel train table in the basement.

8) The best-selling book of 1957 was Peyton Place, a scandalous tale of life in a small New England town. Do you suppose there are enough steamy stories behind closed doors in your town to fill a novel?

We are a bedroom community people live here and work elsewhere so I imagine that there are a lot of steamy stories.

9) Random question: Can you do 10 push ups?

Ha, ha, that’s a good joke.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

What Is A Hate Crime?

There are a lot of people who don’t understand or don’t think that there should a different law for the same crime.

The naysayers say if you get beat up that is the crime of assault and battery. Period. But crimes have always been broken down to different degrees… first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or involuntary manslaughter. They all involve killing a person but they go to the person’s intent. A hate crime is based on motive.

If someone beats you up that is assault and battery but if they beat you up because you are trans or black, or another protected class that is a hate crime because of the intent.

Connecticut law puts a hate crime like this…

(a) A person is guilty of intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the first degree when such person maliciously, and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of the actual or perceived race, religion, ethnicity, [or,b>] disability, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of such other person, causes serious physical injury to such other person or to a third person.

(b) Intimidation based on bigotry or bias in the first degree is a class C felony.

A hate crime’s motive is targeted at the community as a whole, not an individual. It is meant to intimidate the trans gender community or the Black community, or any other protected class.

---

There are some people who don’t see the different in the Black lives Matter protests in Portland Oregon and the invasion of the Capitol. They say they were both resulted in the destruction of property, I say that there is big difference and that goes to motive.

Both involved the majority of the demonstrators not doing any harm or destruction, but a fringe group did the violence, however…

The BLM protests were to correct the unjust treatment that is based on bias.

The assault on the Capitol was based on bias for a political party.

There is a difference.

The assault on the Capitol was a hate crime against the people of the country. They wanted the votes of the people overturned, the violence was directed at the people of the United States.

A Black Mark On Our Country

Sadly we made history yesterday as the first attempted takeover of our Capitol. It wasn’t the first insurrection, the Shays Rebellion and John Brown did that but it was the first that insurrectionists took control of the Capitol building and they did that with the support of Trump who is totally clueless of what he set in motion.

It is not that we didn’t know what Trump was capable of doing, this past September PBS Frontline showed us, The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden. A two hour program that compared Trump to Biden.

Trump was elected because of hate. Hate of government, hate of immigrants, hate of LGBTQ+ people, hate of scientists, hate of non-Christians religions, hate of blacks, and hate of people who are different. He was elected by a voter based who worshiped him as their savior, they wanted an authoritarian to lead them who would wipe out the people they hated.

I believe that all this hate started with the Reagan administration when that found the evangelical Christians and crawled into bed with them. Trump was already in bed with white supremacists and white militias he used them and the Republicans followed along like puppy dog looking for table scraps.

In today’s political climate of elections being divided by an almost 50/50 split every vote counts so the Republican party cozied up to the far right radical base. The Republican got into bed with the haters.

Also I noticed that today a lot of conservative media call them protesters while the liberal media call them rioters or insurrectionists.

Meanwhile conservative media are blaming the Democrats for the violence. Huff Post reported that,

Pandering to his right-wing viewers, the Fox News host ominously declared that Biden and Democrats will exploit the mob violence to squash the rights of Americans.

Carlson condemned the mayhem, but tried to explain the frustration of those who believe the election was a sham ― a falsehood promoted by Trump and his enablers.

“Rather than trying to change their minds, to convince them and reassure them that the system is real, that the democracy works ― as you would do if you cared about the country or the people who live here ― our new leaders will try to silence them,” Carlson said. “What happened today will be used by the people taking power to justify stripping you of the rights you were born with as an American. Your right to speak without being censored, your right to assemble, to not be spied upon, to make a living, to defend your family, most critically.”

The conservative media and politics are blind to their duplicity in attempted insurrection and continue to inflame their base by continuing to spread Trump lies.

---

When Congress came together to vote on the Electoral College before the insurrection many Republicans were going to vote against two states certification of the Electoral College votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania but after the invasion of the Capitol many of changed their minds but still 6 senators and 121 representatives still voted to disenfranchise the voters in those states. They put the party above the Constitution.

---

The other thing that stood out yesterday was that there are white supremacists on the Capitol police. Compare the Black Lives Matter protests with yesterday. When the BLM protested the Capitol police were dressed out in riot gear blocking the Capitol building, while yesterday there are photos of Capitol police not doing anything as rioters climbed over barricades right in front of the officers and some officers actually took selfies in the Capitol building with the protesters.

