Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2009

When we come out of the “closet,” it affects everyone in our family. Everyone in our extended must adjust to us being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and for some family members for one reason or another they cannot make that adjustment. We become disenfranchised and never see our family or a family member ever again. In other families, they accept us with open arms.

However, as more and more states adopted marriage equality, their children are facing new struggles. In the past couple of weeks, there was a press conference and a seminar on bullying in schools and a major component is bullying against children of LGBT parents. At the events, a number of children told their stories about being harassed in school and the school administration looking the other way. At PTO meetings or teacher/parent meetings, the parents faced discrimination and intolerance by the staff or the other parents. One transgender parent was asked not to volunteer as a chaperon at school functions, not because of anything that she did, but because of who she is. They told her that she made the other parents uncomfortable.

On this “Blogging for LGBT Families Day” we must all work together to end discrimination, harassment and bigotry against LGBT families.

For a list of blogs that are taking part in “Blogging for LGBT Families” visit Mombian a lifestyle web site for lesbian moms and other LGBT parents

George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church

George Tiller shot to death at Wichita church
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.

Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.
...
"Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today’s event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George’s friends and patients. This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.

This is a terrorist act.

Update: 4:47pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 31, 2009
NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Statement on the Murder of Dr. George Tiller

Washington, D.C. – Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, today issued the following statement on the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kan.

“On behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice America, our prayers and thoughts are with Dr. Tiller’s family and friends at this moment, a moment that fills us with immeasurable shock and deep sadness.

“For almost two decades, Dr. Tiller and those individuals who helped provide care to his patients have lived under intense harassment tinged with persistent threats of violence. Even under these adverse circumstances, Dr. Tiller never wavered in his commitment to providing abortion services and other reproductive health care to women and their families, often in the most difficult and heart-breaking circumstances.

“Dr. Tiller’s murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country. We want them to know that they have our support as they move forward in providing these essential services in the aftermath of the shocking news from Wichita.

“We understand that the investigation is ongoing and that law-enforcement officials are pursuing a suspect. If it proves to be an act of anti-abortion violence, as we suspect it is, then the full weight of the law must be used to send a clear message that these types of attacks will be prosecuted fully and swiftly.

“We also call on opponents of a woman’s right to choose to condemn this action completely and absolutely. What happened today in Wichita cannot become the beginning of a more aggressive wave of violence targeting abortion providers and the women for whom they provide care. Women accessing their legal right to abortion—and the providers who make this possible—should never be targets of violence.”

On The Lighter Side Of Marriage Equality…

I heard this song and I can’t get it out of my mind…



"Garfunkel and Oates sing a pro-gay marriage song in response to a Pat Robertson quote that legalizing gay marriage would lead to legalizing sex with ducks." http://garfunkelandoates.com/

Today’s Hartford Courant Editorial – Transgender Rights

State Must Extend Legal Protections To Transgender Residents
May 30, 2009

Connecticut has done a good job of protecting its residents from discrimination in employment, education, housing, public accommodations and credit. But one small group of people has been left out of specific statutory protection. The legislature should rectify the omission by adding the phrase "gender identity or expression" to anti-discrimination laws.

About half of the comments on the Hartford Courant’s web-site have been negative. They make the same old arguments about teachers and “special rights.”

One person writes, “Do you want then teaching Elementary School children? Do you want them running Daycare Centers? Do you want your young childs sexual identity influenced by these folks? Just a thought.” Another wrote, “What exactly does "legal protection" mean for cross dressers? Does that mean that a cross dressing male can show up at his job at an elementary, junior high or high school wearing a dress and make-up?”

As I have mentioned before, this is the same old argument that they said about gays in the seventies when Anita Bryant running around the country sell her hate. And they said it in the 90’s when Connecticut passed a non-discrimination law protecting sexual orientation. It wasn’t true then and it not true now. In addition, if you ban teachers from transitioning, you are teaching the children that it is OK to discriminate and as I mentioned in an earlier post about school bullying of LGBT students, this will only increase the bullying by sending the wrong message.

