I Am Off To Mystic

This morning I’m heading down to Mystic Seaport with some friends. Today they waiver their regular admission when you bring canned food for the local food pantry so I usually bring around $10 worth of food since the normal admission for seniors is $22 I figure I will still get in at half price.

I’m bring my camera and I’ll post them once I process them.

Saturday 9: Happy Holidays!

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Happy Holidays!

1. As you can see, Sam loved giving her annual wish list to Santa. Yet some children are reluctant to climb into Jolly Old St. Nick's lap. Did you enjoy the tradition or were you shy? Or did you by pass it altogether -- either because you wrote him a letter or because your family didn't celebrate Christmas?
I can’t remember that far back, but my guess is that since if you told Santa want you wanted for Christmas, greed probably overrode my shyness.

2. Are you currently on the Naughty or Nice list? How did you get there?
Nice, I’m never naughty she said with a gleam in her eye.

3. Did you ship any gifts to friends and family this year? If so, which one traveled the farthest?
Well kind of since I’m driving down with my presents to give out.

4. Did you buy yourself a gift this year? 
I thinking about buying a tablet after the first of the year.

5. What's your favorite holiday-themed movie?
Probably “White Christmas” because I was stuck watching it with my parents back when I was a kid

6. Thinking of movies, Christmas is lucrative for Hollywood. Have you ever gone to a movie theater on Christmas Day?
Yes, last year. I forgot what we watched but we all came out of the theater scathing our heads trying to figure what the movie was about and then we went and had Chinese takeout.

7. Have you ever suffered an embarrassing moment at the company Christmas party? 
No, but I had fun watching others make a fool of themselves. Some of the guys who worked on the factory floor drank Polish vodka that was 180 proof and the only thing they cut it with was a maraschino cherry, just one. I tried a sip one time and WHEW!

8. What's your favorite beverage in cold weather?
It used to be hot mulled cider but now I switched to cinnamon apple spiced tea. The cider has way too many carbs for me now.

9. What will you remember most about 2014?
The year has been rather uneventful so probably the high point was going to see the Broadway play “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” staring Neil Patrick-Harris with a former classmate. We went down for a Sunday matinee, on the night that it won three Tony Awards. It was the first my first Broadway.

This Only Makes Sense

For a number of years the Departments of Justice and Education have said that gender identity was covered the sex discrimination prohibition in Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC also ruled that we are covered under Title VII in the workplace in the Macy v. Hold case and just recently they filed amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reconsider its decision in Muhammad v. Caterpillar. So it comes as no surprise that,

US Attorney General declares transgender people are protected in sex discrimination category
AG Eric Holder has announced that federal prosecutors will take the position going forward that sex discrimination provisions in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 include protections against discrimination based on gender identity
GayStar News
By Andrew Potts
19 December 2014

US Attorney General Holder announced yesterday that the Department of Justice will take the position that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covering sex discrimination extends to claims of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status when prosecuting government job discrimination cases.

Attorney General Holder issued a memo that his department will no longer assert that Title VII’s prohibition against discrimination based on sex excludes discrimination based on gender identity, reversing the Department of Justice’s previous position.

Attorney General Holder is just extending to the DOJ what the EEOC and the Department of Education have said before, that gender identity discrimination is a form of sex discrimination.

Trans-Actors/Actresses

I have many times said that at the very least they should audition trans-people to play transgender parts, that there are a lot of talented trans-actresses/actors out there. Candy magazine had a spread of trans-actresses,

Laverne Cox, Carmen Carrera, Janet Mock Among 14 Trans Superstars On Cover Of “Candy” Magazine
LogoTV
By Matthew Tharrett
December 17, 2014

Laverne Cox, Janet Mock and Drag Race alum Carmen Carrera are among 14 trans women gracing Candy magazine’s glamorous fifth anniversary cover, an over-sized foldout inspired by Vanity Fair‘s annual Hollywood issue.

Shot by fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco, the women are hailed as leaders of “the contemporary trans revolution.”

