We Are Everywhere!

Even on the highest mountains!

Meet the mountaineer flying the trans Pride flag on the world’s highest peaks
Colorado native Erin Parisi said being able to declare who she is on the highest mountains in the world speaks to her soul.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
January 5, 2022


Erin Parisi has been climbing mountains for about 25 years, but, she said, she wasn’t a “seven summits kind of climber” — someone who wanted to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents — until after she came out as a transgender woman in 2016.

Parisi, who lives in Denver and manages a real estate network, said that after she transitioned, she felt she needed a physical outlet that allowed her to meditate and make sense of the world.

“I felt so strong after coming out,” she said. “I lived in fear, basically my whole life, of being seen, and when I came out, I found something that was completely different.”

She said she set out to climb the seven highest summits after she felt stronger during her transition. 

[…]

Just before the new year, after her 45th birthday, Parisi ascended Vinson Massif, the highest point in Antarctica, at 16,067 feet above sea level, and she waved a trans Pride flag. She has now completed five of the seven highest summits: Since February 2018, Parisi has climbed Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Elbrus in Russia, Aconcagua in Argentina and Vinson Massif.

She plans to attempt Denali in Alaska, the highest peak in North America, this summer, and then Mount Everest in South Asia, the highest peak in the world, next year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. During her Everest ascent, Parisi said, she wants to celebrate the life of Jan Morris, a trans author and historian who chronicled Hillary and Tenzing’s journey.

Qnews in the article Climber’s epic quest as she flies Trans Pride flag on Antarctica’s highest peak by Jordan Hirst reported…

“The community that took me in when I had no hope, and showed me that it’s better to be visible and free, than live in self imposed exile, and that stigma withers when we visibly embrace our truth.

“We’ve been pushed down, often even beat up, and faced every kind of coldness through our lives.

“Our resilience keeps us rising to the top.

“Together we forged through a 2021 during which the world tried to deny us dignity in healthcare, the right to hold jobs, the right to play sports, perpetuated stigma through comedians and podcasters on the world’s most popular channels, and continued escalating the voices of violence against us.

“We fought back in a way that shouldn’t have to be a fight: by living our best lives.

“This is my answer to a world that lashed out at trans lives in 2021.

“You can try to push me to the bottom of the world, and I’ll still find a way to the top.”

I'll climb any mountain I'll swim any sea

And you will find a trans person there with you.

The Slippery Slope.

We are seeing more and more cases going before the Supreme Court about “Religious Freedom” and the court is creating a very slippery slope.

Opinion: We can outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ Americans and protect religious freedom
The idea that the Equality Act, awaiting a vote in the Senate, would undermine the freedom to exercise traditional faith beliefs is a misconception.
Des Moines Register
By Betsey Monnot
January 15, 2022


Christian faith and LGBTQ equality are often presented as if they are opposed, but this is not accurate. Jesus, in what we call his Great Commandment, commands us to love God and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:28-34 and Matthew 22:35-40). In this, and in other places in Scripture, he teaches us and commands us to open our hearts to every person. 

As I assume the role of the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Church of Iowa and first woman to hold that position, one of my hopes is to bring our state closer to God’s vision of open hearted justice and freedom for all, as expressed by Jesus. I believe every human being is beloved of God and that our laws should reflect this.

In the Episcopal Church we embrace and celebrate the lives of our LGBTQ members. LGBTQ persons are welcomed into every level of church participation in our denomination, including leadership.

Across the nation people of faith actively support federal nondiscrimination protections, including here in Iowa where more than 100 Iowa faith leaders, myself included, have called on Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would update civil rights law to protect LGBTQ Americans.

When we were trying to pass the gender non-discrimination bill we had an Episcopal bishop speak on behalf of the bill, we had around a hundred priest, minister, Rabbis, and other religious leaders submit testimony in favor of the bill.

The Equality Act won’t limit or change our freedom, it simply updates federal law to include protection for 13 million LGBTQ people, fellow Americans, in daily life, including non-discrimination in housing, public spaces, and federally funded programs. Across the country, over three-quarters of Americans favor LGBTQ protections, according to surveys.

No it will not, it hasn't in the states that have LGBTQ non-discrimination laws. Almost all of the southern states do not have protections for LGBTQ and some states never removed the law banning marriage equality.

In my tradition we promise to respect the dignity of every human being at our baptism, and when we renew baptismal vows. It’s my hope that our senators will work with their colleagues on both sides of the aisle toward passage of a federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination law that uplifts this respect and is supported by Americans of all parties and faiths. 

What I see happening in the future is that the court rules that people have a “religious freedom” to discriminate and that will lead the way to downward spiral because I foresee a challenge coming from another religion that is affirming saying those who discriminate violate their religious beliefs.

How would the court decide whose religious beliefs override the other’ person beliefs? And wouldn’t that violate the First Amendment by establishing a state religion by giving preference to a religion?

Furthermore, suppose that it is only a strongly held personal belief and not from an organized religion? Would the court rule that only organized religions that count and not personal beliefs… that would be a nightmare!

It is a quagmire that the court is leading into.

Saturday 9: Bobby's Girl

 Sam’s Saturday 9: Bobby's Girl (1962)

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, Marcie Blane confesses she sits at home, hoping Bobby will call her. Do you owe anyone a phone call or email?

Yes, and I dread making the call, she had a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized. I should call her.

2) We know Marcie wants to be Bobby's Girl. Let's play the Google Game and find out what you want. Go to your favorite search engine, keystroke your name and "wants," and then search. (For example: "Samantha wants" led us to a math problem that begins: "Samantha wants to purchase a new dress ... " Crazy Sam was tempted to read on because her wardrobe could use sprucing up.) What does Google tell us you want?

Diana wants to be a princess.

Naw, I’ll settle for being a queen.

3) This hit record was an accident. Marcie Blaine had just graduated from high school and had a few days before she had to take off for her summer job as a camp counselor. A friend asked her to record a couple songs he'd written, just so he could play them for record labels and song publishers. Her friend was hoping somehow an established star would hear the songs, record them and make one of them a hit. Instead, a producer at Seville Records said he wanted not just the songs but especially the unknown girl who was singing them, and Marcie became a recording artist. Tell us about a favor you're very glad you did for a friend.

A friend needed somebody to take care of her after oral surgery and she was all alone so I invited her to stay at my house while she was recovering.

4) By the time summer was over, and Marcie's gig as a counselor was done, she was #3 on the charts. Her record stayed in the "Hot 100" for 19 weeks and, for the second half of 1962, she was the top-selling female singer in the US. What female singer do you listen to most often?

Well I let the radio pick the music.

5) After "Bobby's Girl" took off, she recorded it in German for the European market. Only she didn't speak German, so she sang it phonetically. Can you sing any songs in a language other than English?

Ha! I can’t even sing. I am so bad people think that I singing in a foreign language.

6) Seville rushed Marcie into the studio to make more records. None of them charted higher than #68, and Marcie wasn't having fun. After a year of being a rock 'n roller, she enrolled at Queens College in New York City. What's the most recent class you took?

2011 for my MSW.

But I’m doing guest lectures at colleges via Zoom.

7) In 1962, when this song was popular, the most popular baby names were Michael and Lisa. Are there any Michaels or Lisas in your life?

Yes, a couple. I have a cousin Michael and Facebook friends who are Lisas.

