The Boy Scouts…

…is a private organization so they claim and the Supreme Court has affirmed and because they are a private organization they can discriminate any way they want. What I want to know is if it is a private organization why are they getting public assistance? Many of troops meet at firehouses, schools and police stations for free. If they are truly private then they should be paying their own way and not getting free rent at the taxpayer’s expense.

Oak Park Eagle Scout returns medal in protest
20-year member of organization cites group's ban on gays
Chicago Tribune
By Dawn Rhodes
July 30, 2012

An Oak Park man is returning his Eagle Scout medal to the Boy Scouts of America in protest of the organization's recent decision to continue its ban against homosexual Scouts and leaders.

Rob Breymaier, executive director of the Oak Park Regional Housing Center, said he has long opposed the anti-gay policy, but he said he wanted to send back the medal because he has lost hope that the 102-year-old organization would "do the right thing."

"I could always explain away that it was an old policy and that sooner or later, we'll be able to force a vote on the issue," Breymaier said. "But when this vote happened and they reaffirmed the policy, it was just too much. It was infuriating, embarrassing and upsetting."

If the scouts are truly a private organization then they should stop receiving public funded support in the form of free rent, otherwise they should obey all the laws, including the non-discrimination laws.

Up At The Lake In NH

My friends from Long Island that I visited a couple of weeks ago left for home just now beating the thunderstorms. The weather had been good for the weekend except for the storms that just passed (There’re supposed to a couple of more lines of thunderstorm passing by this evening.).

We didn’t do much except sit by the water and when we needed to cool off, we just jumped into the lake. This morning we went out to brunch at a restaurant in Sunapee that’s right on the water called the Anchorage. We first went to the Old Courthouse restaurant in Newport, but we needed reservations, which we didn’t have. So that is how we ended up at the Anchorage. We ate out on the covered patio and for brunch I had Lobster Benedict, it was excellent!

Here is a photo (click on the photo for a larger photo) of the place where we ate (the grey building) from across the harbor…

These are the tour boats that go around Lake Sunapee, the MV Mt. Sunapee II & the MV Kearsarge

And here is the sailboat that I want to get…

No, no, not that one… this one.

Now I think it is time to jump in the lake again...

Jobs, EEOC & Title VII

The Obama administration is sending out mixed signals when it comes to job discrimination  for gender identity. Back in May the EEOC released a new policy to protect trans-people in employment, a NTCE press statement said…

NCTE congratulates our colleagues at the Transgender Law Center who tonight, announced a significant federal workplace rights victory. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled in a 5-0 decision that an employer who discriminates against a transgender employee or job applicant because of the person’s gender identity is illegal sex discrimination based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Though this ruling follows a growing number of court decisions around the country that have held that transgender people are protected by existing federal anti-discrimination laws, this is the first decision by the EEOC on this issue.

But in an article in Buzz Feed a few days ago said that…

The Department of Labor may not be enforcing protections for transgender employees of federal contractors — despite a three-month-old ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that should be applied to such workers under current Labor policies.

According to an investigation by BuzzFeed, in the past month alone the federal government has granted hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts subject to the Labor Department's oversight with companies that have not put in place rules protecting workers from discrimination based on gender identity.

Meanwhile, according to Business Management Daily  the EEOC…

THE LAW: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees and job applicants from discrimination because of sex. While Title VII traditionally has protected women from workplace discrimination and sexual harassment, the Supreme Court broadened its application in 1998, with a decision in Oncale v. Sun­­downer.

Citing Oncale, the EEOC has now stated that it believes Title VII prohibits workplace discrimination against transgender people—those whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Oncale is a Supreme Court decision that “sex discrimination consisting of same-sex sexual harassment is actionable under Title VII.

The United States Supreme Court's decision in 'Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.' declared that claims of same-sex sexual harassment are cognizable under Tide VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This decision ended the debate in the federal courts over this question by expressly disapproving of the Fifth Circuit's rejection of such claims.
[…]
Now that the Supreme Court has recognized same-sex sexual harassment claims because such claims are consistent with the language and objectives of Title VII, it bears noting that recognition of such claims under Title VII will have several desirable effects. First, these claims will not be used as a new tool in the oppression of gay men and lesbians under the law, as some commentators claim.  Instead, same-sex harassment claims will be a vehicle for outlawing sexual orientation discrimination by creating an incentive for the heterosexual majority, via illustrations in individual cases that heterosexuality is not a characteristic protected by Title VII, to lobby for passage of an amendment to Title VII or for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act...