“It’s the first time such a large number of trans women have been featured on the cover of a magazine,” Candy founder Luis Venegas told Style.com. “Is it too daring to say that we’ve made history? Time will tell.”

And this is only some of the trans-actresses, there are many other trans-actresses who are not in the photo such as Michelle Hendley who stared in "Boy Meets Girl".

The article also has a photo of trans-actors.

Laverne Cox, Janet Mock, Carmen Carrera, Geena Rocero, Isis King, Gisele Alicea, Leyna Ramous, Dina Marie, Nina Poon, Juliana Huxtable, Niki M’nray, Pêche Di, Carmen Xtravaganza and Yasmine Petty
Photo by Mariano Vivanco

Barriers To Transition

There is an article on the Atlantic website about the barriers that we have to overcome in order transition.

Transgender People Face Outsized Barriers to Genital Surgery
People who want genital reconstructions as part of their transition are asked for not one, but two mental-health referrals. Doctors are now questioning whether that requirement is ethical.
By Rose Eveleth
December 17, 2014

Not all transgender people want surgery, nor should surgery be held up as the gold standard for someone to completely transition to their gender identity. But for those who do want to go through with procedures to alter their genitalia, they must first jump through hoops that some doctors and advocates have argued recently are unethical.

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has now published seven iterations of its guidelines for doctors who treat transgender people. The guide outlines the steps health professionals should take to ensure that a patient is treated well, and cared for appropriately. The report covers all kinds of things, from hormone treatments to voice and communication therapy, but a recent study singled out one particular recommendation: Right now, WPATH suggests that any individual seeking genital reconstructive surgery should be asked for two mental-health referrals before going through with the procedure.

The article goes on to say that for most surgeries only one letter is required and questions the need for two letters. The article then goes on to say,

In light of all this, the recent paper, published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, calls into question the two-signature suggestion. The paper, titled “Yes and yes again: are standards of care which require two referrals for genital reconstructive surgery ethical?” goes through the reasons why doctors might have asked for two referrals, and ultimately concludes that two signatures are both unnecessary and unethical. “Applying the two written qualified mental-health professionals opinion rule to all trans people, rather than those for whom it is clinically indicated, appears to be disproportionately prejudicial where the impact is delay, obstruction, and differential treatment,” they write.

But then the article cites the pro for requiring two letters,

There are a lot of reasons why asking for two signatures might be reasonable. These surgeries are irreversible and involve removing healthy tissue, so performing them on someone who might be suffering from psychiatric complications, or who might come to regret it, would certainly be bad. And not all doctors are actually qualified to perform genital reconstruction, and might take advantage of people—putting barriers between patients and bad doctors can be a good thing. (At least one such case does exist. Dr. Russel Reid, a physician working in the U.K., pushed several patients towards surgery and was later found guilty of medical misconduct in a case that was controversial in the transgender community.)

I think one letter should be all that is required for GCS, for one thing it is expensive to have to see and extra doctor and for another doctors like Dr. Reid are few and far between. But I add on caveat, healthcare providers need to be better educated on trans-healthcare. There are no guideline in the Standard of Cares on what training is required for healthcare providers, it had only a vague description of what is needed to treat gender dysphoria,

“Knowledgeable about gender-nonconforming identities and expressions, and the assessment and treatment of gender dysphoria.
[…]
In addition to the minimum credentials above, it is recommended that mental health professionals develop and maintain cultural competence to facilitate their work with transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming clients. This may involve, for example, becoming knowledgeable about current community, advocacy, and public policy issues relevant to these clients and their families. Additionally, knowledge about sexuality, sexual health concerns, and the assessment and treatment of sexual disorders is preferred.
[…]
If mental health professionals are uncomfortable with, or inexperienced in, working with transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individuals and their families, they should refer clients to a competent provider or, at minimum, consult with an expert peer.

I think they need to spell out more what education is required such as an internship, or class hours, or something to better define what healthcare providers need to know.

What are your thoughts?