Then you have the “special rights” crowd… “What laws protect the normal, middle class, white, working man? We always hear about laws to protect certain"groups", what is there to protect me?” and “Wait one minute here. I belong to the rather large group of disenfrancheised voters. Can we get statutory protection too?” or “Until the State adds a Council on the Equal Legal Protection of White Males, I will not endorse further additional rights being given others.”

What is so special about wanting a job so that you can take care of your family?

The editorial then goes on to say,

This could be done yet this session by amendment. A bill to add that language received a public hearing but was not voted out of committee.

I won’t be holding my breath. Since there are, only three more days left in the legislative session and the budget hasn’t been passed yet. In 2007, they introduced the bill to the House at the end of the day, the day before the session ended and it got filibuster. I would imagine the samething would happen this year if they introduced the amendment.

Saturday Six - Episode 268

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six - Episode 268

1. You’re planning a trip that would be an eight-hour car ride, a four-hour train ride, or a two-hour plane ride. With money and time being no object, which would you most likely choose and why?
I would travel by train, because you can sit back, relax and enjoy the view or you can walk around and visit the dinning car.
I actually was thinking about taking the high speed train to Washington DC this spring. It was a four-hour trip compared to a six-hour drive. If I took the plane, it would have been about three hours (two and half hours getting through the security and baggage handling, and only 30-minute flight time).

2. Has your worst travel experience been on a plane, on a bus or in a car?
It was in a plane a long time ago. We were flying back from a wedding in Dayton Ohio, the plane had an engine go out and there were all thunderstorms around us. The plane was weaving in and out of the storms and was heavy turbulence.

3. Of the following modes of transportation, which one are you most likely to be able to sleep in as a passenger? When did you last doze in that vehicle?
In a car, bus or train I can sleep. Since I am usually the driver, I don’t get to sleep.

4. Of that same list, which one would you least likely to be able to sleep in as a passenger? What’s the biggest stumbling block to your being able to sleep that way?
A plane, it is too noisy to sleep.

5. Take the quiz: What Type of Transportation Are You?

You Are Walking

You are a calm, peaceful person. You truly enjoy life. You are very down to earth and grounded. You are not easily upset. More than other people, you are able to really stop and smell the roses. You take things at your own speed. You realize that life is a journey, not a race.

What Type of Transportation Are You?

6. In your response to the quiz, which single line best describes you?
Actually I like the whole answer, but the best line is “You take things at your own speed. You realize that life is a journey, not a race.”

Saturday 9: Uninvited

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Uninvited



1. Do you mind people to show up uninvited?
Yes, I think you should call before you stop by.

2. Last person you talked to on the phone?
A friend to find out if anyone was going to the coffee shop tonight.

3. Last person on your missed call list?
A person from a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) at a local high school to set up a speaking engagement.

4. Who calls you the most?
My brother

5. What is your favorite song about breaking up?
I never thought about a song about breaking up, I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what song to pick.

6. If someone sent you an unexpected gift, what would you like it to be?
I could say a million dollars or a Porsche, but I would say that I would want a gift from the heart.

7. Your classic rock station plays the top songs of all time. What is number one?
It is a toss-up between WPLR 99.1 in New Haven and WAQY 102.1 in Springfield

8. Do you live for today or tomorrow?
Tomorrow, because you always have to plan for the future. It you live for today, then when tomorrow comes you will not be prepared.

9. What movie villain scared you as a kid?
I do not know, that was a very long time ago, if I had to pick I would say Snidely Whiplash

Friday Fill-ins #126

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins #126



1. It's cold and _wet and dreary just like last Friday _.

2. _I love cherry _ tomatoes.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is _skin conditioner for my dry skin_.

4. _Up to the cottage is_ a nice long ride.

5. Well, first of all _they do not go there, they go on the top self_.

6. _Dick Chaney and George W. Bush_; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was _scary_.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _the film festival_, tomorrow my plans include _going to a party_ and Sunday, I want to _go walking_!

School Bullying

I just came from a fantastic forum on school bullying, it was an open and frank discussion on bullying aim at LGBT youth…

A COMMUNITY FORUM WORKING TOWARDS TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF LGBT YOUTH IN OUR SCHOOLS

WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN THE CAUSE?