And now the EEOC has based their decision regarding gender identity on this ruling by the Supreme Court,  we need to pressure the EEOC Dept of Labor OFCCP to enforce their policy. They are sending mixed signed, they published the policy on gender identity discrimination, but they are not enforcing the policy.

Saturday Six #434

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #434

1. What is the last business you decided to boycott because a group called for one?
I don’t know if I have boycotted any business. However, I only shop at Walmart if they are the last resort. But I don’t go there because of a boycott, I don’t go there because of how they treat their employees.

2. What business have you most recently boycotted because of your own experience with the company?
None.

3. Have you ever patronized a business specifically because others have called for a boycott?
Nope.

4. What is the key factor you use in deciding whether you’ll patronize a business whose owners have views other than your own?
I don’t know. I never really researched the businesses that I patronized, if the treat me OK, I’ll keep coming back. I know I won’t go to the local hardware store because of the way they treated me. I usually go to local businesses over large box store, but I’ll go to the box over that hardware store.

5. How much research do you typically do into the charitable contributions or philosophies of the corporate owners of a business before you patronize it?
I only give to local non-profits that I know.

6. What single business do you patronize that most closely matches your own world view?
As I said, I don’t research businesses, so I don’t know their views

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Meme 250 - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Crazy Sam’s  Saturday 9: Meme 250 - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

1. Do you ever feel like you are nowhere?
Actually I am in the middle of nowhere right now. the nearest pizza shop is a 20 minute drive, the nearest grocery store is 10 miles away and if you ever needed something from Home Depot it is a 90 minute round trip. Forget using your cell phone, there is no coverage for miles around. When I go into the big city “Hillsboro” I get an update on all my voice mails. And we finally got DSL this spring and no longed had to use a dial-up modem.

But ahh… the stars at night make it all worthwhile.

2. Do you keep your cool no matter what is going on around you?
I try to. I might end up counting to ten many times.

3. Do you feel that career should be more important than your love life?
No, there are more jobs out there, but only one true love.

4. In what way do you feel that you are unique?
Well, I am only 0.02% of the population.

5. Do you feel that there is a part of you that you need to hide from most people?
Not any more, you get what you see.

6. Have you ever held on to a relationship even though you truly knew it was already over?
Nope.

7. Would you say that you are a winner in this game of life?
No, I’m running in the back of the pack.

8. Can you tell us about a time when you were broke and yet still happy?
Nope, I never was broke.

9. Do you think staying celibate between relationships important?
Well it depends, do you mean by choice or that is no other option?

Friday Fill-ns

Janet’s Friday Fill-ns

1. Well, ok, maybe _I’ll have one more piece of cake_.
2. _You buying that car, now_ that's a stretch!
3. When I'm making _plans, I hate any last minute changes_.
4. _Now that I’m eating a proper diet I am_ a bit healthier.
5. And frankly, _I can tell the difference_.
6. _Eating junk foods and not exercising is the_ root of all evil. But _you can change_.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _watching a movie and having some popcorn with some friends up at the cottage_, tomorrow my plans include _floating around in the water doing nothing_ and Sunday, I want to _do the same_!

My Story Part 129 – Prius

When I got my first Prius I was one of the few people in the state to own a Prius II, I had ordered in when the second generation came out in October 2003 and I was the first one on the list. When they arrived on the lot in December it was only one of ten in the state. Mind you this was before I came out to anyone and that created a problem since not only was it the first Prius, but I also have a vanity license plate. When “Diana” was driving it, I was always afraid that a friend or someone from work would see me. It you saw a red Prius it was me, there was no way to deny it… Red Prius = “Don.”

Another result of owning the only Prius in town or one of less than a hundred in the whole state and the car being the Motor Trend Car of the Year was that I was constantly being asked question about it. One time I pulled into a parking space a convenience store and a state trooper pulls up behind me as I was getting out of the car. First thought was did I stop completely at the stop sign? The next thought is one of my lights out? He gets out of the curser and asked how do I like the Prius? You have to understand, I had only been going out in public for about a year and I was still stealth and I was ready to shit bricks standing there talking to a state police officer about my car.

Well now I am looking to buy my third Prius, my current one I got in the winter of 2007 and it has over 120,000 miles on it. I’m still getting around 50 mile to the gallon on the highway and around 45 mpg around town (it does drop down to around 40 mpg in the winter because the engine has to run for the heater to work,). This time I want to get a plug-in Prius where you can charge the batteries from an outlet and it can get around 100 mpg.

It’s the Law

It is one thing to pass a gender inclusive anti-discrimination law; it is entirely another thing to get the word out about the law. When we were working to pass the law, one of the topics that we discussed was should we try to pass it off the radar as an amendment to another bill or pass it as its own bill. One of the factors that went into the decision was about educating the public about the bill.