I’ve Been Busy

I was away Tuesday and Wednesday closing up the cottage for the winter, it was rainy and cold both days while we were there. We had work done on it and we had to clean up after the carpenter finished and we also had to shut the water off and drain the system. We always have our fingers crossed that we didn’t forget to do something so when we open it up in the spring there are no surprises.

After I came home I went to a focus group on healthcare for LGBT where we talked about our experiences with healthcare providers. There we a number of trans-people on group so I think we got our concerns a crossed.

Today I have two meetings, one at noon and one right after I get out of the first meeting… lunch? What’s that?

Jazz

"It's not easy being green," or in our case it’s not easy being trans and no matter what age you come out it is never easy. Each age has its own problems and for kids it is hard to come out in school, many schools systems still segregate trans-student while some schools fully integrate trans-students.

Jazz has written a book for kids about being different,

‘I Am Jazz’ shares transgender challenges in kid-friendly story 
Review Journal
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
November 19, 2014

There’s nobody else like you. Nobody has eyes like yours, or fingers like yours or ears that fold like yours. You think for yourself, have your own likes and hates, and people love you just the way you are.

In the new book “I Am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, with pictures by Shelagh McNicholas, you’ll read about a girl who’s just like other girls … only different.
[…]
That’s because Jazz has “a girl brain but a boy body.” She’s transgender, and she was born just like that.

Her book has gotten good reviews,

I really like this book. I like its perky, friendly cover and the kid-magnet colors that McNicholas uses. I like the basic premise and the answers it offers curious kids, parents and teachers.

Those are the things that struck me immediately about it. Looking deeper, though, I discovered what truly makes “I Am Jazz” so valuable: it’s a unique, no-secrets tale written in a kid-friendly, easy-to-grasp, matter-of-fact way, told in part by author Jazz Jennings herself. That, with co-author Herthel, makes this story glow with a personal, upbeat and spirited touch that’s relatable for all children.

Here is a Yahoo video of an interview with Jazz by Katie Couric,



Jazz will be at the True Colors conference this spring.

It Is A Long Way To The Shores Of Tripoli

With trans-servicemembers just around the corner it looks like the Marines will have a long ways to go to fully integrate the Marines. A few months ago a Marine killed a trans-woman in a Philippine bar and he has just been charged with murder.

Marine charged in Filipino transgender slaying
Marine Times
By Jim Gomez
The Associated Press
December 15, 2014

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine government prosecutors charged a U.S. Marine with murder Monday in the killing of a Filipino, saying the suspect acknowledged attacking the victim after he found out she was a transgender woman.

Prosecutor Emilie de los Santos said there was "probable cause" that Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, who has been detained since shortly after the October incident, killed Jennifer Laude, whose former name was Jeffrey, in the motel room where the victim's body was found in Olongapo city, northwest of Manila. She had apparently been strangled and drowned in a toilet bowl.

The Marine has reportedly said,

"I think I killed a he/she," Pemberton was quoted as having told Rose [A Marine that Pemberton went out bar hopping that night].

And if you read the comments about the article they show that the Marines have a long ways to go to integrate trans- servicemembers and also gay and lesbian servicemembers.

Something We Don’t Talk About

When I started interning for my Master’s in Social Work, the field supervisor asked me about my support network, at first I didn’t know what she was talking about. I first thought she meant the support group that I go to, but what she meant was who it is that I turn to for emotional support is.

I didn’t think I would ever need support because I was my concentration was community organizing, after all how emotional can you over community organizing. But once I did need support and even today when I think back to that meeting it affects me.

Out Of The Shadows: Sex-Trafficking A Threat to Runaway Connecticut Teens
Hartford Courant
By Josh Kovner
December 12, 2014

Trafficking of children for sex isn't confined to the dark alleys of mysterious foreign cities. Children don't have to be chained as sex slaves in cages in dank basements. It was, and is, happening in Connecticut, and is as simple as a girl, or even a boy, running away from a foster home or somewhere else and bumping, literally, into a pimp trolling the mall or the park for just such a target.