8) Also in 1962, Marlene White, the first African American flight attendant for a major US airline, appeared on the cover of Jet magazine. What's the last magazine you flipped through? Was it in print or online?

Online, Science News.

9) Random Question: After enjoying a long, relaxing weekend, do you find yourself more or less productive on Monday morning?

Well being retired there are no Monday mornings.

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!

---

My back is still sore after twelve days, I can get around for a while but if I am on my feet too long it really starts to ache. I am doing exercises and that is helping but I need to build up my stamina so I am trying to go up and down my stairs.

Clam Chowder.

 Chowdah, no matter how you say it all comes down to three types in New England; New England, Rhode Island, and… and… do I have to say it? Manhattan. There are also other types of chowder such as oyster chowder, fish chowder, potato chowder, and corn chowder, but in New England it is the three types of clam chowder.

Rhode Island clam chowder is just clam broth, potatoes, and onions but there are a lot of varieties. I have it because it doesn’t have as many carbs as New England, but I find most restaurants put too much salt in it.

Mac’s up in Provincetown puts leeks in theirs New England clam chowder and no thickeners like flour or corn starch. I love New England clam chowder but it doesn’t like me, it sends my blood glucose levels out of sight because of the thickeners. Somewhere along the line New England chowder had to be THICK! If your spoon stands up in it, it’s perfect! That is why I like Mac’s chowder, it just has cream in it with no thickeners.

And now we come to Manhattan chowder, there some who like it but for me it is like having tomato soup with clams and potatoes in it.

bike trail guide

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A Brief History of Clam Chowder

Red, white, or clear, the history of chowder is as rich as its flavor.

Eater

By Cynthia Correa

January 31, 2016

From Manhattan to New England, clam chowder is known for its competing varieties as much as for its comforting briny flavor. It seems every state on the East Coast has its own take on the popular soup — and even some of the West Coast states have tweaked the recipe to make it their own. Whether you like a thick creamy base, a bold red broth, or a clear broth of clam juice, there's a chowder for every soup lover. Here's a little history behind the famous soup and it's many iterations.

[…]

When was clam chowder first created?

According to Savoring Gotham: A Food Lovers Companion to New York City, it is believed that the New England style of chowder was introduced to the region by French, Nova Scotian, or British settlers and became a common dish in the area by the 1700s. The soup continued to gain popularity throughout the years and, according to What's Cooking America, was being served in Boston at Ye Olde Union Oyster House (the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country) by 1836. Clam chowder was so popular that its mollusk-packed flavor is described in Herman Melville's Moby Dick:

However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt.

The article goes on to explore the virtues of New England Clam Chowder...

New England clam chowder is defined as "a thick chowder made from clams, potatoes, onions, sometimes salt pork, and milk or cream." The recipe usually calls for heavy cream, light cream, or whole milk as the base for the soup. This addition of milk or cream — producing the soup's unmistakable white color — is the biggest difference between the New England style and all the rest. This version is also often thickened with oyster crackers and doesn't include any vegetables except potatoes. Today, the soup can be found all over the country, but is still most popular in the North East. Maine and Massachusetts may be the two states most associated with the cream-based clam chowder. In fact, it is known as one of Maine's most iconic dishes and is considered a classic in Boston's historic neighborhoods.

And the sins of Manhattan Clam Chowder…

While it had its supporters, not everyone was a fan of the tomato-based twist on the original. In New York Cookbook, Molly O'Neill explains, "Manhattan clam chowder reverberated like an act of sabotage against the New England clam chowder tradition." She went on to detail the outrage associated with the soup's creation:

Manhattan clam chowder remained "a notable heresy." In 1939 a Maine legislator introduced a bill outlawing the use of tomatoes in chowder. In 1940, Eleanor Early, lambasted the "terrible pink mixture" in her book New England Sampler. Manhattan clam chowder, she wrote, "is only a vegetable soup and not to be confused with New England Clam Chowder, nor spoken of in the same breath. Tomatoes and clams," she wrote, "have no more affinity than ice cream and horseradish."

Enjoy your chowder no matter how you like it!

In What’s Cooking America they write about the history of Chowder.

Chowder has its roots in the Latin word calderia, which originally meant a place for warming things, and later came to mean cooking pot.  The word calderia also gave us cauldron, and in French became chaudiere.  It is also thought to come from the old English word jowter (a fish peddler).

A simple dish of chowder, in the past considered to be “poor man’s food,” has a history that is centuries old.  Vegetables or fish stewed in a cauldron thus became known as chowder in English-speaking nations, a corruption of the name of the pot or kettle in which they were cooked.  Different kinds of fish stews exist in almost every sea-bound country in the world.

[…]

Clams and oysters were consumed in such quantities along the Atlantic coast by the American Indians that, in some favorable gathering-places, empty shells were piled into mounds ten feet high.  According to the book Eating in American – A History, by Waverley Root and Richard de Rochemont:

The Northeastern Indians made considerable use of fish, but the Pilgrims were slow to follow their example; they did not care much for fish, except eels . . .  Fish chowder was a popular dish among Northeastern Indians, but as this dish has been created spontaneously, in one form or another, along every coast in the world, we can hardly credit the Indians with having introduced it to Europeans . . . Clams became accepted to them in time, but it is on record that in 1620s the Pilgrims fed clams and mussels to their hogs with the explanation that they were “the meanest of God’s blessings.”

They didn't know a good thing when they saw it. It wasn’t until 1884 that we see recipes for New England Clam Chowder,

1884 – The original Boston Cooking School Cook Book, by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln (Mary Bailey) [You can read the cookbook online with link, all the original recipes. ] had a recipe for Clam Chowder:

In Fannie Merritt Farmer’s 1896 updated version of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book, she has three recipe for clam chowder – Clam Chowder, Connecticut Chowder, and Fish Chowder. Later editions have recipes for New England Clam Chowder, Manhattan Chowder, and Rhode Island Clam Chowder.

So no matter which type of Chowdah you like it is better than not having any clam chowder at all.

COVID-19 And Minorities

[RANT]

There was an article on Fox News criticizing the FDA for suggesting that race might be a factor in the health disparities in minorities to stir up racism.

Fox News contributor and civil rights attorney Leo Terrell discusses the FDA prioritizing treatment based on race and Whole Foods clarifying their dress code policy

Through out history the poor were hit harder by diseases, be it the Black Death (the Bubonic plague), the 1918 Flu, smallpox, yellow fever, polio, and some of the many other diseases throughout history and there are reasons for minorities and the poor to be affected so much harder that upper income people.

What do they all have in common? It boils do to two factors, crowded living conditions, lack of healthcare.

In the article, “20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history” they say this about the Great Plague of London in 1665-1666,

The Black Death's last major outbreak in Great Britain caused a mass exodus from London, led by King Charles II. The plague started in April 1665 and spread rapidly through the hot summer months. Fleas from plague-infected rodents were one of the main causes of transmission. 

Those who could flee to their country estates could avoid the filthy rat infested streets of London with the open sewers and the polluted Thames. While those out on their country estates could breath the fresh air, had clean water and locally grow crops and meat.

The Mayo Clinic said this about the heath inequities,

Coronavirus infection by race: What's behind the health disparities?
Why are people of color more at risk of coronavirus complications?
Answer From William F. Marshall, III M.D.


Research increasingly shows that racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States.