Now that the bill has passed and it is the law, on the most part people do not know about the law. We are still being kept from bathrooms of the gender of our gender identify and are still facing discrimination. The CT TransAdvocacy Coalition (CTAC) and the CT Women Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) held a training workshop last October and sadly it was sparsely attended. Next Wednesday the Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and The Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities is having a summit on the anti-discrimination and anti-school bullying laws for school administrators, educators and students. I am hoping that they have a large turnout for the event because we need to get the word out about the laws. The CHRO has on their web-site an excellent FAQ publication, Guidelines for Schools on Gender Identity and Expression about the anti-discrimination law for students and administrators that was created by the Safe School Coalition.

Even though it was created for students and school administrators much of the Q & A pertains to everyone, such as…

Question: What restrooms should students use?

Answer: Students should have access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity asserted at school. Schools may maintain separate restroom facilities for male and female students provided that they allow students to access them based on their gender identity and not exclusively based on student’s assigned birth sex. If the student and administrator feel that there is a reason or desire for increased privacy and safety, regardless of the underlying purpose or cause, any student may be provided access to a reasonable alternative restroom such as a single stall “unisex” restroom or the health office restroom. In all instances, decisions about alternative restroom use should be governed by the school administrator’s judgment concerning the safety and best interests of the student in question. Under no circumstances may a student be required to use a restroom facility that is inconsistent with that student’s asserted gender identity. [My emphases added]

This applies to all bathroom use for trans-people. It is important that we get the word out there about the law to prevent misunderstandings. At the training workshop last October a lawyer for a hospital asked the question, “What if a hospital patient complained about a transgender patient in the room? We offered to move the transgender patient to a private room at no additional cost.” The CHRO lawyer said that was wrong. They asked the hospital lawyer what the hospital would have done if the patient complained about a roommate’s race or religion, the lawyer for the hospital said that they would move the patient who complained and the CHRO lawyers said that this was no different than that case. It is important that the public be educated about the law for two reasons, the first is so that the public does not break the law or second, so we can pee in peace (get a job or an apartment or a loan or eat at a restaurant).

Little Victories, But We Will Take Any That We Can Get

Not that for these people the victories were little, but for us every step forward is progress.

In Alaska, you can now change your gender on your driver’s license which is an important step forward for us. I remember before I transitioned I had to show my driver license to a bouncer at the door. When he looked at my picture and name, a big grin came on his face as he handed my license back.

Transgendered Alaskan to Be Able to Change Gender on Drivers Licenses
The Edge on the Web
by Jason St. Amand
Monday Jul 30, 2012

The lieutenant governor of Alaska has filed a new regulation that would make it easier for transgender citizens to change their gender on their driver’s licenses to the sex they desire without undergoing surgery. The American Civil Liberties Union, which was instrumental in alerting the Alaskan government to the need for such a change, issued a statement revealing Juneau’s regulation.

Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, a Republican, filed the measure last week, which will go into effect on August 11. The regulation comes after the ACLU and the ACLU of Alaska challenged a requirement that forced transgender drivers to prove they had undergone surgery as a violation of an individual’s right to privacy.
[…]
"The previous requirement had nothing to do with accepted medical standards and demonstrated a callous lack of understanding of what it means to be transgender," said John Knight, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. "The government should not be in the business of dictating anyone’s medical care, especially when it comes to requiring surgery that may not be available, desired, or medically necessary."

In another victory was in Illinois where you can now change your gender on your birth certificate without surgery…

Agreement on Illinois birth certificate change for trans peopleChicago Pride
Mon. July 30, 2012

Chicago, IL — A proposed court-supervised agreement filed July 30 will help ensure that transgender individuals can receive new birth certificates that reflect their correct gender from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
[…]
"This agreement reflects a basic understanding that the government should not be in the business of telling transgender Illinoisans what kind of surgery they need to undergo," said John Knight, Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "It creates a new opportunity to obtain an accurate birth certificate for many people — including a number of persons who have been denied new birth certificates over the years who have not undergone genital surgery, because they have no medical need for it, are concerned about its risks, or cannot afford it."

This is BIG step in the right direction, as the article points out there are many trans-people who cannot afford surgery or for some medical reason having surgery would put their life in danger or just simply because they feel that they don’t need surgery. After all, what is a birth certificate for? It is for identification and when you need to present it for identification they are not going to check to see what is between your legs, they are going to go by the way you presenting yourself as male or female.