In response, Connecticut has passed new laws that treat sexually exploited teens as victims instead of prostitutes, made it easier to prosecute traffickers and created teams of police, social workers and medical professionals who respond on raids. Public awareness of the problem has increased, as illustrated by a steady rise in reports of suspected exploitation to the state Department and Children and Families' abuse and neglect hotline.
[…]
"There are people looking for them,'' DCF's Tammy Sneed said of the pimps and predators. Sneed heads the department's child sex-trafficking initiatives and has trained hundreds of law officers and case workers. "They know where to look and who to look for."
[…]
Sneed said that one out of every three runaway children — those in DCF care or otherwise — are approached by a pimp within the first 48 hours. The pimps use the "bump" to gauge a young teen's reaction, case workers and investigators say. If her eyes are downcast and she seems submissive or vulnerable or unsure, the pimp moves in and starts the "Romeo," or grooming, phase: offers of clothes, food, gifts, shelter, pseudo affection.

The meeting that day was at the office of Court Support Services Division, it was about a teenage trans-girl that ran away from home and was picked up by a pimp at a bus station in a city in Connecticut, got her hooked on heroin, and forced her to work the street. She was busted and testified against the pimp who then shot her on the court steps and put out a contract on her. CSSD was looking for a save place where they could place her. I was at the meeting to fill-in for the director of a family and youth service agency and listening to her story made an indelible memory that I will carry to my grave.

I know a woman who was thrown out of the house when she came out to her parents in Virginia, at the time she was a teenager, and she worked the streets to survive. When she was busted and the police found out she was trans, they beat the crap out of her. She eventually made her way up north and a YWCA residency shelter took her, she eventually got a Section 8 voucher.

Most people think of some far off exotic port when they think of white slavery, but it happen here in Connecticut and all over the U.S. If you want to help end it become a foster parent and give them a safe home.

I Don’t Know About This

I think I would be a little leery about a show like this, will they hype it up?

Docu-series to take transgender experience mainstream
MSNBC
12/12/14
By Emma Margolin

Building off what has been a groundbreaking year for transgender people in the media, ABC Family announced on Thursday it has a new documentary series in the works that will focus on a teenage boy dealing with his father’s transition.

“My Transparent Life” is the latest TV show to feature the experiences of a transgender person, following in the footsteps of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” and Amazon’s “Transparent.” With Ryan Seacrest Productions (RSP) and a major television network at the helm, however, this docu-series stands to pull the transgender community further into the mainstream than ever before, where it could significantly reduce prejudices that plague the population.

Or it could make it worst, it all depends on how the producer wants the show and I would be very suspicious of the way the producer might want to go for ratings at the expense of the family.

GSAs

Gay Straight Alliances are in just about every school here in Connecticut but in conservative states they are few and far between.

A conservative website, Straight Voices in West Virginia had this to say about GSAs,

BUCKHANNON, WV – Buckhannon-Upshur High School has started a new club called the Gay Straight Alliance. The slogan of this alliance is “empowering youth activists to fight homophobia and transphobia.” Their mission is to “create safe environments [for homosexual pupils] in schools for students to support each other and learn about homophobia, transphobia, and other oppressions, educate the school community about homophobia, transphobia, gender identity, and sexual orientation issues, and fight discrimination, harassment, and violence in schools.”

This organization states that they fight discrimination, harassment, violence and bullying of LGBT youth; however it creates discrimination, harassment, violence and bullying against Christian students who oppose the homosexual lifestyle.

So in other words by saying let’s all get along together, the Christians students feel that they are being discriminated against because they are being bullied because they are not allowed to harass LGBT students… hmm, isn’t that a kind of circular logic?

And just look at their source,

According to an article from Mass-Resistance, “A purpose of GSAs is to indoctrinate the kids (including those calling themselves ‘straight’) in the radical ideas of the LGBT movement, which they term ‘queer theory.’ Most people are not aware just how extreme this is. Then the GSA leaders have the kids spread those ideas to the rest of the school through events like the ‘Day of Silence’, ‘Gay History Month’, and ‘Transgender Awareness Day.'”