According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native people had an age-adjusted COVID-19 hospitalization rate about 5.3 times that of non-Hispanic white people. COVID-19 hospitalization rates among non-Hispanic Black people and Hispanic or Latino people were both about 4.7 times the rate of non-Hispanic white people.

While there's no evidence that people of color have genetic or other biological factors that make them more likely to be affected by COVID-19, they are more likely to have underlying health conditions. Having certain conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, increases your risk of severe illness with COVID-19. But experts also know that where people live and work affects their health. Over time, these factors lead to different health risks among racial and ethnic minority groups.

Where you live and who you live with can make it challenging to avoid getting sick with COVID-19 and get treatment. For example, racial and ethnic minority members might be more likely to live in multi-generational homes, crowded conditions and densely populated areas, such as New York City. This can make social distancing difficult.

So we see the same reasons as the Great Plague of London in 1665-1666, crowded living conditions, lack of healthcare.

Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Related to COVID-19
The Journal of the American Medical Association. (JAMA)
Leo Lopez III, MD, MHS1; Louis H. Hart III, MD1; Mitchell H. Katz, MD1
January 22, 2021


One of the most disturbing aspects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the US is the disproportionate harm that it has caused to historically marginalized groups. Black, Hispanic, and Asian people have substantially higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death compared with White people.1,2 According to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Epic Health Research Network, based on data from the Epic health record system for 7 million Black patients, 5.1 million Hispanic patients, 1.4 million Asian patients, and 34.1 million White patients, as of July 20, 2020, the hospitalization rates and death rates per 10 000, respectively, were 24.6 and 5.6 for Black patients, 30.4 and 5.6 for Hispanic patients, 15.9 and 4.3 for Asian patients, and 7.4 and 2.3 for White patients.2 American Indian persons living in the US also have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

[...]

Disparities in socioeconomic conditions across racial lines have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 40 million individuals in the US filed for unemployment benefits, but Black and Hispanic individuals in particular, have experienced disproportionate job loss.7 In April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, national unemployment rates for Black persons (16.7%) and Hispanic persons (18.9%) were 17.6% and 33.1% higher, respectively, compared with White persons (14.2%).8 As of April 10, 2020, an estimated 6 in 10 working-aged Hispanic adults lived with someone who either lost employment, work hours on the job, or income. Food insecurity also has been an issue for many families. These challenges can have detrimental effects on downstream health outcomes.

For me I have the luxury of Zoom meetings (I don’t know if after two years of Zoom meetings that it is a luxury anymore.) and if I do have an in-person meeting I drive to meeting in my car from the suburbs and not public transportation, we are all vaccinated, and have barriers between us. While those who are “essential workers” ride elevators in crowd apartment houses, take the bus, and are exposed to the unvaccinated public. In addition, before I retired I had health insurance through my employer, most minimum wage employees do not have health insurance. When I had to be tested I went to my doctor’s office and got tested there and didn’t have to wait in line for hours.

There are so many reasons why low income workers are more susceptible diseases and they need to be addressed!

[/RANT]

My Story Part 186: The Night That We Didn't Get Served.

Back around the turn of the century on a cold December night, sleeting and mixed with freezing rain. There were a couple of locals sitting at the bar when the five of us walked to shake the cold off of us. Three trans, two cis.

The bartender and waitress were talking to the locals seated at the bar and we seated ourselves at a booth, four of us sitting in the booth and one grabbed a chair to sit at the end of the table. We sat there for a while and signaled to the waitress which she ignore and continued to talking with the regulars.

She finally came over to us and told us that she couldn’t serve us unless we all sat in the booth, that we were blocking the aisle and walked away. We looked around at the empty bar and we all squeezed into the booth.

We sat there for awhile more and they still ignored us so we decided that they didn’t want our business.

So we gathered up our coats and stuff and went down to the A-House where we got served by a friendly waitress.