When Trump wanted a photo of him holding the Bible the National Guard cleared the way for Trump for the photo op. But yesterday the Guard commanders from news reports said that he was worried that if he ordered in the Guard it would create more violence.

The mayor ordered a curfew for both the BLM protest and yesterday, at the BLM protests there were photos of the police enforcing the curfew but last night at 8 PM two hours after the curfew began there still were insurrectionist still milling around and the police were just standing there.

As one Congressperson said, the last time the Capitol was invaded was in that war of 1812 by the British, the Confederate flag never flew in the Capitol before, and for the first time a flag other than the Stars and Stripes flew on the Capitol building and this one was of the despot Trump.

---

I normally disagree with Sen. Rand Paul but I agree with him here...

What I see needs to be done is for the FBI to find find everyone who entered the Capitol, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Thanks to all the selfies the insurrectionists took that might be an easy job.

Second Trump needs to be impeached for insurrection and then prosecuted for sedition. He will do anything to stay in power, start a war with Iran?  Declare marshal law? Who knows what that madman will do? 

One thing that I know, that like so many moments in history I will always remember the day an attempted coup happen.

Being A Parent Of A Trans Child

It must hard being a parent of a trans child, no matter what their age is, young or old.

Cher opens up about son Chaz Bono's transition: 'It wasn't easy'
The legendary singer spoke about her initial struggles when her transgender son, Chaz, began his transition in the late 2000s.
NBC TODAY
By Scott Stump
December 8, 2020


Cher has been a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community, but she said her transgender son's transition more than 10 years ago was difficult for her at first.

The legendary singer, 74, spoke with Christiane Amanpour on CNN about the transition period in the late 2000s for her son, Chaz Bono, 51, which included legally changing his name and gender. Amanpour indicated that Cher didn't struggle at all with her son's transition, which she corrected.

"No, that's not exactly true," she said. "I did. It was very unlike me to — in the beginning — have a problem with Chaz being gay, and it disappeared like that. And then we talked about transgender for many years, and she would say, 'No I don't want to do it,' and then he went and said, 'OK I want to do this.'

"It wasn't easy. Like I remember calling, and the old message — the old Chaz message was on the phone — and that was very difficult. But then you have one child, but you don't really lose them — they just are in a different shape."

Many of us want instant change but it is very hard on our families even if they are very support they known you by one name all of their lives and change is hard.

I say be patient, it took my brother a long time to stop using my old name occasionally, I used to joke that it happened after a Gin and Tonic but now he rarely makes a mistake.

We have to be forgiving, we knew all our lives but for them it hit them like a ton of bricks as long as they are making an honest effort to change, give them a chance.

Potpourri.

There are a number of trans articles that I want to cover this morning.

First off… Trans athletes a British study found,

Trans women retain athletic edge after a year of hormone therapy, study finds
The findings raise questions about current Olympic guidelines, but the lead author cautions against using them to back bans in recreational and school sports.
NBC News
By Dan Avery
January 5, 2021


A new study suggests transgender women maintain an athletic advantage over their cisgender peers even after a year on hormone therapy.

The results, published last month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, could mean the current one-year waiting period for Olympic athletes who are transitioning is inadequate.

“For the Olympic level, the elite level, I'd say probably two years is more realistic than one year,” said the study's lead author, Dr. Timothy Roberts, a pediatrician and the director of the adolescent medicine training program at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. “At one year, the trans women on average still have an advantage over the cis women," he said, referring to cisgender, or nontransgender, women.
[…]
Active duty service members are required to take a physical readiness test every six to 12 months. Roberts, Smalley and another co-author, Dr. Dale Ahrendt, realized they had access to robust data on service members before, during and after they started hormone replacement treatment.

The three physicians conducted a retrospective review of medical records and fitness tests for 29 transgender men and 46 transgender women from 2013 to 2018. The Air Force’s fitness assessment includes the number of pushups and situps performed in a minute, and the time required to run 1.5 miles.