• 30% of youth who commit suicide are gay and lesbian. THIS COULD BE YOUR CHILD

• Many youth keep their sexuality a secret so if your child is gay, lesbian or bisexual, you may not even know it and he/she may be suffering. THIS COULD BE YOUR CHILD.

• Your child does not even need to be gay or lesbian, bisexual or transsexual to be violently targeted. All there needs to be is a perception that he/she is one of the former.

• 53% of students report hearing homophobic remarks by school staff

• 97% of students in public high schools report hearing homophobic remarks from their peers

Are these the morals you want your children to grow up with?

The forum was attended by teachers, students, school social workers, GSA faculty advisor, UConn School of Social Work staff and activists.
I came away with a clearer understanding on how bullying affects everyone, how the key to ending bullying is to bring about a change in culture that must begin at the top. Not just the teachers or the school administrators, but in the community, in the churches, and in the families. Having a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) is a step in the right direction, but there has to be a zero tolerance on name-calling, calling a person a faggot or using the expression “That so gay.” Churches have to tone down their inflammatory rhetoric. Families cannot throw their sons or daughters out in the street because they are gay, lesbian or transgender.
There was a ten-year girl there who told how she was bullied because her mom is a lesbian and that the school administrators did nothing about it. She told how she organized a group of other children to bring about change in her school.

What Motivates MeTo Be An Activist

I have been asked many times, on why or how I became an activist, and I think that I always cared about civil rights; however, I never acted on those cares.

My activism started out without direct thought about becoming an activist. When I came out of the closet in 1999, I began attending a support/social group called the Connecticut Outreach Society that meets twice a month. I started becoming active in COS because it gave me another night to go out dressed as Diana by attending the Board meetings for the Connecticut Outreach Society. At the Board meetings, I started to volunteer to work at events that COS took part in, I helped at events like the True Colors conference and Pride where COS had a table. Later I became Program Director and still later, I became their Executive Director, not out of activism but a desire to build COS back up again. Its paid membership was down to a little over a dozen members and its treasury had less than a thousands dollars, not enough to pay the rent and phone bill for the rest of the year.

I started to realize that my feeling was deeper then crossdressing, that it was more of an identity of who I am and not what I wore. I started to attend the Twenty Club, a support group for transsexuals and there I started to hear stories discrimination and oppression. I heard stories of members being fired when they came out at work or highly skilled workers who were unable to find employment. I heard members tell how they were thrown out of stores or restaurants because they are trans. I heard a story of how a trans-woman was beaten on the job and she was arrested by police for disorderly conduct and her attackers were not arrested. Of being harassed by the police. This went against my deep sense of justice and fairness, and I wanted to do something to end the injustice. Thus was my activism born, by asking a simple question, “What can I do to help?”

It lead to my involvement with the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition and it lead me to pursuing my Masters in Social Work.

The CT Out Film Festival

Last night I went to the Connecticut Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at Trinity College’s Cinestudio to watch the movie Trinidad that is about how the city is known for the Gender Reassignment Surgeries. The movie was a documentary and was pretty much what I expected. They had interviews from the town’s people both for ands against, the movie showed the obligatory putting on make-up scene and the “before and after” shots.
However, before the main feature they had a number of shorts which were very good. They were, “Babysitting Andy,” Pat Mills, 2007, Canada, 11 min, “The Bond,” Michael Connell, 2007, USA, 6 min, “Just Me?” Amy Neil, 2007, USA, 22 min and “Shafted” Allegra & April Hirschman, 2009, USA, 9 min (the producer was there and afterward she answered questions about the movie).
I did like the short “The Bond” this is the write-up from the film festival…

"How could you raise a transsexual child and not know it?" In this honest and compassionate documentary, the father of a transsexual child shares his family's story - what it was like when his child came out, how their relationship has changed, and how their bond continues to get stronger. Made by a father for transsexual and transgender individuals and their parents, this film offers hopeful answers to the hard questions parents face when a child - of any age - comes out.