The last article is about a personal victory and a victory for the community…

Trans Athlete Breaking Barriers
Care2.com
by Cathryn Wellner
July 27, 2012

On June 21st trans athlete Keelin Godsey came within one meter of making Olympic history. The 28-year-old had already managed 69 meters in the hammer throw. He needed to toss the hammer 71.5 meters in the final qualifying trials. He did succeed in tossing a personal best, 70.49, but was just shy of making the cut for the US Olympic Team in the women’s hammer throw.

Had Godsey made the team, he would have been the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Olympics event. In the video interview below, Ann Schatz talks with him about the challenges of his journey.

Congratulation! It is a major step forward for both Keelin Godsey and the Olympics.

Exemptions

You hear a lot now a days that there should be religious exemptions from certain laws. In Connecticut there is a religious exemption from the anti-discrimination statutes; religious institutions are exempt from the anti-discrimination laws. For example a church can refuse to have women priests and not violate anti-discrimination the statues. However, they are exempt only for places of worship and places that are exclusively for their parishioner, a hospital is not exempt because it serves the public and it also receives public funding.

When we were trying to pass the gender inclusive anti-discrimination law here in Connecticut there was pressure to exempt the law for anyone based on religious beliefs, stop for a minute and think what that would mean. It would mean that a person or business could refuse to serve a trans-person or a gay or lesbian couple. It would mean that if trans-person were in an accident and rushed to an emergency room that a doctor could legally refuse to treat the person. It would mean that a town clerk could refuse to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple.

Under Connecticut law this is allowed (As it should be)…

Mississippi Church Refuses to Marry Black Couple
ABC News
By ALON HARISH
Jul 28, 2012
They had booked their wedding far in advance. The invitations had been sent, the programs printed. But one day before Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson were to be married at the Mississippi church they frequented, they said a pastor told them they would have to find another venue -- because they were black.

There has never been a black wedding at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Miss., since its founding in 1883. According to Pastor Stan Weatherford, some church members objected so strongly to breaking that precedent, they threatened to oust him from his pastorship.

Because it is a church they would be allowed to discriminate against a person’s race. However, this also would be allowed because of the religious exemption…

Whites-only Christian gathering riles some Alabama neighbors
MSNBC
By Kari Huus
July 5, 2012

three-day whites-only religious conference — which will conclude with a flaming cross — in Lamar County, Alabama, has some residents upset at the racist implications while the minister complains that his freedom of speech is being violated.

Yes, we believe that the Europeans and their descendants are the chosen people of God," according to the website for Christian Identity Ministries, which is holding the event with Church of God’s Chosen. "We believe this, not because we think that the white race is superior, but because there is overwhelming proof in support of this belief. We do not back down from this belief, because we are certain."

The church is a white supremacist church and under the religious exemption they are also allowed to discriminate, but consider what would have happened if the amendment to allow individual religious exemptions passed. One of their parishioners could legally discriminate against non-whites; they could refuse to serve blacks in restaurants all they would have to do is claim a religious exemption (It would still be against federal law, but Republicans in Congress have also proposed exemptions based on religious beliefs.). If the amendment passed, a person could refuse to serve a Jew or Muslim. That would have been unintended consequences of the effort to block LGBT civil rights; it would have opened up a floor of religious exemptions just to stop LGBT people for their civil rights.

Update 9:00am
On my Facebook page a friend pointed something out me that I want to make clear...

So does that mean it is "Christian" to be a bigot? A racist? A homophobe?

No, this does not mean that it is "Christian" to be a bigot, it means that a bigot can be Christian or any other religion or even a atheist.

What I am trying to say is that we have to be very careful when we grant exemptions for religious beliefs because there are many other religions that have various beliefs. When most of us think of religion we are thinking of the mainstream religions, but there are many other religions that have a wide variety of beliefs and when we exempt one religion we exempt all religions.

Writing A Speech…

I have been occupied latterly trying to write a speech for a workshop at the Legislative Office Building that is sponsored by the Connecticut’s Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and The Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities.

It is challenging writing the speech because it will be a mixed audience, professional educators and counselors, and students ages 16 – 25. Of course I’m speaking about discrimination and bullying against trans-students. It is also challenging because it is only the second speech that I will have giving and the other speech to a group of law student and that speech was on how laws affect social justice and I just about winged it from the cuff. While this speech is more or less going to be written and I want to practice it so I wouldn’t have to read it. While I am writing it, I’m also video recording it to see how it flows.

So if I seem preoccupied it is because of this and other issues.

Saturday Six Episode #433

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six Episode #433

1. What do you like most about your blog?
The variety of the people who visit it and they come from all over the world.

2. What do you like least about your blog?
The number of people who visit it is only about a 100 people a day.

3. What do you think is the most intimidating part about writing a blog?
Coming up with the title of the post, it can make or break a post.