Looking at the actual study…

Study limitations and future directions
The strengths of this study include a larger sample size than previous studies, a longer follow-up period and a focus on performance on a standardised fitness test rather than isolated muscle strength. This study has limitations as well. The lack of a longitudinal control group not on testosterone or oestrogen makes changes in performance due to the passage of time a potential confounding factor…
[...]
Conclusion
In this study, we confirmed that use of gender affirming hormones are associated with changes in athletic performance and demonstrated that the pretreatment differences between transgender and cis gender women persist beyond the 12 month time requirement currently being proposed for athletic competition by the World Athletics and the IOC.10 This study suggests that more than 12 months of testosterone suppression may be needed to ensure that transgender women do not have an unfair competitive advantage when participating in elite level athletic competition. 

---

Looking at an article from October. In Australia that have a harder time getting Gender-Confirming Surgery (I like using Gender-confirming surgery rather than Gender-Affirming Surgery because I don’t like having GAS)

Gender-affirming surgery and trans wellbeing
Archer
By: Dylan Strahan
October 20, 2020


Gender-affirming surgery occupies a strange place within the Australian medical system. It is ‘elective’, which simply means that it happens for non-life-saving reasons.

Gender-affirming surgeries are often mired in the language of ‘choice’, involving judgement around what kinds of pain, disability, and dysfunction are urgent, which are necessary, and which are deserving of public funds.

I had my top surgery between lockdowns. Initially, it was delayed by two months due to the elective surgery ban imposed by the Australian Government on 25 March 2020. Once the ban lifted, my surgery went ahead on 17 June.
[…]
Conversely, gender-affirming surgery has innumerable benefits which are difficult to place in medical terms.
[…]
The Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) makes no reference to trans patients, leading providers and patients to navigate language not designed for their purposes.

For example, I have an “established testicular disorder” despite not having testicles. Such a diagnosis allows me to claim my testosterone prescription under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), despite no explicit provisions for the treatment of trans people.

When it comes to top surgery, the amount claimable under Medicare is $1,029 of the surgeon’s fees, and $229 of the anaesthetist’s fees. Surgeons and anaesthetists’ fees vary wildly, but my own were $6,000 and $2,100 respectively, bringing me to a total of $8,100. After claiming back from Medicare, I was still $6,841 out of pocket.

Here in the states Medicare covers…

Medicare pays for gender reassignment surgeries and hormone replacement therapy, as long as the surgery is deemed medically necessary. There are several surgeries a person needs to finish the process.

Medicare Advantage plans may apply different rules when considering approval for surgeries.

---

Lastly some sad news out of Texas,

Transgender Texas Politician Addison Perry-Franks Dies at 39
The passionate Democrat fought for the rights of all.
Out Smart
By Marene Gustin
January 4, 2021


Transgender politician Addison Perry-Franks, 39, passed away on the first day of the new year after her wife rushed her to Cogdell Memorial Hospital in Snyder, Texas. The cause of death was unknown at press time and there was to be no visitation, but condolences can be left on the Bell-Cypert-Seale funeral home website at bcsfh.com. Perry-Franks’ wife, Lacey Franks, has a fundraiser on her Facebook page to pay for funeral expenses.

“The love of my life has passed away today,” Franks wrote on January 1. “I don’t have all of the details till the autopsy comes back. The world is a darker place without her light shining in it.”

Perry-Franks was a passionate West Texas Democrat who stood for the rights of all. Last year, she ran for Texas House District 83 and for mayor of Synder, her hometown. Although she lost both races, she had an empowering impact on the party, the community, and her family.

She Got That Right.

From a surprising source, Kourtney Kardashian, who debunked the fake research.

Kourtney Kardashian on "Autogynephilia" in Non-transgender Women
Kourtney Kardashian implicitly debunks the transphobic "autogynephilia" theory in a new article on her Poosh site. She explains why women may get aroused by their own bodies and sensuality, a kind of sexuality that is used to invalidate the identity of transgender women.
Cross Dreamers
January 1, 2021


As you might remember the "autogynephilia" theory of Ray Blanchard argues that gynephilic (woman loving) transgender women suffer from an "erotic target location error" whereby they are sexually attracted to the image of themselves as women.

"Auto-gyne-phile" means "Self-Woman-Love".

Their crime is that they may get aroused by the idea of being a sexy, attractive woman.

These trans women are therefore suffering from a "paraphilia", Blanchard argues – basically a sexual perversion driven by a straight, masculine, sexuality.

But what about autosexuality in cis women?

As many have pointed out, this theory presupposes that cis women do not get aroused by their own bodies or by "feeling sexy". Because if they did, that would make this a female sexual trait, and even a human one.