I liked it so much that I looked up where I could buy it and the distributor sells it for $50!!! Come on folks, it is only 6 minutes long that is over $8 a minute! I can buy the movie Mamma Mia for $20 and that is over a 100 minutes long. Michael Connell produced the movie as a class project with fellow students in five weeks.
The other “short” that I liked was “Just Me?” that was about a lesbian researching her family tree to find out if her great-grandmother was a lesbian. The movie was very nicely done

California high court upholds gay marriage ban

California high court upholds gay marriage ban

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

(05-26) 10:23 PDT San Francisco, CA (AP) --

The state Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage Tuesday, but also decided that the estimated 18,000 gay couples who tied the knot before the law took effect will stay wed.

The 6-1 decision written by Chief Justice Ron George rejected an argument from gay rights activists that the ban revised the California constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic degree that it first needed the Legislature's approval.

The court said the people have a right, through the ballot box, to change their constitution.

American Psychiatric Association (APA) DSM Reform

Last week I wrote about the protest out in San Francisco to change the 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' (DSM-IV) to remove Gender Identity Disorder (GID) as a mental illness. The protest were covered by various news agencies…

The Psychiatric Times wrote:

Gender Identity Disorder: Has Accepted Practice Caused Harm?
Lois Wingerson

As transgender activists protested outside the American Psychiatric Association (APA) meeting, speakers at the meeting were presenting on the same topic: gender identity disorder (GID). Some of their words would add clinical weight to the political slogans.

…Sidney W. Ecker, MD, a former clinical professor of urology at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, and chief of urology at the Washington DC VA Medical Center, was scheduled to review studies documenting that factors that influence gender identity are present before birth. While social and hormonal influences act later during childhood, he wrote, “gender identity is determined before and persists despite these effects.

Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, a professor at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, Calif, had a message more difficult for psychiatrists to hear. “The mental health profession has been consistently doing harm to children who are not ‘gender normal,’ and they need to retrain,” she told Psychiatric Times. Ehrensaft has specialized in therapy for foster children as well as for children with gender issues.
…
A program at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, takes a different approach, offering in-person and online support groups to help families adjust to and help their children work through their own gender identity issues. Edgardo Menvielle, MD, MSHS, director of the program, was curious whether children seen in Washington have different mental health profiles than kids involved with the Toronto program. Based on Child Behavior Checklist ratings, he reported that the Washington youth showed “less pathological tendencies,” suggesting that peer support may “lessen manifestations of pathology in the child.
…
“We got homosexuality out of the DSM because of protests at the APA,” she [Diane Ehrensaft] pointed out. “Now it’s time to do the same with GID.”

Salon reports;

Are transgender people mentally ill?
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 05:38 PDT
Judy Berman

The LGBT community has had a long, often painful relationship with the psychiatric profession. Until 1974, when the American Psychiatric Association (APA) voted to remove the diagnosis from the second edition of its "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM), the organization maintained that homosexuality was a mental illness. The change came slowly, after years of protest and debate.
…
On Monday night, protesters gathered outside the APA meeting at a "Reform GID Now!" demonstration. As the association's membership works to revise the DSM for a fifth edition, activists want the APA to select a more representative working group on gender identity. Many in the transgender community are upset that Kenneth Zucker, psychologist-in-chief at Toronto's Center for Addiction and Mental Health, has been chosen to lead the DSM-V Task Force on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders…

Medpage, a news service for “physicians that provides a clinical perspective on the breaking medical news that their patients are reading” reported…

APA: Major Changes Loom for Bible of Mental Health
By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today
Published: May 19, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO, May 19 -- Some familiar disorders may be dropped and diagnostic criteria for others are in line for substantial revision in the forthcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).

Schizoaffective disorder and gender identity disorder are among those that may be on the chopping block, according to members of the working groups leading the revision who spoke here at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
…
Since it was first published in 1952, the DSM has provided the definitive word on what is and is not mental illness, with enormous influence within medicine and on the world beyond.

The elimination of homosexuality as a mental illness in the third DSM edition issued in the 1970s, for example, is now widely viewed as a watershed development in changing society's view from outright hostility to varying degrees of acceptance.

DSM-V is on track to be published in 2012…

Gender identity gets attention

One DSM issue that is drawing close attention from outside the psychiatric community is what to do with gender identity disorder.