4. How long does it take you to compose a typical post?
Anywhere from about a half hour and two hours if I have to research a post.

5. How often do you experience writer’s block on your blog?
Maybe once a month and then I use a news article that I comment very little on., so it is 2 or 3 paragraphs from the news article and one paragraph that I write about the news story. It is also why I like memes on the weekends, they do not take long to do and usually readership is down on weekends anyway.

6. What’s the easiest improvement that you want to make on your blog?
Changing the template, but I haven’t done that in a while.

Saturday 9: Moves Like Jagger

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Moves Like Jagger


1. Who makes the best moves in your life?
Hun? Moves like dancing? Or moves as in trying to pick-up someone at a bar?

2. Tell us about a time where you had to be selfish with your time, and felt guilty about it (whether it was time taken from your children or a significant other.
When my aunt was in the nursing home, at first I was visiting her 3 or 4 times a week are work but it was hard on me seeing her there, she had dementia and couldn’t remember what happened one day to the next. I cut back to one or two visits a week.

3. Do you feel that you can create more sex appeal or that it's just a given?
I think some have it and some don’t

4. Do your religious beliefs really influence your behavior?
Kind of, I believe in God and I believe in treating people as you want them to treat you and also I trying to leave the world a little better then when I came into this world.

5. Do you feel there are some things in a significant other that you can't change because of their sex?
Well… they can always change their sex.

6. Do you see a younger less secure person when you gaze in the mirror?
I see an overweight aging woman with a lot of baggage

7. If you have ever been pregnant, or have been with a woman who was, how did effect your sex life?
Nope, never had and never will

8. What would you like to work on to become a better person?
My weight and exercise

9. When did you think that you understood the sacrifices that people in the military make on behalf of their country?
When my neighbor’s son came home in a box in 1968.

How Far Have We Come?

Back in the 1800s missionaries went out west to “civilize” the Native America to teach them our ways and to force on them the ways of the white man. Almost two centuries later they are still forcing Native America to forget their heritage and take up the ways of the white man.

Menominee Seventh Grader Suspended for Saying "I Love You" in her Native Language
Native News Network
Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Challenges
February 3, 2012

SHAWANO, WISCONSIN - What's love got to do with it? Not much, especially if you say the words "I love you" in the Menominee language in front of a certain Wisconsin teacher.

Seventh grader Miranda Washinawatok, Menominee, found this out.

Miranda speaks two languages: Menominee and English. She also plays on her basketball team. However, two Thursdays ago she was suspended for one basketball game because she spoke Menominee to a fellow classmate during class.

Miranda attends Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin. The school body is over 60 percent American Indian. The school is approximately six miles from the south border of the Menominee Indian Tribe Reservation.
[…]
The principal told Washinawatok that the assistant coach told him she was told by two teachers to bench Miranda for attitude problems.

The alleged 'attitude problem' turned out to be that Miranda said the Menominee word

    “posoh”
    that means
    “hello”

and said

    “Ketapanen”

in Menominee that means "I love you."

Miranda and a fellow classmate were talking to each other when Miranda told her how to say "Hello" and "I love you" in Menominee.

Unfortunately, I doubt much can be done because it is a private religious school. Unless they are receiving public funding they can discriminate all they want. But this incident is something out of the 1800s when missionaries took the Native American children from their families and forced them to lean the ways of the white man, it was despicable then and now it is even unconscionable that it is still happening. They should be teaching Menominee and celebrating their heritage instead of punishing the children.

The school did send out an apology letter...

Washinawatok has had a total of three meetings with school officials and was promised Miranda would receive a public apology, as would the Menominee Tribe, and the apologies would be publically placed.

"On Wednesday, a letter was sent to parents and guardians. A real generic letter of apology, that really did not go into specifics as to why there was this apology,"

The letter is nice, but one, it should never have happened in the first place and second, it took three meeting with school officials before the letter was sent out.

My Story Part 128 – Staycation

Yesterday I met a friend down in New London and we went to the Lyman Allyn Art Museum to see an exhibit on the battles of Stonington and New London during the war of 1812. It was the first time I went to that museum, although it is a small museum they had a number of works by artists like I like from the Hudson River School and impressionist painters. They have such Hudson River School painters as Cole and Church and impressionist painter Edward Potthast. But the main reason why went was to see the War of 1812 exhibit.