Did I mention that this was Provincetown and that one of our party was the First Selectman of Provincetown?

~~~~~~~~

I posted this by mistake yesterday. I usually write serval days in advance and I forgot to change the date for the post (I have pre-written all my posts until Sunday).

Undoing The Wrongs

For the last 4 years there was a pogrom against us instituted by highest levels of government and that is slowly being unraveled by the current administration.

K-12 EDUCATION: Students’ Experiences with Bullying, Hate Speech, Hate Crimes, and Victimization in Schools
GAO


What GAO Found

Students experience a range of hostile behaviors at schools nationwide, according to GAO’s analysis of nationally generalizable surveys of students and schools. About one in five students aged 12 to 18 were bullied annually in school years 2014-15, 2016-17, and 2018-19. Of students who were bullied in school year 2018-19, about one in four students experienced bullying related to their race, national origin, religion, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. About one in four of all students aged 12 to 18 saw hate words or symbols written in their schools, such as homophobic slurs and references to lynching. Most hostile behaviors also increased in school year 2017-18, according to our analysis of the school survey. Hate crimes—which most commonly targeted students because of their race and national origin—and physical attacks with a weapon nearly doubled (see figure). Sexual assaults also increased during the same period.

[…]

 Hostile behaviors, including bullying, harassment, hate speech and hate crimes, or other types of victimization like sexual assault and rape, in schools can negatively affect K-12 students' short- and long-term mental health, education, income, and overall well-being. According to Education's guidance, incidents of harassment or hate, when motivated by race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), or disability status can impede access to an equal education. In certain circumstances, these kinds of incidents may violate certain federal civil rights laws, which Education's OCR is tasked with enforcing in K-12 schools.

I was on the CT Department of Education's Safe School Climate Coalition where we looked at bullying, one thing that amazed me some towns in Connecticut reported 0% bullying in their schools. We didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe now, what I think they are doing is under reporting bullying to make their school system look good.

What the GAO study found was,

Effects of Hostile Behaviors on K-12 Students

Students who experience hostile behaviors are more likely to experience:

•  Depression and anxiety
•  Interrupted sleep and eating disorders
•  Loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy
•  Physical health complaints
•  Decreased academic achievement and school participation

Students who bully others are more likely to:

•  Abuse alcohol and other drugs in adolescence and as adults
•  Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school
•  Engage in early sexual activity
•  Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults
•  Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults

Students who witness bullying are more likely to:

•  Have increased use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs
•  Have increased mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
•  Miss or skip school

It is not good for the targets of bullying, it is not good for the students who witness the bullying, and it is not good for the bullies.

When I was an intern in 2010 I was working towards my MSW, I did a research paper on bullying and drew the same conclusions as the GAO study.

This review focuses upon studies that show a linkage between school bullying and harassment and how it effect school and student achievement.

It takes a village to end bullying.

TransFace

When I bring up cis gendered actors playing trans roles I get push back saying that there are no prominent trans people to play the characters, well I beg to differ, case in point.

MJ Rodriguez becomes 1st trans actress to win a Golden Globe
This is the first Golden Globe for the 31-year-old actress.
Today
By Kait Hanson
January 9, 2022


And the category is... Golden Globes history.

On Sunday, Michaela Jaé "Mj" Rodriguez, 31, took home a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama for her role as house mother and nurse Blanca on the FX show "Pose." It marks the first time in history a trans actress has won a Golden Globe.

This is also the first Golden Globe win for “Pose,” which premiered in 2018.

Rodriguez made history for the first time in summer 2021 after becoming the first transgender performer to be nominated for a lead acting Emmy. Rodriguez did not end up winning that award.

While “Pose” has been hailed for the largest transgender cast in a scripted series and for hiring the first trans woman of color director, the show's stars have been vocal regarding the lack of award recognition they have received.

You got that naysayers out there?

She won a Golden Globe!

In 2019 she won Best Actress - Television at the Imagen Awards, an annual event honoring positive representations of Latinx people in media.

She is just one of many talented trans actresses/actors who are receiving recognition for their work some of them are...

• Laverne Cox – Orange is the New Black
• Jamie Clayton – Sense8 & Generation Q
• Michelle Hendley – Boy Meets Girl
• Rachel Crowl – And Then There Was Eve
• Jen Richards – HerStory
• Nicole Maines – Supergirl

There are so many great trans actresses/actors out there that saying there are no trans actresses/actors who have box office draw is wrong.

The Darkness Continues.

 A new legislative season begins and with it new anti-trans legislation. Will it happen here in Connecticut? In the past there have been anti-trans bills introduced here in Connecticut, one bill tried to strip health insurance from us.

At least 7 states proposed anti-trans bills in first week of 2022
State lawmakers across the country introduced at least nine measures this week that would limit the rights of transgender and nonbinary youth.
NBC News
By Matt Lavietes
January 7, 2022


Throughout the first week of the year, state lawmakers in at least seven states proposed laws that would limit the rights of transgender and nonbinary youths.

Republican lawmakers in Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and South Dakota introduced at least nine measures that target trans and nonbinary youths, such as their ability to participate in sports, receive gender-affirming care or use the bathroom.

The legislative push within the first few days of 2022 quickly follows what some advocates have labeled the “worst year in recent history for LGBTQ state legislative attacks.”

“Unfortunately, I think we’re getting ready to watch a race to the bottom among legislators who are in a competition to see who can do the most harm to trans kids,” said Gillian Branstetter, a longtime trans advocate and the media manager for women’s advocacy group the National Women’s Law Center. “It is a hostile and dangerous trend that I’m sure we’ll see continue through the year.”

Notice which party is introducing the legislation?

They don’t care if trans child die. 

They don’t care what national medical association say about the legislation.

All they care about is driving a wedge between the voters and getting votes and campaign contributions.

Supporters of the bills have largely argued that they want to prevent young people from making medical decisions they might later regret and to protect the rights of cisgender girls and women in school sports. 

“It is unfortunate that we see this as removing the rights of any people,” Republican state Rep. Rhonda Milstead, who introduced South Dakota’s trans sports ban this week, told NBC News in an email. “If competitive sports are made to be fair, there is a place for everyone to compete according to the biology they were born with.”

[…]

Major medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Pediatric Endocrine Society, have also openly opposed bills that limit trans rights, with the AMA warning that they could cause “tragic health consequences, both mental and physical.”

Concerning mental health specifically, LGBTQ advocates have long warned that the bills have been damaging to the already vulnerable group of youths.

They know that they medical associations are saying it will harm us but they are ignoring the warning so that is what they must want to cause us harm.

Meanwhile…

In the first six months, President Biden has undone Trump's anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders or policy changes,

• January 20, 2021 - Executive Order Implementing the Bostock Decision (Which ruled that we are covered under Title VII.)
• January 21, 2021 - Trump Ban on Diversity Training Revoked
• January 23, 2021 - Department of Justice Reversal of Trump Era Memorandum Designed to Limit Bostock Implementation
• January 25, 2021 - Repeal of the Ban on Transgender Military Service
• February 2, 2021 - Pete Buttigieg Confirmed as Transportation Secretary
• February 4, 2021 - Memorandum on Protecting Rights of LGBTQ People Abroad
• February 9, 2021 - Press Secretary Psaki Affirms Trans Rights are Human Rights
• February 11, 2021 - Fair Housing Act Enforced to Protect LGBTQ People
• February 19, 2021 - President Biden Encourages Passage of the Equality Act
• March 8, 2021 - Executive Orders on Gender Equality and Title IX
• March 9, 2021 - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Enforces Equal Credit Opportunity Act
• March 24, 2021 - Dr. Rachel Levine Confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Health at the Department of Health & Human Services
• March 30, 2021 - Secretary of State Blinken Rejects Conclusion on the Commission on Unalienable Rights
• March 31, 2021 - President Biden Issues Transgender Day of Visibility Message
• March 31, 2021 - Department of Defense Releases Detailed Directives on Reversing Transgender Military Ban
• April 5, 2021 - Department of Justice Issues Memo on Title IX Protecting LGBTQ Students
• April 13, 2021 - Department of Housing & Urban Development Announced Plans to Restore Housing Protections
• April 22, 2021 - Department of Housing & Urban Development Withdraws Trump-Era Proposal to Gut Equal Access Rule
• April 23, 2021 - President Biden Announces Historic Nominations to the Department of Defense
• April 23, 2021 - Department of Justice Advocates for Fair Treatment of Incarcerated Transgender Individuals
• April 27, 2021 - President Biden Nominates Gina Ortiz Jones as Undersecretary of the Air Force
• May 10, 2021 - President Biden Enforces Non-Discrimination Protections in Health Care
• May 17, 2021 - President Biden Recognizes IDAHOTB
• June 1, 2021- President Biden Restores Tradition of Recognizing Pride Month in Official Proclamation
• June 1, 2021 - Kamala Harris Becomes First Sitting Vice President to March in Pride Parade
• June 16, 2021 - Department of Education Says Title IX Protections Apply to LGBTQ students
• June 17, 2021 - Department of Justice Moves To Protect Transgender Young People Against Discriminatory State Legislation in West Virginia & Arkansas
• June 25, 2021 - White House Signing of National Pulse Memorial Legislation
• June 30, 2021 - White House Forms Interagency Working Group Focused on Safety, Inclusion, and Opportunity for Transgender Individuals
• June 30, 2021 - State Department Announces Changes to Passport Gender Markers

The Equality Act is still tied up in the Senate because Republican Senate Minority Leader McConnell has vowed to block the bill.

There is one party that has our back and the other party is stabbing us in the back.

When you vote Republican you are endorsing their hateful attacks on us.

Your Papers Please.

I am lucky that I live in Connecticut!

I can change my driver license and birth certificate with just a letter from a doctor and there is a nonbinary option while changing my name is also simple, just fill out a form and pay the court fee. When I changed my birth certificate they issued a new certificate and the old one is locked away in the commissioner’s office, some states draw a line through your old name and gender and write your new name and gender above it. In some states you are required to have Gender Confirming Surgery to change your markers on your birth certificate and driver license.

Matching IDs for Transgender People Is Life-Saving for the Community, Local Activist Says
Julisa Abad, Director of Transgender Outreach and Advocacy for the Fair Michigan Project, spearheaded a name change clinic that has helped over 100 trans individuals legally change their name.
WDET
By Russ McNamara
January 7, 2022


Members of the trans community are disproportionately impacted by violence — and some of the hostility has been state-sanctioned. Governmental entities have outed trans individuals by refusing to acknowledge their gender or chosen name. That trickles down into other areas of their life — like getting health insurance.

Late last year, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that residents have a nonbinary option for their driver’s license.

Julisa Abad is the Director of Transgender Outreach and Advocacy for the Fair Michigan Justice Project. She says just removing some government bureaucracy improves inclusivity and makes the trans community safer.

[…]

“Look at the disparities that trans people go through, particularly trans women of color. When we look at where they are on the totem pole of LGBTQ rights, they are the most marginalized … [they] experience violence, experience homelessness, experience fatalities. The life expectancy for a trans woman of color is 35 years old. So having documentation that doesn’t out you in certain public places, things that people take for granted, going to a doctor’s office, if they now call the wrong name, where people weren’t aware that you are transgender. Now, you’ve just been outed, and you’ve been put in an unsafe position.”

In some states such as Kentucky the Republicans tried to force us to use the bathroom of our gender assigned at birth, while in Tennessee the Republicans passed a bill requiring signs to be place on bathroom that we use warning people that trans people use the bathroom.

In Japan a trans woman got arrested for using the bathroom.

Transgender woman referred to prosecutors for using Osaka ladies room
Kyodo News
Jan 6, 2022


A transgender woman was referred to prosecutors Thursday for suspected trespassing after using the ladies room in a commercial facility in Osaka, in a case an expert on LGBT issues fears might lead to more prejudice and discrimination against sexual minorities.

According to the Osaka prefectural police, the commercial facility in the western Japanese city contacted the police after a customer complained that she could not use the women's restroom because "a man wearing women's clothes was using it," causing her "fear."

The transgender woman in her 40s, who police later confirmed entered the ladies' room in May last year, has told investigators she knew she was not supposed to use the facility because her gender is listed as male on the family registry.

Investigative sources said that while she identifies as a woman, she presents as male for work and dresses in women's clothing on her days off.

In other words she crossdresses.

In Connecticut the law does not say anything about transitioning or going full time, what it says and this was on purpose, Public Act No. 11-55 defines the law…

(21) "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

We want to make sure that the law covered not only people who transitioned but also crossdressers and drag queens and drag kings. We want the law to be inclusive, not exclusive.

This Is So True.

 If you don't recognize what January 6^th was, then maybe you shouldn't be voting.

Saturday 9: Moody Blue

 Sam’s Saturday 9: Moody Blue (1977)

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

I apologized for not replying to your comments last week but the back pain was pretty intense and I did do much of anything. My back still is very sore but I can get around slowly.

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

1) This song was recorded in the special studio Elvis had built in the Jungle Room of Graceland. During the pandemic, have you made like Elvis and worked from home?

All my meetings were Zoom meetings.

2) Elvis sings that his girl is completely unpredictable. Which quality to you find more attractive: spontaneity or dependability?

I never really thought about that, most are dependable.

3) He only performed the song once in concert. In February 1977, shortly after the record was released, Elvis sang "Moody Blue" live in Charlotte, NC, but had to rely on lyric sheet. Crazy Sam can sympathize because she seems to forget passwords as soon as she sets them. Do you often struggle with your memory?

Not really, but having a calendar app helps immensely but sometimes it does get ridiculous when all the devices start to beep a reminder. There is a choir of beep, beeps around the room.

4) "Moody Blue" was the final hit of Elvis' lifetime, only getting to #31 in the US but reaching #3 in the UK. What's your favorite Elvis song?

Um… I don’t have one. When his songs come on the radio which isn’t often I like them but I would never play one.

5) We're focusing on Elvis this week because January 8 would be his 87th birthday. He enjoyed celebrating his birthday by renting the Memphis movie theater and watching the latest movie with an invited group of friends. What's your favorite way to celebrate your birthday?

Oh hum, it is just another day.

6) For his 11th birthday, young Elvis asked for a rifle or a bicycle. His mother deemed the gun too dangerous and the bike too expensive and instead gave her son his first guitar. Tell us about a memorable birthday from your youth.

Well, um… there was nothing fancy. Had cake, ice cream, open presents, and birthday cards. Speaking of birthday cards I got one from my life insurance company, isn’t that nice. They are wishing me a long life.

7) Elvis loved horses and kept them in the stable at Graceland. His favorite was a palomino named Rising Sun. To honor both horse and rider, Elvis' daughter has always kept a palomino in the stable whose name includes "sun." The current resident is Tuscan Sun. Known as "Tucky," he's lived at Graceland for more than 20 years now and is a favorite of Alene Alexander, who maintains the stable and reports he has "attitude and knows he's prettier than everybody else." Tell us about an animal who holds a place in your heart.

This is another “Well, um…” I like other people animals, that way you don’t have to take care of them. My brother’s family are big on dogs. For another thing I don’t like leaving a pet by themselves, they get in too much mischief on their own.

8) Throughout his life, Elvis had trouble sleeping. As a preteen, he was a sleepwalker. As an adult, he battled insomnia. Is sleep an issue for you?

HA! As I write this at 3 AM.

9) Random question: Do you wear your shoes in the house?

No, slippers.

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!

C'est La Vie.

This started out as just a post about the song Lola but by the time I went to publish it I decided to make it about being canceled.