The condition -- in which people, often during childhood, realize that their biological gender does not match what their minds tell them -- is now included in DSM-IV as a sexual dysfunction alongside pedophilia and sexual sadism.

Not surprisingly, transgender individuals and the groups representing them are lobbying hard to have gender identity disorder dropped from DSM-V.
…
As described by its chairwoman, Peggy Cohen-Kettinis, Ph.D., of VU University in Amsterdam, the group is facing three main options: keep gender identity disorder approximately as it is, jettison it entirely, or change the name and diagnostic criteria.

Dr. Cohen-Kettinis said the group was nearing a decision, but both she and fellow group member Jack Drescher, M.D., a New York-based psychiatrist and prolific author on sexuality and gender, were noncommittal on which way the group was leaning.

A number of speakers at the forum represented the transgender community and most pleaded for option two.

Rebecca Allison, M.D., a Phoenix-based cardiologist and transsexual, said the ideal would be to drop the condition from DSM but keep it in the International Classification of Diseases system as a medical condition, with a name like "gender variance."

Such a move would make it more likely that insurance companies would cover transgender transition services such as hormonal treatments and surgery, she and other speakers said.

I believe that it is time to remove GID from the realm of a mental illness to that of a medical disease. To remove the sigma of a mental illness that the right wing fanatics use against us and to recognize that a persons gender is determined in utero before ever taking their first breath.

Saturday 9: Hot Fun in the Summertime

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Hot Fun in the Summertime



1. Is summer your favorite season? Why?
No, I like the fall better. The summer is too hot! However, I do like swimming and canoeing.

2. Do you exercise more in the summer because you wear less clothing?
Less, it is too hot! I tend to walk more in the spring and fall, during the summer I only walk in th early morning.

3. Do you enjoy tanning or are you more concerned about the dangers of basking in the sun?
I am more concerned about getting cancer, since it runs in the family.

4. You are on the beach when a waiter appears for your drink order. What do you ask for?
A tall glass of ice tea.

5. Do you camp in the summertime?
I use to go backpacking when I was younger and could care a 65lb. pack.

6. What was your favorite summer vacation as a kid?
When I was about seven or eight we use to go up to lake Winnisquam NH every summer to a cottage on the lake. The picture is from around 1955.

7. Do you enjoy sleeping outdoors?
Yes, as long as there are no biting bugs

8. Do you throw a summer barbecue every year?
No, not really, however, I do invite friends up to the cottage and we have a cookout.

9. Have you ever been to a nude beach? If yes, what did you think?
Nope. Not my cup of tea.

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins #125



1. Moving _on up, moving on out_.

2. _Nothing in life is_ free.

3. My best quality is _that I keep my word_.

4. _The devil is in the_ details.

5. In nearly 10 years, _I will be over the hill_.

6. _A good night sleep_ is what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _the class party_, tomorrow my plans include _driving up to our cottage in New Hampshire_ and Sunday, I want to _work on the cottage_!

Stop Bullying In Our Schools

Even with a law against bullying, it is still rampant in Connecticut. The recent report “Harsh Realities Finds Transgender Youth Face Extreme Harassment in School” by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) showed…

Key findings of Harsh Realities include:

Biased language:

# 90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

# 90% of transgender students heard negative remarks about someone’s gender expression sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

# Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks (16%) or negative remarks about someone’s gender expression (11%).

# School staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks (32%), sexist remarks (39%) and negative comments about someone’s gender expression (39%) sometimes, often or frequently in the past year.

School Safety and Experiences of Harassment and Assault

# Two-thirds of transgender students felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation (69%) and how they expressed their gender (65%).

# Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened) in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (87%).

# More than half of all transgender students had been physically harassed (e.g., pushed or shoved) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (55%) and gender expression (53%).

# More than a quarter of transgender students had been physically assaulted (e.g., punched, kicked or injured with a weapon) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (28%) and gender expression (26%).

# Most transgender students (54%) who were victimized in school did not report the events to school authorities. Among those who did report incidents to school personnel, few students (33%) believed that staff addressed the situation effectively.