The Rockets' Red Glare: The War of 1812 in Connecticut focuses on important local events including Commodore Stephen Decatur's naval squadron taking refuge in the Thames River to avoid the British, the bombardment of Stonington, the raid on Essex, and the effects of the British blockade on New London and the region. The 16-star American flag that flew over the defenders of Stonington will be a stand-out component of the exhibition.

The museum also had an exhibit of costumes and set designs from five Broadway shows The Producers, FELA!, Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, and Memphis. I was never really a fan of Hair Spray because of the way the play and the movie portrayed trans-people; however, it was interesting to see all the planning that went in to the designing of the stage and the costumes. One thing that was interesting was the colors of the set and costumes were based on the color scheme of NECCO candy wafers.

After we left there we went over to Noank to have lunch at Abbotts that is located on one of the bays on Fisher’s Island Sound. It is a touristy restaurant that is known for its lobsters and I had lobster salad roll. If you are wondering what the difference between a lobster roll and a lobster salad roll, it is the lobster roll is with butter while the lobster salad roll is with celery and mayonnaise. I also had Rhode Island clam chowder because they didn’t have any New England clam chowder :(  Just because they are only a couple of miles away from Rhode Island, they are also part of New England you would think they would have New England clam chowder. The restaurant also has a dock for boats to tie up and get take-out and is surrounded by sail and power boat moorings in the harbor.

When we left there we went over to the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus to take some photos of lighthouse (Click on the photos for a larger version). It turns out that from the campus you can see three lighthouses and one of them is on the campus, the Avery Point Lighthouse. I was a little disappointed in the photo of the other lighthouses, but I expected it because I was shooting into the sun. I should probably go back and shoot them in morning light some day because the photos have a bluish tint from the telephoto lens and shooting into the sun.

New London Ledge Lighthouse with the Orient Point ferry coming in to New London harbor.
f6.3 1/2500 sec 300mm

New London Harbor Lighthouse
f8 1/1600 sec 500mm

Avery Point Lighthouse
f13 1/640 sec 48mm

Voter ID Laws Is A Fraud On The Voters

The real driving force behind the push for the Voter ID laws was made known when Republican Mike Turzai, Pennsylvania's House Majority Leader, boasted that the state's new voter-ID law, "is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is investigating if the Pennsylvania’s voter ID law discriminates against minorities and the law is being challenged in court,

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Goes to Court
The Nation
Ari Berman
July 24, 2012

Tomorrow the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania will hear a challenge to the state’s new voter ID law from the ACLU and other voting rights groups. The lead plaintiff is Viviette Applewhite, a 93-year-old great-great grandmother who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. Applewhite worked as a hotel housekeeper and never had a driver’s license. Four years ago, her purse was stolen and she lost her Social Security card. Because she was adopted and married twice, she cannot obtain the documents needed to comply with the state’s voter ID law. After voting in every election for the past fifty years, she will lose the right to vote this November.
[…]
The second turning point came a few weeks later, when the Pennsylvania Transportation Department found that 9.2 percent of registered voters, 758,000 Pennsylvanians, don’t have the state-issued IDs required to vote under the law. The number of voters without ID was larger than the margin of Barack Obama’s victory over John McCain in Pennsylvania in 2008. That bombshell contradicted Pennsylvania Secretary of State Carol Aichele’s oft-repeated claim that 99 percent of eligible voters possessed the requisite IDs. The Department of Transportation didn’t release the exact demographic breakdowns of who did not have IDs, but it did find that 18 percent of voters in Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic city that is 44 percent African-American, did not have valid state-issued IDs.

Additionally, the Huffington Post reports that,

Defendants in a case against one of the nation's strictest voter ID laws in Pennsylvania made a major concession to plaintiffs this week, just days ahead of the start of the trial over the measure.

In a stipulation agreement signed earlier this month, state officials conceded that they had no evidence of prior in-person voter fraud, or even any reason to believe that such crimes would occur with more frequency if a voter ID law wasn't in effect.

"There have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states,” the statement reads.

In other words this whole “Voter Fraud” thing is a fraud made up by the Republicans to rig the elections.

And Pennsylvania is not alone in running in to problems with their voter ID law, the Department of Justice has opposed the voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas. While in Wisconsin the Huffington Post reported,

A Wisconsin judge blocked implementation of the state's voter identification law Tuesday, the second time a judge has blocked the controversial law.
Dane County Judge David Flanagan made a temporary injunction he issued in March permanent, citing concerns over the ability of state residents to obtain the necessary photo IDs in order to vote, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In March, another Dane County judge had issued an injunction blocking the law's implementation. Voter ID supporters would now need to have both injunctions lifted.