Indeed, if it is found among cis women, you might argue that finding such arousal in trans women is a clear indication of their female gender identity.
[…]
Research documents a lot of autoerotic fantasies in cis women

Studies of women's sexual fantasies documents that cis women may perfectly well get aroused by the idea of being a sexy, attractive, woman. I doubt very much that the multibillion dollar fashion industry is driven by the need to attract men alone. In fact, many cis men show no appreciation of female fashion at all. I suspect may women dress up because looking good feels good.

I have always believe that everyone alive has "autogynephilia."

I believe that without autogynephilia the human race wouldn’t exist. There definitely wouldn’t be a Victoria Secret.

Ray Blanchard did garbage research.

When you are doing scientific research there are there are certain standards you must follow, two of them are;

• You must have a control group.
• You must try to maximize the diversity of your sample.

Where Blanchard went wrong was he had no control groups. He should have also tested cisgender women as a control group.

He also got his research subjects from one place… gay bars. He only interviewed trans women he found there. There was no diversity in his subjects, they were all former gay men who were attracted to men. There were no trans women who are attracted to women.

The sample was a convenience sample, as the name implies it was very easy to get his subjects from a gay bar.

However, sometimes it is very hard to get a random sample, sometimes the only way to get your sample base is what is called a snowball sample. One person who has taken the survey contacts another person who takes the survey, who then contacts someone else, etc., etc.

I was on a team who received a grant from the CDC* to survey the trans population for AIDS, we used a snowball sample but we made sure that we had a diverse sample base. We wanted diversity in age, race, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation.

The people that we picked as seeds, the first person in the snowball sample.

The other thing that Blanchard had wrong was there was no control group. He should have asked the same questions to cisgender women and that is one of the points that Kourtney Kardashian pointed out.

Blanchard did garbage research.

One other thing… Blanchard’s research was never approved by an IRB (Institute Review Board) to work on human subjects.

---

I am currently working on another survey for the state of Connecticut later in this month I will have more it. Right now the contractor hired by the state is finishing up the survey.

I Am Not A Fan

I didn’t listen, I was warned but I didn’t listen.
What I am talking about is the HRC, it will take a very, very long time to forget what they did to the trans community.
Ethan warned me but I didn’t listen and then the HRC stabbed us in the back.

Another of our leaders just wrote an article about the Human Rights Campaign latest dis of us.
HRC is dishonoring our dead by not honoring Drag and Cross Dressers authentically
Planet Transgender
January 1, 2021


Kudos to HRC for honoring Jaheim Bella Pugh, a murdered cisgender gay man on their TDoR page.

The trouble is that HRC identifies Jaheim Bella Pugh as a Gender Non-Conforming‘ person. While technically correct this term is easily conflated and misunderstood as it describes gender, not sex.

Jaheim Bella Pugh, according to his mother, was a 19-year-old cisgender gay man just beginning to learn who he was. Bella was the name of his new puppy which he adopted as his drag name.

After thorough research, I could not find anywhere that he self-identified as a gender non-conforming or transgender person. There was one person who posted a tribute identifying Bella as transgender but that has since been refuted by multiple sources.

The whole idea behind the TDoR project which honors our dead is to investigate with integrity each individual and how they died. This is critical so that we may know who they were. Prior to the first TDoR, a trans-peer-led initiative, those who murdered us were arrested but never served jail time for their crimes.

However, there is no honor in superimposing a narrative that fits your needs while intentionally disregarding facts about a person’s life and death.

The thing to remember that the HRC is first and foremost a GAY INC. Organization, their funding mainly comes from rich white gay males.

The article goes on to say…

Monica Roberts, god bless her soul, 2007 Transgriot article Why Trans people Hate HRC explains a lot. Monica was a forgiving soul and in her later years helped national gay rights groups understand our plight. But with Monica’s passing, there are few trans sources left on the web. Especially few that would let bygones be bygones as Monica and I did. Monica wrote:

“In 1995 Elizabeth Birch took over as Executive Director of HRC at a time when there was an epidemic of gays and lesbians cutting trans people out of civil rights legislation.”

“In many cases, gay people who sat on various HRC boards either nationally or regionally led the efforts. In 1999 Dianne Hardy-Garcia, who was the executive director of the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby (now Equality Texas) at the time and an HRC board member, led the successful effort to cut trans people out of the James Byrd Hate Crime Bill (to Monica’s and TGAIN”s vehement opposition). That bill was eventually killed in the GOP-controlled Texas Senate but passed in 2001 as a GLB only bill and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry.”