You know it’s that old “Gay Agenda” again! Where we just want to live our lives without being harassed. Shame on us in demanding our right to live in peace.

However, if someone is being harassed because of their religious beliefs that is also wrong. They have a right to their religious beliefs. Two wrongs do not make a right, they shouldn’t harass us for being LGBT, and we shouldn’t harass them for their beliefs.

What Century Are They From?

I think you all know that for many reasons I am a Democrat and one of the reasons is that Republicans live in a different century…

Montana Dress Code Has Female Legislators Sporting New Look: Clenched Jaws
New York Times
By Jack Healy
December 13, 2014

Montana has never been known as a black-tie place. Governors wear cowboy boots and bolo ties, and people joke that a tuxedo is a pair of black jeans and a sport coat. But this winter, when lawmakers arrive at the State Capitol, they will have to abide by a new dress code: No more jeans. No casual Fridays. And female lawmakers “should be sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines.”
[…]
Ms. Eck said she was leaving a health care forum in Helena, the capital, on Monday when one of her Republican colleagues peered at her and told her that he was glad to see she was dressed appropriately.

“Skirt lengths and necklines” sounds like something from the 1950s. It seems like Republican controlled legislatures are imposing “dress codes” many of which sound like they are sexist.

“It’s like something out of ‘Mad Men,’” said Representative Ellie Hill, a Democrat from Missoula, referring to a television drama set in the 1960s. “The whole thing is totally sexist and bizarre and unnecessary.”

Saturday 9: Feliz Navidad (1970)

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Feliz Navidad (1970)

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

1. "Feliz Navidad" is Spanish for "Merry Christmas." Can you wish us happy holidays in a language other than English or Spanish?

Nope.

2. According to ASCAP (the American Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers), this is one of the 20 most played holiday songs of the last 10 years. What's the most recent carol that you heard?

Little Drummer Boy, Pa rum pum pum pum

3. Which Christmas song do you hope you never hear again?

Grandma Got Run Over By The Reindeer

4. This week's featured artist, Jose Feliciano, was honored to perform this song at the tree lighting ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. If you were to win a trip to our nation's capital, which sites would you visit?

National Air and Space Museum

5. As a very young child, Jose taught himself to play the accordion. If you could suddenly, easily learn to play any instrument, which would you choose?

A guitar

6. Jose says that hearing early 1950s rock on the radio made him want to become a singer. What's your favorite music genre?

Rock & Roll

7. At 17, Jose had to drop out of school to help support his family. Too young to enter bars, he played guitar in coffee houses for tips. Have you ever worked a job where you regularly received gratuities?

Nope, never have.

8. Jose and wife Susan have been together for more than 40 years. Who is the happiest married couple you know?

My parents, they were married 66 years.

9. Jose wrote and performed the theme of the 1970s show, Chico and the Man. What's your current favorite TV show?

It is a toss-up between NICIS, Major Crimes, and Rizzoli & Isles.

 Now let's see if you can get these songs out of your head!

We Can’t Let Them Make The Rules

The good news is that we now have insurance coverage for our transition, the bad news is that no one knows what it covers.

Insurers raise concerns over new transgender treatment rule
Capitol.com
By Laura Nahmias
Dec. 11, 2014

New York State’s new requirement that private insurers cover sex reassignment surgery, hormone treatments and therapy for transgender individuals is drawing praise from LGBT advocates, and concern from insurers.
[…]
But the mandate is drawing concern from insurers who argue it could add to insurers' costs and set a precedent for patients seeking coverage for cosmetic changes they consider essential for their mental well-being.

“The concern we have is that by putting a spotlight on sex changes we’re setting a precedent,” said Leslie Moran, senior vice president for the state's Health Plan Association.
[…]
The changes could be a “slippery slope for other treatments and services people argue are mental health-related,” Moran said.