Impact of Victimization on Educational Outcomes

# Almost half of all transgender students reported skipping a class at least once in the past month (47%) and missing at least one day of school in the past month (46%) because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.

# Transgender students experiencing high levels of harassment were more likely than other transgender students to miss school for safety reasons (verbal harassment based on sexual orientation: 64% vs. 25%, gender expression: 56% vs. 32%, gender: 68% vs. 38%).

# Transgender students who experienced high levels of harassment had significantly lower GPAs than those who experienced lower levels of harassment (verbal harassment based on sexual orientation: 2.2. vs. 3.0, gender expression: 2.3 vs. 2.8, gender: 2.2 vs. 2.7).

Engagement with the School Community

# Transgender students who were out to most or all other students and school staff reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community than those who were not out or only out to a few other students or staff.

# The majority (66%) of transgender students were out to most or all of their peers, yet less than half (45%) were out to most or all of the school staff.

# Most transgender students had talked with a teacher (66%) or a school-based mental health professional (51%) at least once in the past year about LGBT-related issues. Transgender students were also more likely than non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students to talk with school staff about these issues.

In-School Resources and Supports

# Although transgender students were not more likely to report having a GSA in their school, they did report attending GSA meetings more frequently than non-transgender LGB students.

# Although most transgender students (83%) could identify at least one supportive educator, only a third (36%) could identify many (six or more) supportive staff.

# Only half (54%) of transgender students reported that their school had an anti-harassment policy, and only 24% said that the school policy included specific protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Today at the Legislative Office Building (LOB) there is a press conference at 3:30 in hearing room 1C. At the press conference, youth leaders will share their ideas about improving school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and ally youth. Please attend and add your voice to end discrimination and bullying.

Something My Mother Never Taught Me

Being transgender, you have to learn life lessons quickly. Many things women learn over a lifetime I have to learn in months. Last week, I had to take a friend to the hospital for out patience surgery and I waited around all day at the hospital. At lunchtime, I went down to the cafeteria to eat and as I went through the salad bar line, the guy behind me started talking to me. He asked me if anything in the salad bar look good today, I replied that it didn’t and we talked about the quality of the salad bar as we moved down the bar. After a while, I realized that he was flirting with me. That was a very strange realization, it is something that I have not gotten use to yet. It’s strange for two reasons, one, I am not use to strangers coming and talking to me and two; I am attracted to women.

Before I transitioned, it was very rare that a stranger man or woman would start a conversation with me. Now when I am in a checkout line at store, the clerk or someone in line will make a comment about an item that I am buying and it is something that I am just starting to get use to happening. I still do not know quite how to respond when a women complements me about the clothes that I am wearing. I do not know if I should say anything besides thanking them or saying where I bought the clothes.

These are just a few of the things that I never learned while growing up.

A Tale Of Two Countries

Yesterday in San Francisco there was a protest against the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The protesters want the APA to revise the 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' (DSM-V) to remove Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and related diagnoses from the fifth edition (see below -- The vision of GID Reform). Meanwhile in France, the French government has removed transsexualism as a mental illness, creating a stark contrast to the draconian polices of the APA.

A persons who been diagnosed with GID is stigmatized and discriminated against for the rest of their lives. At the same time that homosexuality was removed from the DSM, GID was added to it. Just as homosexuality is no longer considered a mental illness so should GID. I believe that you should only be diagnosed with GID if you have a problem with being transgendered not because you are transgendered. I recall a line from the move “Transanerica” where Bree Osborne at one point tells her psychiatrist, "Isn't it funny how plastic surgery can cure mental illness," and I feel that is the point, it is not a mental illness but medical and it should be treated as such.

However, for many gender variant people they will not be able to get proper medical treatment (hormones surgery, etc.) with out a diagnoses, therefore I believe that GID should be taken out of the DSM and added to the list of medical diseases. As I mentioned this has already been done in France…

Le Provence:
Transsexualism will no longer be classified as a mental illness in France
Published on Saturday 16 May 2009
Translated by Curtis E. Hinkle, Founder of the Organisation Intersex International

Transsexualism will no longer be classified in France as a mental illness, a government decision hailed Saturday as "historic" by the associations concerned, on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and transphobia.