~~~~~~

I grew up with the song Lola, when I heard the song for the first time, it was the first time that I wasn’t alone in the way I felt, There was actually a song about it!

But now somehow it has become “Taboo” by the younger generation because of the language used to describe us. Some of the lyrics they object to are,

Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand

Why she walked like a woman but talked like a man

------

Well, I'm not the world's most masculine man

But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man

And so is Lola

But to me Lola is a lot more than the song. And now a days they only hear the words and do not understand what it was like back then.

When I first heard Lola I thought I was all alone, I didn’t think anyone else in the world thought the way I did. There was no internet where the world is at your fingers, your world consisted of those around you. You didn’t communicate with anyone that you didn’t know “in real life.”

One summer day I was washing my car when Lola came on the radio and I heard “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola La-la-la-la Lola.” Whoa! There is a song about the way I feel! There must be others that feel the same as me!

But now I am told that the song is disgusting and it should be banned, but they have no idea how others feel about the song.

So what do you think?

find bike trails

---

There are those who think that the transgender umbrella only covers them, post-ops. A while back as executive director of CT TransAdvocacy Coalition somebody emailed us saying that they no longer support us because they found out that we supported crossdressers and drag queens! That we didn’t support the “true” transgender person those who transitioned.

When I first came out into this world as trans the world “transgender” was defined as anyone who crossed the gender norm but the word is being morphed into meaning something else.

When we were trying to pass the gender non-discrimination law one of the things that we held #1 was that the law would cover everyone, not just those who have transitioned. Nowhere in the law will you find the word transgender, the law says…

(21) "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

We defined it as broadly as we could, we wanted the law to cover all those who crossed the gender norms.

So what do you think of the “transgender” inclusive or exclusive?

bike trails

---

Lastly I read a blog post where they found the word “trans” objectionable, they preferred “transgender” to “trans.” They find it disrespectful to the whole person, but the way I see it the words “trans” is respectful to the whole community because it allows a person to add woman or man or just leave it as trans.

What do you think?

picture polls

---

Word meaning changes over time, just look at the word “gay” it mainly meant to be cheerful, carefree, and happy. When I do training I start off with definitions and my first slide is…

•     Every culture has their own language 
•     Definitions evolve
•     Words can have different means to different people
•     Some people are very passionate about labels

I think that the third bullet is the most salient point, words have different meaning to different people and we have to respect those differences, unless they deny our right to exist, so whether you agree will Lola being disrespectful, or finding “trans” objectionable or not  we have to respect their views but at the same time they have to be respectful of our views.