There is no “slippery slope” it is simple if healthcare providers think that the medical procedure is warranted it should be covered.

Insurance already covers certain cosmetic surgeries such as, burn victims, cancer patients, auto accidents victims, and many more surgeries; in addition, they also cover electrolysis for women with hirsutism. We should be able to have medical procedures that are covered by non-trans-people as long as a healthcare providers deems it necessary for our well-being. We cannot let the insurance companies determine what they will cover, but rather the medical profession should decide. 

The Right Wing Agenda…

…is, “if the truth doesn’t support the conservative cause, lie” and that is what the news media does. Don't let the little thing like the facts get in your way.

Cleveland Paper's Editorial Invokes Fear of 'Predators' in Trans Accommodations
Several Plain Dealer editorial board members made the misinformed argument that allowing trans people to use the facilities that correspond with their gender identity would endanger women.
Advocate
By Dawn Ennis
December 10, 2014

As a proposal to revise Cleveland’s laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people enters its second month of consideration, the editors of that city’s largest newspaper are weighing in on the issue. And as Media Matters reports, when it comes to changes regarding “public accommodations,” a majority of the editors got it wrong.

The media watchdog site accuses the editorial board of The Plain Dealer and the Northeast Ohio Media Group of “peddling the myth that sexual predators will be allowed to sneak into women's bathrooms.”

As a proposal to revise Cleveland’s laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people enters its second month of consideration, the editors of that city’s largest newspaper are weighing in on the issue. And as Media Matters reports, when it comes to changes regarding “public accommodations,” a majority of the editors got it wrong.

The media watchdog site accuses the editorial board of The Plain Dealer and the Northeast Ohio Media Group of “peddling the myth that sexual predators will be allowed to sneak into women's bathrooms.”

And it is not just that they do not know the facts and are uninformed,

But that’s not what the proposed ordinance does. As Media Matters reports, the language says nothing about allowing men to use women's restrooms.

In New Hampshire when the proposed gender inclusive bill was before the legislature the conservative media label the bill “the bathroom bill” and generated such a backlash against the bill that not even the bill sponsors voted for the bill. Here in Connecticut that label never got any traction even through the conservative tried to label it that.

Oh When Will They Ever Learn

You would think by now that by know school boards would know that it is illegal to discriminate against trans-students. The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice have issued many warnings that it is against Title IX to not recognize the gender of trans-students but school boards continue to ignore the directives.

Gloucester School Board OKs policy restricting transgender students from using boys' restroom
Daily Press
By Frances Hubbard
December 9, 2014

The Gloucester County School Board approved a policy on bathroom use Tuesday night that restricts transgender students to either single-stall restrooms or the restrooms designated for their biological gender.
[…]
The vote was 6-1. Board member Kim Hensley voted against the motion. Voting for it were board members Carla Hook, Randy Burak, Kevin Smith, Charles Records, Troy Anderson and Anita Parker.
There were a number of people speaking against the policy, including some who you wouldn’t think would be against the policy,
[…]
"This issue is the civil rights issue of this generation and we've got to treat everybody fairly," said Pastor Fred Carter. "We have no advantage in leaving a child out. ... Who are we to judge?"

"How would you want this handled if it was your child?" Mark Farina asked. "My son is no more threatened by this young man than any other young man that walks in the bathroom."

And it was pointed out that the new policy was a violation of Title IX but the school board thumbed it nose at the law…

School Board member Records said the board should not be fearful of the ACLU or the Department of Justice.

But one board member got it right, Kim Hensley said that "The answer is not this motion, the answer is privacy," and she is exactly right. Everyone has the right to privacy. The days of open locker rooms and showers are over. Back in the early 70s when I went to college all the dorms had individual shower stalls. They were like bathroom stalls but has a seat and a hook to hang your clothes and a curtain to separate the shower from the changing area in the stall.