The Minister of Health, Roselyne Bachelot, has appealed "in recent days" to the High Authority of Health in order to make a decree that transsexualism be removed from the category of psychiatric disorders, a spokesman for the department stated.

In America, those calling for reform have said…

Human Rights Campaign (HRC):
“In 1973 the APA wisely voted to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The result was a very real decrease in bias and prejudice faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in our society. Today, America’s psychiatric professionals are considering changing the way diversity of gender identity and expression are classified in this important document. This work has far-reaching implications not only for the health and well-being of transgender people, but for the civil rights of the transgender community and of all people

PBS “In The Life:”
…Because GID pathologizes the identity of those diagnosed, many gender nonconforming children are subject to so-called “reparative” therapies by parents and mental health professionals. Such therapies regard adult transexuality or homosexuality as a “bad outcome.” Because the American healthcare system requires a GID diagnosis before a doctor can prescribe hormones or perform sex-reassignment-surgery, transgender adults are caught in a Catch-22. They are as reliant on GID as they are stigmatized by it.

The vision of GID Reform:
It is time for the medical professions to affirm that difference is not disease, nonconformity is not pathology, and uniqueness is not illness

It is time for culturally competent psychiatric policies that recognize the legitimacy of cross-gender identity and yet distinguish gender dysphoria as a serious condition, treatable with medical procedures.

It is time for diagnostic criteria that serve a clear therapeutic purpose, are appropriately inclusive, and define disorder on the basis of distress or impairment and not upon social nonconformity.
It is time for medical policies which, above all, do no harm to those they are intended to help.

The activists yesterday were calling for…

1. A more representative Work Group
The APA Work Group on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders is currently compromised by some members who have clear conflicts of interest in retaining and expanding specific diagnoses they have been involved in creating or promoting.
We urge the APA to expand the Work Group to represent more diverse views from behavioral science, bioethics, and philosophy of science.

2. A published position statement from APA
APA has often shifted public policy and perception through the publication of approved position statements. We urge the APA to state that diagnosing normal variants of human gender identity and expression as psychiatric disorders encourages an adversarial relationship between psychiatry and sex and gender minorities. We also urge the APA to state that these diagnoses are misused by some people outside of psychiatry who wish to deny civil rights to trans and gender-variant people.

This is an eleven minute video from “In The Life” it is a little long but it does show the struggle that we are facing.

Manic Monday

Lisa’s Manic Monday #168



If you could completely redecorate any room in your house at no expense to you, what room would you choose?
My living room. I would like to have a wood from instead of carpet and it is time to paint the walls, I had the same color for the last 18 years. I was planning on changing it until I got laid-off a couple of years ago.

Which hour of the day do you feel goes the slowest?
That is an easy question to answer, three o’clock in the afternoon. I have been taking naps lately, of course waking up at 4 in the morning doesn’t help.

If your birthday could be in a different month of the year, when would you have it?
I like the month (early October) that my birthday is in now and I would not change it. The weather is still warm and the leaves are just changing color.

Youth In Harm's Way

This was in the Meriden Record Journal this morning…

Youth in harm's way
Robin P. McHaelen, MSW, is Executive Director, True Colors, Inc. in Manchester.
Visit: www.ourtruecolors.org for more information.
05/15/2009

"Daniel" was called a "faggot" every single day of his life in middle school - not because of his attractions, but because he "acted like a sissy." "Jude" got kicked out of her foster home because she refused to wear "girl clothes" to family functions and her foster parents were "embarrassed." From the time he was a toddler, "Jamie's" family tried to "man him up" with beatings. But Jamie knew right from the beginning that she was a girl. It took the rest of us until she was eleven to figure it out.
…
GLSEN's National School Climate Survey, a 2008 report on the experiences of more than 6,000 students, tells the story in stark terms: Almost all transgender students have been verbally harassed in school in the past year (87 percent). Over half of all transgender students have been physically harassed (pushed or shoved) in school because of their sexual orientation or gender expression. Over a quarter of these kids have been physically assaulted.
This must end - and it must end now.
…
At the same time, I am horrified by the experiences of the youth and adults among us who continue to be excluded from full participation as citizens. Over the last 15 years, I have borne witness to the discrimination that transgender and gender variant youth and adults experience on a daily basis. Thirteen other states have successfully passed legislation to legally protect these individuals - but Connecticut has not.