We are a very diverse community and there should be enough room in it for a wide variety of views and we might not agree with them all. Language morphs, words morphs we must be respective to the changes while they have to be respective to us.

The Corruption Of An American Symbol.

[RANT]

The Gadsden flag was used by the Continental Marines during the Revolutionary War and that great history has now been dragged through the mud and has become a racist and antigovernmental symbol.

It was flown over the insurrection at the Capitol, it was flown at the white supremacists riot in Charlotte.

In the New Yorkers’s article “The Shifting Symbolism of the Gadsden Flag” by Rob Walker, he writes,

As for Gadsden’s creation: after the Stars and Stripes was adopted as the official flag of the United States (with little fanfare or recorded debate, Leepson notes), the Gadsden design remained something of a Revolutionary relic for many years. By the nineteen-seventies, it had some popularity in Libertarian circles, as a symbol of ideological enthusiasm for minimal government and the rights of individuals; there was little mainstream interest in the flag as late as the summer of 2001, when Chris Whitten, who described himself in an e-mail as having “a background in the broader Libertarian movement,” started a Web site dedicated to the history of the flag (and associated merch). Traffic spiked after the September 11th terrorist attacks, Whitten says, and searches (and sales) also climbed as the Tea Party movement emerged. The symbol’s appeal spread through pop culture, as an all-purpose signifier of swaggering defiance. In 2014, Alabama became the seventh state to approve a specialty license plate with a Gadsden design.

We see it flown by QAnon and other right-wing groups at antigovernmental rallies.

The right is so quick to call out “Cancel Culture” well they have done their own “Cancel Culture” by eradicating the history of the Gadsden Flag and corrupting the marines’ first flag and they need to be called out for it.

[/RANT]

Back When…

...I first started hormones my endo said, these are some of the known risks with taking hormone. And one of the items that he ticked off was diabetes.

Transgender People and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Endocrinology Advisor
By Colby Stong
January 5, 2022


Prevalent and incident type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk may be higher among transfeminine (TF) persons compared with cisgender women but not cisgender men, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study also found there was little evidence linking T2D to gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) in either TF or transmasculine (TM) people.

The findings are based on data from the Study of Transition Outcomes and Gender (STRONG), an electronic health record (EHR)-based population of transgender/ transgender diverse (TGD) persons receiving care at 3 health systems located in Northern California, Southern California, and Georgia. Data were obtained from 2006 through 2014, and follow-up was conducted through the end of 2016.

Well in 2004 when I started my hormones they must have known something about the prevalence of diabetes among trans women otherwise why did the doctor warn me?