# # # # #

Bilerico has an article about lessons learned in Michigan equal rights bill and the author Brynn Tannehill got it right…

1.) Conservatives falsely claim that gender identity is already protected.
2.) Dividing and conquering over transgender inclusion remains a viable strategy for anti-LGBT conservatives.
3.) New conservative talking point: Refusing to leave the trans community behind is "radical," "left-wing."
4.) Conservatives always have the "religious freedom" poison pill to fall back on.
5.) LGBT organizations took 2007 to heart.
6.) Be careful who you let into the tent.

I urge you to go and read the full article; she goes into detail on all six takeaways. Especially number six, when we were trying to pass the gender inclusive anti-discrimination bill we wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page.

We have to learn from our wins and losses because the conservatives are also learning.

The End Is Coming!

The end is coming, no not the end of the world but the ban on trans-servicemembers, the hand writing in on the wall.

Air Force secretary supports lifting transgender ban
USA Today
By Susan Page
December 10, 2014

ARLINGTON, Va. — Now that the U.S. military has opened more jobs to women and allowed gay men and lesbians to serve openly, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James says the ban on transgender troops is likely to be reassessed and should be lifted.

"Times change," she told Capital Download, saying the policy "is likely to come under review in the next year or so." Asked whether dropping the ban would affect military readiness, she replied: "From my point of view, anyone who is capable of accomplishing the job should be able to serve."
[…]
She apparently is the first secretary of a branch of the armed forces to support the idea of ending the ban on transgender troops, though House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California and some other members of Congress have urged the Pentagon to lift it.

Leave it to a woman to speak up first, the men are all waiting to see who will make the first move; you go first… no you go first… no you. Well the first move has been made.

Trans*

Do you use “Trans*” I started using just “trans” many years ago before it became fashionable, I kind of morphed into using it. I didn’t like the label “transsexual” it sounded too clinical, transgender wasn’t bad but it didn’t really identify me. Trans-woman was closer but eventually I just started to say “trans,” there is an essay in Slate about using “Trans*”

Why Trans Caught On
By Reid Vanderburgh
December 8, 2014

With only two words to choose from, man or woman, boy or girl, those who re-examine gender find themselves bumping up against the limitations of English. How can two words begin to capture the experience of the complex social process we call gender? Those redefining gender for themselves expand the lexicon far beyond two words, such that it becomes clear there is no consensus at all on terminology. For instance, some happily call themselves transsexual, noting they did change the sex of their body and this feels the most descriptive to them; others recoil in horror at the idea, exclaiming, "How can you use that term, it’s so medical model and pathologizing!"

Note how many of the above terms include the prefix trans. In the interest of pragmatic inclusivity, the shorthand term trans has become part of the community lexicon. A newer term still is trans*, reinforcing the idea that there are multiple possible endings to follow trans. Even there, consensus isn’t possible. Some view trans and trans* as two different populations of people—trans is viewed as the umbrella term for those who undertake some form of physical transition, while those who are trans* are in a middle-ground of gender that doesn’t pursue physical body modification. Others view trans as a fluid, deliberately-vague term that stands on its own, much like the term queer; the term trans* makes more clear that there are multiple identities under consideration, that one should then ask, "What does your * stand for?"

When I give workshops I joke “Don’t look at the bottom of the page for the asterisk because it means multiple suffixes” and sure enough there are a few people in the audience who were looking all over the page to see what the “*” means. 

We Don’t Count

When there are surveys or data being collective we are rarely counted, how many times have you read something about LGBT and found out that it really was only LG with no “_BT". Whether it is for elder care, LGBT cruises, school bullying, or violence against LGBT people, it is really only about lesbians and gays.

FBI Understates Hate-Motivated Attacks on Transgender People
BuzzFeed
By Dominic Holden
December 8, 2014

Despite a recent epidemic of violent attacks and homicides of transgender women, the FBI’s annual hate crime report released today says only 33 people in the United States were targeted in bias crimes for their gender identity in 2013.

This is the first year federal officials are reporting hate crimes against transgender people, as is now required by the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act. But after seeing the results of this year’s report, antiviolence experts said the new figures for transgender violence are impossibly small. “The phrase that comes to mind is tip of the iceberg,” Osman Ahmed, the education coordinator of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), told BuzzFeed News. “That is an incredibly low number.”