While in Kansas the Lawrence Journal-World reported that

Topeka — Managers of some Kansas nursing homes say they are concerned that their residents might not have the paperwork required to vote under the state's new voter identification law
[…]
Secretary of State Kris Kobach says Monday that he's office is instructing county election officers to help nursing homes comply with the law. Kobach says the Peabody home was not given special treatment.

What about the people who don’t live in nursing homes and are working two jobs to make ends meet, who is helping them get the proper ID.

In Connecticut we do not have to present a photo ID and there has not been a case of voter fraud. This is another case of the Republicans dirty tricks in trying to block the votes from legitimate voters; they have created a boogeyman to pass laws that will block voters who are likely to vote Democratic. They are once again trying to fix the election process in their favor.

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Homelessness

With today’s economy the number of homeless continues to raise and for one group the rise is way out of proportion and that is for the trans-youth. The 2011 – 2012 survey LGBT Homeless Youth Provider Survey found that…

Nearly all of the agencies responding to the survey (94%) reported working with homeless and runaway youth who identify as LGBT in the past year. The number serving LGBT youth has grown over the past ten years, particularly those serving transgender youth.

• Ten years ago, 82% of respondents said that they worked with LGB youth, whereas in the past year, nearly all respondents (94%) said that they worked with LGB youth clients.
• While less than half of respondents said that they served transgender clients ten years ago, more than three-quarters of respondents indicate that they worked with transgender youth in the past year. LGBT youth comprise approximately 40% of the clientele served by agencies represented in the sample:
• Among both homeless and non-homeless clients, 30% identified as gay or lesbian and 9% identified as bisexual
• 1% of homeless and non-homeless clients were identified as “other gender” but at least another percent of the total clientele were transgender youth who were identified on the survey as either male or female
• Nearly all agencies (91%) reported using intake forms to track the demographic information of their clients, including information on sexual orientation and gender identity; around 30% of agencies use staff estimates to approximate the number of LGBT youth. Given that youth may not be willing to self-identify as being LGBT when initially presenting for services, these data may underestimate the proportion of LGBT youth served by homeless youth providers.

[…]
On average, 30% of clients utilizing housing programs identify as LGBT (26% as LGB and 4% as
transgender):

• Host Home Programs – 42% of clients identified as LGBT (LGB = 37%; transgender = 5%)
• Permanent Housing Programs - 39% of clients identified as LGBT (LGB = 36%; transgender = 3%)
• Transitional Living Programs - 22% of clients identified as LGBT (LGB = 19%; transgender = 3%)
• Independent Living Programs – 22% of clients identified as LGBT (LGB = 19%; transgender = 3%)
• Emergency Shelters – 21% of clients identified as LGBT (LGB = 17%; transgender = 4%)

Many of the transgender homeless are forced into shelters of their birth gender and not of the gender that they identify, this causes many trans-youth not to seek shelter and to live off the street.

However, this does not have happen; many cities and homeless shelter allow residents to live in the shelter of the gender that they identify as. In New York City their policy is…

A few highlights of the policy include:

•     Trans-people will be placed in shelters according to gender identity and will be able to use appropriate sleeping, restroom and bathing facilities
•     Trans-people will be able to wear clothes that comply with their gender identities
•     DHS [Department of Homeless Services] will be providing full training for all shelters, beginning with 6 specifically targeted shelters (to get things moving as quickly as possible)

In Boston they have a similar policy for transgender guest. The policy spells out how transgender individuals will be treated in the shelters from where they will sleep to what showers they will use and except for one shelter, it will be the gender that they identify (The exception is one that has to be handled on a case by case basis.). One section of the policy that I especially like states…

For the purpose of accommodations, the gender identity of the guest should be determined through conversation, rather than through a physical exam.

That is how it should be at all shelters!

What about Connecticut? I know of no policies here in Connecticut that cover trans-people. However, Connecticut law (Public Act No. 11-55) does cover public accommodation and housing… 

It shall be a discriminatory practice in violation of this section: (1) To deny any person within the jurisdiction of this state full and equal accommodations in any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement because of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, lawful source of income, mental retardation, mental disability or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or deafness of the applicant, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons

Homeless shelters are public accommodation; furthermore,

The municipality shall take all necessary steps to insure that occupancy of all housing financed or otherwise assisted pursuant to this chapter be open to all persons regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, age or physical disability.

So what does this mean? It means that here in Connecticut that in homeless shelters that takes public funds you MUST be housed in the gender that you identify as… it is the law. If you feel that you have been discriminated against in homeless shelters you can file a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) here.