I weighed my risks and decided to accept them and that is how it should be, informed consent.

~~~~~

Those who follow my blog know that I have a pet peeve against calling Cross Gender Hormone (CGH) Therapy or as they call it in this article Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy (GAHT) “HRT.” The reason why is 1000! We take about a thousand times more Estrogen than a cis gender women on HRT for menopause. As we are wheeled into the emergency room and they are trying to get our meds, we answer HRT they are not thinking of blood clots as much if we said CGH.

I know of a trans man who was in pain in his abdomen and the doctors thought appendicitis not a ruptured cyst on his ovaries. It almost cost him his life. They realized right away that he was a trans man but it wasted valuable time on the operating table, however they did ask him if he wanted his uterus and ovaries removed while they were in there.

It is your life, but I rather be honest to my doctors.

Legal Victories!

There have been a couple of legal victories that we have had, the first is about homeless shelters,

NYC Must Provide Separate Housing for Trans People in Homeless Shelters Under New Settlement
Gothamist
By Gwynne Hogan, WNYC
January 3, 2022


New York City must provide dedicated, separate housing for homeless trans and gender non-conforming people in city shelters in four boroughs, according to the terms of a recent legal settlement with Mariah Lopez, an activist with the Strategic Transgender Alliance for Radical Reform or STARR.

By December 2022, the city has agreed to make at least 30 beds for trans people available across the city with locations in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan. The beds, which must have access to single-stall toilets and showers or private bathrooms, can either be located in new dedicated shelters or in separate units within existing shelter locations.

The agreement also includes a pledge by the city to potentially add more beds for trans people as needed going forward, though it doesn’t include specifics on what would be cause for an increase. Lopez and her attorneys will receive reports from the city on their progress, monitor complaints of harassment, and visit the designated shelters to assess conditions.

The agreement comes at the culmination of a four-year long legal battle Lopez has waged mostly alone as a pro se litigant, meaning she wrote all her legal papers herself without the help of a lawyer. Part of that litigation she undertook while she was living on the street, she said, after she fled the city’s shelter system in 2017. The terms of the November agreement with New York City were first reported by Xtra Magazine.

[…]

Lopez, 36, became homeless after the death of an aunt she’d been living with, Lopez said in an interview. She entered into the city’s homeless system and was soon transferred to Marsha’s House, a dedicated shelter for the LGBTQ community. But once at the shelter, she said she encountered an environment that was anything but welcoming.

According to Lopez’s original lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York, staff regularly misgendered her or used the pronoun “it” to describe her. They used homophobic slurs like “faggot” and pressured her and other shelter residents into sex acts, with the threat of having them transfered to a different shelter if they didn’t comply, the lawsuit alleges. The conditions were so demoralizing, she said she returned to the streets and to sex work for suvivial. A relative helped her rent a room several months later. At the time, Lopez said she asked herself repeatedly, “What would Sylvia do?” referring to her late mentor, Rivera.

“I’m gonna go to federal court and sue the living bejeezus out of the city,” Lopez said she decided at the time.

Okay I have two thoughts. The first is an incredulous they did that at a LGBTQ shelter? You would think that our gay brother and sisters would have more respect for trans people, evidently they do not. 

And the second thing is can a trans person stay at other shelters or are we being forced to stay at the shelters just meant for us. I have a problem if we are required to stay at the trans shelters, it ghettoize us. I imagine that there might be some trans people who rather be in with the general population and not in a “trans shelter.”

The second article involves prisons and was sent to me by a reader.

Former Illinois inmate could be 1st federal prisoner to have gender confirmation surgery
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to have Cristina Nichole Iglesias evaluated for the procedure.
Chicago Sun Times
By Stefano Esposito
December 28, 2021


A federal judge this week ordered the U.S. Bureau of Prisons’ Transgender Executive Council to evaluate a former Illinois inmate for gender confirmation surgery, marking the first time a judge has issued such an order to the federal prison system.

It could pave the way for the first gender confirmation operation for an inmate while in federal custody, said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the ACLU Illinois, which is representing the inmate, now housed in Texas.

“It’s especially a big deal if you’re someone who has been suffering with gender dysphoria and unable to access the health care you want for years while you’re being detained,” Yohnka said Tuesday. “The second thing is, the estimate is there are about 1,200 people who are transgender in federal custody. We have a responsibility to take care of those people once they are in custody, and that includes their health care and whatever those needs are.”

There have been a number of federal court cases that ordered us to receive proper medical care including Gender Confirming Surgery, hormones, and to not to segregate us in solitary confinement.

Banned In Georgia

Is becoming the new “Banned in Boston” Boston used to be know a prude city with its Puritan history well the South is taking over for Boston in banning books.

Movement would ban LGBTQ books, online materials from school libraries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Ty Tagami
January 2, 2022

Younger students may not find the same support if lawmakers make it easier to ban books and materials from school libraries.

A national movement targeting materials considered obscene is gaining traction in Georgia. It has won powerful support in the Georgia General Assembly that convenes this month. House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, a Republican from Milton, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in November that “children should be shielded from age inappropriate materials” and that she is writing legislation to accomplish that in schools.

Jones said she wants a uniform statewide process for filtering online materials accessible through schools. And she said she wants to give parents more influence over selections. She isn’t specifically identifying transgender issues, but others are.

When former State Schools Superintendent John Barge announced in November that he was campaigning for his old job, he said schools are not the place for “talking to children about, you know, they can be whatever gender they want to be.”

And Noelle Kahaian, director of the anti-obscenity group Protect Student Health Georgia, testified at the Georgia General Assembly last spring for legislation that would standardize the process for banning materials. She also wants an exemption for school librarians removed from a state law that allows prosecution of people who provide “harmful” materials to minors. (The law focuses on visual representations involving sex.)

Kahaian said materials involving transgender issues do not belong in public schools. She thinks they are fueling a “social contagion” of children questioning their gender. “Any ideology, especially surrounding sexuality, should be the parents’ domain,” she said.

And so it begins…

In Iowa,

LGBTQ advocates: Book banning is precursor for rocky legislative session
Iowa Capital Dispatch
By: Katie Akin 
December 8, 2021

As school boards around the Des Moines metro debate the inclusion of certain queer books in school libraries, LGBTQ advocacy groups are preparing for attacks in the upcoming legislative session.

Iowa school boards in recent weeks have seen spirited debates over allowing books with sexual content — including many with LGBTQ themes — in school libraries. Several districts have removed “Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir by Maia Kobabe about gender dysphoria and sexuality. The comic book depicts scenes of masturbation and sexual fantasizing in a larger narrative about discovering one’s identity.

[…]

Becky Smith, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, said that she has closely observed the movement “remove books that contain either subject matter or characters or storylines of either students of color, Black and Brown stories, or stories around LGBTQ identities specifically.” 

In Tennessee,

Tennessee GOP wants to ban books that 'promote' LGBT lifestyles from school libraries
Insider
By Canela López 
March 26, 2021


Bruce Griffey, a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, drafted and introduced the bill before he was removed from the Education Instruction Subcommittee on March 25.

[...]

"The promotion of LGBT issues and lifestyles in public schools offends a significant portion of students, parents, and Tennessee residents with Christian values," Griffey wrote in the bill. 

[…]

The proposal to ban LGBTQ+ books and educational materials from schools has legal precedent, as state lawmakers have attempted to pass similar bills since the 1990s, according to the National Coalition Against Censorship. 

NPR reported,

More Republican leaders try to ban books on race, LGBTQ issues
By Deepa Shivaram
November 13, 2021


In the latest call from Republican leaders to ban certain books in schools, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is telling his state's department of education to investigate a graphic novel on queer identity being available at a school's library. He says the content in the book is "sexually explicit" and "pornographic."

[...]

In a Virginia county, two school board members want to burn the books

In Virginia's Spotsylvania County, the school board recently voted to remove books in school libraries that had any "sexually explicit" material.

One book in particular that caused outrage is Adam Rapp's 33 Snowfish, with a storyline that includes drug addiction, prostitution and violence.

[...]

During Banned Books Week, Readers Explore What It Means To Challenge Texts

Two school board members, Rabih Abuismail and Kirk Twigg, went on to say they would like to see the banned books burned.

[…]

Book burning was a practice perpetuated in Nazi Germany in order to oppress authors and ideas that were in opposition to Nazi ideology.

From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum,

Beginning on May 10, 1933, Nazi-dominated student groups carried out public burnings of books they claimed were “un-German.” The book burnings took place in 34 university towns and cities. Works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers ended up in the bonfires. The book burnings stood as a powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship.

German students and Nazi SA members plunder the
library  of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Director of the
 Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin

Also May of that year,

LGBTQ Institute in Germany Was Burned Down by Nazis
The resources and data at Institut für Sexualwissenschaft were never replaced.
Teen Vogue
By Lucy Diavolo
September 20, 2017


On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was officially appointed chancellor of Germany. His rise to power ushered in Nazi control of the country and led to the horrors of the Holocaust. Among those targeted by the Third Reich were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. LGBTQ people would be sent to concentration camps alongside Jews, the disabled, and many more — but one of the Nazis's first shows of force against Germany’s LGBTQ community was an attack on information.

On May 6, 1933, Nazi demonstrators raided the libraries of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, a German name that roughly translates to the Institute of Sexology. The Institute was a privately operated research space for studies of human sexuality. More than 20,000 books were taken from shelves and burned days later in the streets by Nazi youth groups.