Et tu, Brutus
My experience with the HRC goes back to 2007 the year that they stabbed us in the back. When I do my trans history workshop at the True Colors conference I have a section on the HRC and ENDA.

2007: The year of betrayal

• In April, Rep. Barney Franks introduces a gender-inclusive ENDA.
• In May, at NTCE Lobby Days training, HRC follows suit.
• In early September, before 800 transgender people at the Southern Comfort Conference, HRC President Joe Solmonese once again promises to only support a gender inclusive ENDA
• In late September, Rep. Barney Frank pulls the inclusive ENDA bill and substitutes a non-inclusive ENDA bill
• Joe Solmones says the HRC will would not oppose or endorse the non-inclusive bill
• In late October HRC says they will support non-inclusive bill, but will not penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill.
• In November HRC, says they will penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill
• Six U.S. Representatives vote against the non-inclusive bill and lose their 100% rating on LGBT issues from the HRC

It will take a miracle for me to trust the HRC.

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Another topic Planet Transgender mentioned was about the Trans Umbrella, those who follow my blog know that I believe that the umbrella covers drag queens/kings and crossdresser.

Drag queens and cross-dressers regardless of whether they are cis or trans-self-identifying belong under our trans umbrella. The problem is the world does not accept them as they are. Some trans people in my community think including them under our umbrella is oxymoronic.

When I first saw that visualization years ago I couldn’t have agreed with them more.

It is a very difficult concept to understand which is why we must have this conversation about it.

Transgender people on a whole need to live in our authentic gender 24 hours a day.

Drag artists and cross-dressers express their gender as they need, temporarily, but that doesn’t make their lives any less precious or their gender any less viable.

We must be inclusive and shelter all those who cross the gender norms.

Saturday 9: Feels like the First Time

Sam’s Saturday 9: Feels like the First Time (1977)

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

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

Welcome to the first Saturday 9 of 2021! 

1) Look up from your screen. What's the first thing you see?

My living room.

2) Looking back on 2020, what surprised you?

That I made it!

3) Have you made any resolutions for 2021?

Yes, and I kept my 2020 New Year’s resolution. I made the same New Year’s resolution for this year...to make it to 2021.

4) In Italy, it's said that if you wear red underwear on New Year's Eve, you'll have good luck all year around. Do you have a lucky charm?

Nope, I don’t believe in charms

5) In Spain, some New Year's Eve revelers believe that, at the stroke of midnight, you should eat exactly 12 grapes, one at a time and one right after the other, to bring you luck for the next twelve months. Did you have anything special on your New Year's Eve menu?

Nope. My dinner was so uneventful that I don’t even remember what I had.

6) In this week's featured song, Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm lets us know that he'd sail across a stormy sea to reach his true love. How is the weather where you are today? Are you kicking off 2021 under calm skies, or is it stormy?

We have rain this morning but it supposed to stop by noon and the sun come out, and the high is to be in the mid-fifties.

7) In the 1990s, Gramm joined forces with Billy Joel in a series of concerts to preserve the Montauk Point Lighthouse. Do you have a favorite Billy Joel song?

Yes, and I have posted them here in my blog. One of my favorite is the River of Dreams.

8) In 1977, when this song was popular, Star Wars was breaking all box office records. The Spy Who Loved Me, a James Bond movie, was also a hit. If you were going to binge on one of these film series, would you choose Star Wars or Bond?

Oh, I am not a fan of binge watching but if I had to pick I would pick Star Wars because I haven’t seen any sine the first one.

9) Random question: Would you rather have nothing but green lights for all of 2021, or never have to stand in line for anything all year?

Green light… I had enough of caution lights last year.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

The Top Five Of 2020

The top five blog post of 2020 were*:

1. “Hedwig” with 188 views
2. “Rule #1: Never Out Someone” with 173 views
3. “Lou Reed” with 171 views
4. “I Never Knew... Female Husbands” with 166 views
5. ‘Trans Day of Visibility” with 155 views

But what is surprising is that these five blog posts were not the top five blog posts that were read in 2020 but rather it was a meme posted from 2007… “Getting to Know You” with 1,100 views this year. And the second most viewed blog posts for 2020 was from 2018… “A Sad Month” with 735 views.

Since I started my blog on Blogger in 2006:

• Total views: 1,331,866
• Total post: 7,635
• Total comments: 7,493

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*As of December 29.