DSM - It Is Time For A Change

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is in the process of changing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the DSM is a list of all billable mental disorders. You know that numbers that you see on your medical bills? Well if it is in the DSM that therapist or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD) that health care people use to look up the billing numbers, the therapist or doctor gets paid. If it is not then they do not get paid. An example is that I have diagnosed with ICD code 272.0 or high cholesterol, if you look at your bill you will see the code number on it. The therapist uses the DSM to look up the best diagnoses that fit the patient symptoms and bills the insurance company, not everything in the DSM is a mental illness. The DSM contains such things as bed wetting as a mental disorder (307.6). Why? Because you might suffer some form of stress over it and go to a therapist about the stress but it does not make you mental ill and the therapist wants to get paid for threating your anxiety so there has to be a code number for bed wetting (Enuresis).

Therein lies the problem, the standard of care (SOC) requires that before hormones are prescribed to us or before we have surgery we have to see a therapist and if we want the therapist to get paid by the insurance company it has to be listed in the DSM. Therefore, I believe that it should be removed from the DSM all together and placed in the ICD, because there is enormous stigma that is tied to having it in the DSM that is used against us.

Transgender Advocates Seek New Diagnostic Terms
Associated Press
By Lisa Leff
July 21, 2012

Does a woman who strongly believes she was meant to be a man have a mental condition or a medical problem? Is a man who cross-dresses in need of psychological help? What about a boy who pretends to be a girl in make-believe games and chooses only female playmates?

The nation's psychiatric establishment is wrestling with these questions, among others, as it works to overhaul its diagnostic manual for the first time in almost two decades. Advocates have spent years lobbying the American Psychiatric Association to rewrite or even remove the categories typically used to diagnose transgender people, arguing that terms like Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism promote discrimination by broad-brushing a diverse population with the stigma of mental illness.

What does it mean to have GID listed in the DSM? Well a friend in another state is applying for a gun permit and on the form it asks, “Have you ever been diagnosed with a mental illness?” and she will have to answer yes. Also when we try to pass gender inclusive anti-discrimination laws the opposition uses the DSM against us…

The most symbolic change under consideration so far for the manual's fifth edition, known as the DSM-V for short, is a new name for Gender Identity Disorder, the diagnosis now given to adults, adolescents and children with "a strong and persistent cross-gender identification." In the manual's next incarnation, individuals displaying "a marked incongruence between one's experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender" would be diagnosed instead with "Gender Dysphoria," a term that comes from the Greek word for emotional distress.

It is a step forward, I believe that it still does not go far enough. The Medical Press reports that the APA Task Force has recommended that…

The task force was charged with reviewing the scientific literature regarding gender identity disorder at different stages in a person's life. It examined the research and clinical evidence relating to treatment, and provided an opinion as to whether or not the APA should develop practice recommendations. The literature regarding treatment of gender dysphoria, or discomfort about one's own gender, in individuals with disorders of sex development was also assessed.
[…]
In addition, the report recommended that the APA provide statements clarifying its positions on several issues. These include supporting the medical necessity of treatment for GID, defining the ethical issues regarding treatments for minors with GID or other manifestations of gender variance, and supporting the civil rights of persons who are gender variant, transgender, or transsexual.

While this report did not deal with the DSM revision, it does lend support to changing the DSM to make positive changes to the DSM but still didn’t go far enough. I will not be satisfied until GID is recognized for what it truly is, a nature biological diversity. 

Sunsets

I like sunsets because no two sunsets are the same (Also sunrises come too early in the morning) and I have been taking photographs of sunsets at the cottage since my parents bought it back in ’81. Here is part of my collection… enjoy

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Saturday 9: I Saw the Light

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: I Saw the Light

1. Has something ever made you "see the light"?
Well when I was working, I use to “see the light” when I was trying to troubleshoot a problem in an electrical circuit. All of a sudden the answer would just appear to me.

2. Do you believe you have any control over your luck?
Nope, it is just dumb luck.

3. What is something you have had difficulty rising above?
The petite squabbles

4. Would you want to be rich?
Sure. I would love just to have tenth of the money that Mitt Romney or Linda McMahon have.

5. Tell us about a current or old song that helps you "face the world."
Actually it is an album, when I’m tense or uptight or have a migraine, I relax to the Eagles Desperado

6. Has any dream of yours come true?
Yes.

7. What would you change if you became "the king or queen" of your country?
I’ll change the way politics is run, who can donate, protect the environment, and ban automatic weapons.

8. How do you feel about LGBT rights? (If you need to look up LGBT, then you probably need to learn more.)
I’m all in favor of equality (See “About Me” in the upper right).

9. Have you ever been disappointed in yourself?
Yes, many times.