Youth across Connecticut who don't fit neatly inside the "norms" of masculinity and femininity are routinely harassed, name-called, and subject to various levels of violence at school, abused by family members and the community at large at home, and if relegated to out-of-home care, are likely to be re-victimized once in the system.

Too many leave school without graduating, opt out of services that are abusive and culturally incompetent, and end up on the street, couch-surfing, drifting through young adulthood with no place to go, and no one to turn to. This is tragic not only for them, but for our society as a whole. Who knows what human gifts have been lost, what talents wasted, for lack of simple, equal treatment under the law?


It is time that we end this bullying and discrimination and pass a gender inclusive anti-discrimination law and enforce the anti-bullying laws!

LGBT Healthcare

A study on the current needs of the LGBT community by the AMA Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation was just released.

Needs of gay, transgender patients not adequately addressed, report says
By Jessica Zigmond
Posted: May 13, 2009 - 3:45 pm EDT

The healthcare industry is not adequately addressing the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender patients, says an annual report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. Released for the third year in a row, the Healthcare Equality Index is a national report that sets benchmarks and highlights best practices and healthcare facility policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
…
According to the findings, less than 7% of facilities reporting protect patients from discrimination based on gender identity, while about 73% of participants protect these patients from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Meanwhile, 98% of the participating facilities bar employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 63% of those policies include “gender identity or expression” or “gender identity.” Cultural-competency training was more aligned, as 72% of participating facilities provide cultural-competency training addressing sexual orientation and healthcare issues relevant to the lesbian, gay and bisexual community, while about 70% of participating facilities provide cultural-competency training addressing gender identity and healthcare issues relevant to the transgender community.

I find it is very troubling that only 7% of the facilities have gender inclusive anti-discrimination policies. The trans-community horrible life threatening discrimination. A friend and a member of the support group told the group that she slipped on some ice and was taken to the emergency room. This is what she had to say about the incident.

"S" [Note: I deleted her name and will call her "S"] has worked as a truck driver for 27 years in _____, CT. She pays her bills, cares for her kids, and has been a trusted and capable employee …..Yet, as a transgender person, she has lived in fear that she will not have the same basic care and protections against discrimination that other Connecticut citizens have. In January, her fears became reality.

On January 30, 2009, "S" fell on the ice at work at 1:30 in the morning. She couldn't stand and was in horrible pain, but was able to call 911. The paramedics arrived in four minutes. After assessing her condition, they recognized the need to get "S" to a hospital as soon as possible. Yet, when you are transgender, even in the condition "S" was in, going to the hospital is not that easy of a decision.

At the hospital, she was attended to by three medical staff people. They began treating her by cutting off her clothes. "S" was frightened, cold, alone, and in desperate pain. Then….they stopped. And walked away.

Having learned she was a transgender person, they left her lying alone on a table for two long hours without any medication or care. At one point one of the doctors said to the other, "you deal with `it;' I'm not dealing with `it.'

The "it" was a human being: "S". Both doctors left the room, and the nurses told "S" to "start walking." They threw off her bed covers, then left the room for 45 minutes.

X-rays ultimately revealed a fractured vertebrae, but the hospital still released "S". She was told to have her primary doctor evaluate her further with a CT scan, MRI, and more x-rays. She was told to find a ride home.

Finally, "S" was fully evaluated at another local hospital. Her diagnosis: three fractured vertebrae, two crushed vertebrae, and one fractured rib.

Since then, "S" has had severe chest and back pain and months of physical therapy, while missing over six weeks of work.

She pursued a complaint against the hospital medical staff. An investigation was done, and the hospital confirmed the appalling and callous denial of care by their emergency staff. All people involved in "S"'s mistreatment will receive training.

Healthcare Equality Index http://www.hrc.org/HEI