This is the Republicans pushing their hate to create wedge politics, to divide our country and want to create an authoritarian government . 

You’ve Been Canceled!

You probably have heard it a lot in the last couple of years about the “Canceled Culture” what is it?

The Merriam-Webster says “The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary” so has the Canceled Culture been canceled? So back to the internet and the Cambridge Dictionary defines it as,

a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you:

The main argument against cancel culture is that it doesn’t enable people who have wronged society the opportunity to apologize and learn from their mistakes.

If you are an Internet user, chances are you have come across the idea that we live in a "cancel culture" or "call out culture."

Okay I will use that definition, so we canceled J.K. Rowlings because of what she says about trans people.

The year in cancel culture (yes, it’s still a thing)
From Chrissy Teigen to Chris Pratt to J.K. Rowling, social-media mobs came for these celebrities in 2021
Desert News
By Jennifer Graham
January 1, 2022


Last January, actor Bryan Cranston took to Twitter, saying that his wish for 2021 was for cancel culture to end.

“I think we’re unfortunately in a coarser environment,” said Cranston, best known for playing Walter White in “Breaking Bad.” “I think our societies have become harder and less understanding, less tolerant, less forgiving. My question for today is, where does forgiveness live in our society?”

Okay what are some other synonyms for “Canceled Culture?”

Well “uppity” comes to mind, back to Merriam-Webster;

2 somewhat old-fashioned, disparaging + sometimes offensive, see usage paragraph below : aspiring to a rank or position higher than one deserves or is entitled to

So when someone wants a statue of Robert E. Lee taking down the right-wing says it is “Canceled Culture” while those who were oppressed see it as a symbol and a constant reminder of their slavery and oppression.

Pew Research did a poll on the “Canceled Culture.”

Americans and ‘Cancel Culture’: Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment
BY EMILY A. VOGELS, MONICA ANDERSON, MARGARET PORTEUS, CHRIS BARONAVSKI, SARA ATSKE, COLLEEN MCCLAIN, BROOKE AUXIER, ANDREW PERRIN AND MEERA RAMSHANKAR
May 19, 2021

People have challenged each other’s views for much of human history. But the internet – particularly social media – has changed how, when and where these kinds of interactions occur. The number of people who can go online and call out others for their behavior or words is immense, and it’s never been easier to summon groups to join the public fray.

The phrase “cancel culture” is said to have originated from a relatively obscure slang term – “cancel,” referring to breaking up with someone – used in a 1980s song. This term was then referenced in film and television and later evolved and gained traction on social media. Over the past several years, cancel culture has become a deeply contested idea in the nation’s political discourse. There are plenty of debates over what it is and what it means, including whether it’s a way to hold people accountable, or a tactic to punish others unjustly, or a mix of both. And some argue that cancel culture doesn’t even exist.

Does calling people out on social media represent accountability or unjust punishment?

So how you view “Canceled Culture” depends upon whether you a conservative or a liberal. Conservatives see it as something bad while liberals see it as speaking up to injustice.

Back to J.K. Rowlings, she denies our right to exists, should we remain quite? And bow down to her and beg forgiveness? Or should we speak up against her and call her out for what she is, a bigot?

As the James Baldwin famous quote said, “We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”

The conservatives see it as “Canceled Culture” while we see it as “Speaking truth to power.”

Religion & LGBTQ+

Do the two mix?

There are affirming churches but the Mormon church is not one of them and that leads to this mornings post and the doings out in Utah.

A billionaire and the tech industry are trying to shape LGBTQ rights in deeply Mormon Utah
The Washington Post
By Sarah Pulliam Bailey
December 21, 2021

Troy Williams, the head of Equality Utah and once dubbed the unofficial “gay mayor of Salt Lake City,” was still absorbing the news as he made his way downtown to the opulent Grand America hotel. His phone had been blowing up all morning with messages about a speech apostle Dallin H. Oaks had given the night before.

Oaks is next in line to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the world’s 16.8 million believers commonly known as Mormons. In his remarks at the University of Virginia, he hailed the virtues of religious freedom and the importance of LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws like the trailblazing one LDS leaders, lawmakers and LGBTQ activists worked to pass in 2015. Known as the “Utah compromise,” it bans discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing and employment while carving out exceptions for religious reasons.

“I deeply regret that these two groups have been drawn into conflict with one another,” Oaks said of advocates for religious liberty and LGBTQ rights.

So what is the Utah Compromise?

Utah Passes Antidiscrimination Bill Backed by Mormon Leaders
The New York Times
By Laurie Goodstein
March 12, 2015

With the backing of Mormon church leaders, the Republican-dominated Utah Legislature passed a bill on Wednesday night that would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in housing and employment, while also protecting religious institutions that object to homosexuality.

The legislation, known as “the Utah compromise,” has been hailed by Mormon leaders and gay rights advocates as a breakthrough in balancing rights and religious freedom, and as a model for other conservative states. But leaders of some other churches oppose it, saying it would not sufficiently protect the rights of individuals who have religious objections to homosexuality.

The vote was an extraordinary moment for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is opposed to same-sex marriage, but sent two of its leading apostles to a news conference on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City last week to endorse the anti-discrimination bill. Legislators and gay rights advocates said having the blessing of the church leaders turned the tide in the Legislature, where most members are Mormons.

“The apostles of this faith, which is the predominant faith here in Utah, stepped forward and expressed an earnest and sincere desire to come together,” said Representative Gregory H. Hughes, a Republican and the speaker of the Utah House. “We had not heard that before, and we had not heard that with such specificity, and we took notice.”

The bill would ban employers and landlords or property owners from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, adding those categories to Utah’s laws that already protect against discrimination on the basis of race, sex and age.

The law carves a great number of exceptions included exempting government clerk from the law. The Post article goes on to say that not all are happy with the compromise.

Many supporters of LGBTQ rights are less enthusiastic. They cite glaring gaps in the state’s protections for LGBTQ people and argue that religious freedom protections, which were integral in securing conservative support for the compromise, were already strong in the state. For example, Brigham Young University prohibits LGBTQ students from dating and can deny housing to same-sex couples.

The Post article goes on to say that Utah passed other so called LGBTQ+ friendly legislation, Utah overturned its “No Promo Homo” law which lifted the law banning the discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in class (The Supreme Court has ruled that other states bans violate the First Amendment rights.) and they banned conversion therapy. But notice the law does not include public accommodation, a glaring gap in protection for us and for many they see it as the most important part of the non-discrimination laws. 

The billionaire Jeff T. Green, who owns Trade Desk wants to help fund Equality Utah...

The sun was setting behind the mountains as Green went into his plans to submit his formal resignation from the LDS Church on Dec. 23, the birthday of Mormonism’s founder and an important day for the faith. He cited his frustrations with church leadership, especially over LGBTQ issues. Also resigning are his brother, an executive at Amazon; a cousin, a vice president at U.S. Bank; his sister, as well as several of their children.

[…]

At the end of the meeting, the billionaire was still unsure exactly how much he was going to give to Equality Utah. (He would later donate $600,000, the second largest one-time donation the group has ever received). But he was won over by Williams’s diplomatic approach.

“I know there’s an attitude that we had this great Utah compromise and somehow we make it work, but we haven’t made it work yet," Green said. "We can. We’ll get there.”

To me I do not see the compromise as anything good, to me I see it as throwing table scraps at us, the overly broad religious exemption from a state where about 70% of the population are Mormons and without public accommodation the law is worthless.

Saturday 9: The Promise of a New Day

 Sam's Saturday 9: The Promise of a New Day (1991)

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

I got a song and a topic for next Saturday… Since it is a new year, Harry Belafonte: “There's a Hole in the Bucket” with questions about your bucket list.

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

Welcome to the first Saturday 9 of 2022.

1) In this song, Paula Abdul celebrates the promise of a new day. Here at Saturday 9, we're celebrating the promise of a new year. What do you hope 2022 will bring?

That the madness will end.

 2) She sings that we should see the wisdom from mistakes of the past. What wisdom did you gain in 2021?

That the Yogi-isms “It ain’t over till it’s over.” is true.

3) What is something you'd like to spend more time doing in 2022?

Being with people.

4) Paula Abdul was once a "Laker Girl" and performed at L.A. Laker games. Do you have a favorite NBA team?

Nope. I am partial to the UConn Women’s basketball team.

5) In 2009, she hosted RAH!, an elite cheer leading competition.  Do you remember any cheers from your school years?

Nope, I never went to any of the games.

6) While famous for performing, Paula has arguably been more successful for her work behind the scenes, winning an Emmy for her choreography. Are you comfortable being the center of attention? Or would you rather work behind the scenes?

Behind the scenes. I been on the Sunday morning talk shows and I didn’t like them. I have been interviewed by news crews and most of them are not bad. The one that interviewed me talked to first going over what they wanted to ask so that made it easier.

7) She taught actor Val Kilmer how to dance for his role as Jim Morrison in the biopic The Doors. What talent, knowledge or advice have you recently shared?

Not much, I am at a point in life where I am taking it easy.

8) Paula was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2005 and uses a prescription biologic every day to help her cope with pain in her toes. On your last trip to the drug store, did you pick up a prescription, or something else?

Prescriptions and one was around $500 for a three month supply.

9) Random question: You have been house-hunting for months. You finally find your dream home and are just about to say "yes" when you spot a mouse scurrying across the floor. Would you take the house anyway?

Every house has mice in the winter! I do.

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!

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I pulled a muscle in my lower back Wednesday standing up from a chair, it was as simple as that. I was waiting to pick up my order and sat in a chair while waiting and stood up when the person ahead of me got her order. I stood up to walk to the counter and just about collapsed. I hobbled out and been in pain since then.

So after the fact I am doing back exercises.

I am looking into food deliveries from Stop & Shop, I will not be able to walk around the store for a couple of weeks while my back heals.