By way of comparison, the NCAVP issued a comprehensive report in May that found 344 transgender people — more than 10 times the FBI’s figure — were the victims of hate-motivated violence in 2013. That was up from 305 the year before. The group found 13 transgender people in the U.S. were killed last year in bias attacks.

Why does this happen?

I can think of many reasons… they don’t think there is a difference between us and gays and lesbians, we are all “Gays.” They don’t have a “box” for gender identity on their form or they don’t ask the right questions. Or we do not identify ourselves as being trans for a number of reasons like fear of discrimination or we do not consider ourselves to be trans, we are a man or a woman, not transgender. Also if the news media does their job right they won’t report us as being trans, just a man or woman and not a trans-man or trans-woman.

The article goes on to say,

Among the reasons federal statistics underrepresent attacks on transgender people, experts say, many state and local hate crime laws don’t include protections for LGBT people. Such is the case in Ohio; because Ohio has no statewide law to prosecute hate crimes against LGBT victims, the state may not report certain incidents as hate crimes. Aaron Eckhardt, a leader of Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), pointed out in an interview recently with BuzzFeed News, “According to Ohio, there have been zero hate crimes committed against people in those categories.”

Many times hate crimes do not get reported as hate crimes because it gives the authorities a “black eye,” in school reporting of bullying many school report “zero” cases because they set the bar for labeling an incident as bullying is set high. They don’t want their school to be labeled as a school with a lot of bullying.

Expanding The Employment Protection For Us

The Department of Labor just announced their final revision of the President’s Executive Order for employment protection for gender identity and sexual orientation to go into effect in 120 days.

Labor Department announces final rule for LGBT workplace executive order
LGBTQNation
Staff Reports
Wednesday, December 3, 2014

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday announced the final rule for prohibiting discrimination against transgender federal employees and LGBT employees of federal contractors.

The rule implements an Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on July 21.

The order bans workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees by amending a previous order issued by President Bill Clinton banning sexual orientation discrimination within the federal workforce.

In the same order, Obama established new standards for federal contractors prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, which employ 20 percent of the American workforce. In so doing, the order protects 14 million more American workers from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

This is in addition to the EEOC ruling from two years ago, the EO also includes sexual orientation, but it is just for government contractors.

Of course the Republicans are in a tizzy, they want to expand the religious exemption to include companies like Hobby Lobby.

There is an interesting blog on the EEOC efforts to expand to protect lesbians, trans-people, and gays in the workplace. The blog Lexicon explains how the EEOC has sued a number of companies for discriminating against trans-people and is working to include sexual orientation to that protection,

Led by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), federal agencies are beginning to focus on sexual orientation, gender identity and transgender discrimination.  While the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has been introduced in every Congress since 1994, is unlikely to gain traction in the new Republican-controlled Congress, the EEOC and Department of Labor (DOL) have made lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues an enforcement priority.

On September 25, 2014, the EEOC filed a pair of lawsuits against companies alleging discrimination against transgender employees.  Both lawsuits cite violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provides protection against sex discrimination.  This signifies the first time that the federal government has used Title VII to target private companies for LGBT discrimination.  Additionally, in October, the EEOC filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reconsider its decision in Muhammad v. Caterpillar, Inc., 767 F.3d 694 (7th Cir. 2014), that Title VII does not bar sexual-orientation discrimination.
[…]
The EEOC has advanced a gender-stereotyping theory of sex discrimination first articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989).  Rather than focus on sexual orientation discrimination per se, the EEOC has focused on gender-stereotyping arguments where, for example, an employee is penalized for behavior or mannerisms not conforming to traditional gender norms.

This is an interesting strategy, by claiming that gays and lesbians are being discriminated against because they do not fit the gender-stereotype, not because of their sexual orientation. This was the strategy that trans-people used to get the courts to extend Title VII protection to gender identity.