Trans-Kids And School

As many of you know by that on Tuesday on the Katie Couric Show talked about trans-kids and how one Colorado family is having problems with their local school district (My post about it is here). I want to follow up on that today.

The school district for over a year allowed her to use the girl’s bathroom and for unexplained reasons they changed their minds and required her to use the boys' bathroom, a staff bathroom, or the nurse's bathroom.

Colorado is one of the sixteen states that have protection for gender identity and expression and according to an Editorial in the Denver Post,

Frankly, it doesn't seem like a tough call. Colorado's anti-discrimination rules clearly say transgender individuals shall be allowed to use the "gender-segregated facilities that are consistent with their gender identity."

So why did the school district change their mind? Was there any trouble like bullying or harassment? If there was they should stop the bullying or harassment as they are required by federal law and not punish the victim. Did some parents complain? Then they should have told the parents that they were only following the law.

An article in the Health & Family section of Time asked “A 6-Year-Old Boy Becomes a Girl: Do Schools Need New Rules for Transgender Students?”

The unusual case points up the need for schools to discuss whether transgender students may need accommodation — or entirely new policies. Might a boy who identifies as a girl and plays on the school tennis team have an advantage over her teammates? Will transgender girls go out for varsity football?

The answer is yes, school districts should have a policy in place for when a student transitions. For those of you who follow my blog you may recall that I gave a speech to the Civil Rights and Anti-Bullying Leadership Summit that was sponsored by Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) and the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities back in August. I am also giving a workshop on the topic at the True Colors conference later this month.

Down in Mississippi this week a trans-student was supported by the school system while the students thought it was special treatment that she was receiving,

Transgender Mississippi Student 'Leah' Supported By High School While Students Protest
The Huffington Post 
By Glennisha Morgan
Posted: 03/01/2013

Students at a Batesville, Miss. high school are protesting because they believe that a transgender classmate is receiving “special treatment.”

As WLOX 13 reports, over 30 students at South Panola High School have vocalized their opposition to a transgender girl identified only as Leah, who has been allowed to wear female clothing.
[…]
On the other hand, other officials have echoed [interim Superintendent] Foster's sentiments, arguing that Leah does not violate South Panola's dress code because she is now a female. Area resident Betsy Chapman has created the Facebook group "Mississippians Support Leah," which backs the student's cause.

Being treated equally does not mean special rights as the school officials said she is now legal a girl and she is being treated just like any other girl.

Saturday Six #464

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #464

1. Z is for ZAKUSKA: What is your favorite appetizer in your favorite restaurant?
I don’t know if I have any one favorite, it depends upon my mood. Crab cakes, shrimp cocktail and fried mozzarella are all my favorites

2. Z is for ZEPPELIN: If the great airships of old became an accepted form of transportation again, how likely would you be to travel in one of them?
Not very likely, I rather get there in a hurry to enjoy the destination.

3. Z is for ZEPPOLE: Do you prefer doughnuts freshly made and still hot, chilled or at room temperature?
Alas, doughnuts are off limits for me now. Before I use to like Krispy Kreme that were still hot.

4. Z is for ZERO: What is a grocery item you’ve completely run out of at the moment?
Garlic, I made stir fry last night and finished it up.

5. Z is for ZOILISM: What subject do you feel people are too quick to criticize others about?
Politics and religion.

6. Z is for ZOOCULTURE: If money were no object and you could domesticate any wild animal and have it live with you, (and you knew the animal would be safe to live with), which animal would you choose to have as a pet?
A leopard; I can just picture myself walking down the street with one on a leash. 

Saturday 9: It's a Sunshine Day

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: It's a Sunshine Day



1) The best known Brady Bunch song is, of course, the show's theme. Do you know the lyrics?
Believe it or not, I never watched the Brady Bunch

2) The Bradys were a blended family. Do you have stepparents, stepchildren or stepsibs?
Nope. My parents were married for almost 66 years when my mother died.

3) Samantha admits that, when she was 12, she taped Greg Brady's photo over her bed. Before you judge her too harshly, come clean yourself. Did you have a major pre-teen crush? Who was it?
Nope. I always thought have a crush on an actor or rock star silly.

4) Which TV character do you wish lived next door?
Now if you mean the character and not the actual actor then I would like to live next to Rizzoli in Rizzoli and Isles

5) It's a sunshine day! Describe your sunglasses.
They are clip-ons. It is way too expensive for me to get prescription lens.

6)  You're on a 90-minute flight. How will you spend the time? Do you read a book? A magazine? Look out the window? Take a nap?
I would love to look out the window, but I understand that they now charge more for a window seat.

7) Do you have a favorite brand of toothpaste?
Naw, I use generic tooth paste.

8) How many keys are on your key ring?
Eight. A PO Box key for the non-profit and a PO Box key for the support and keys for them for where we meet, my house key, my brother condo key, my cottage key and my car key.

9) What do you miss about summertime?
Jumping in the lake or ocean.

Friday Fill-ins

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins
 

1. Bert Kaempfert's _music I haven’t heard_.
2. _You knew it had to be her,_ naturally.
3. So I'm packing my bags for _a trip to someplace warm_.
4. _Occasionally I like to listen to jazz and the_ blues.
5. Put the _tools back when you are finished_.
6. _Daintily she _ dips her donut in my tea.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _pick out a new book to read_, tomorrow my plans include _looking for a sugar shack to photograph_ and Sunday, I want to _go out to dinner with a friend_!

My Story Part 154 – Your Slip Is Showing

Before I transitioned I lived in two worlds and some of the time those worlds came close to crashing together and that made my life interesting.

One of the most memorable was when I almost introduced myself to the Vice President of Engineering where I worked as Diana. To set the stage…

It was back in 2006 when I was Diana all but for 40 hours a week. Except for work I was living my life as Diana. So if it was a social setting I was Diana, in other words if I was at a restaurant or a bar, I was Diana. So…

One day I was summoned along with the project engineer to go to our corporate headquarters in Pittsburg (I was the supervisor of testing of testing). We were to go to a vendor meeting the next day, but that night we were to meet the VP and his wife for dinner. On the way to the restaurant we got a call from him saying that he was a meeting and it was running over and for us to wait for him in the bar. So we waited for almost an hour and I had a couple of rum and cokes. When they showed up I was nice and mellow, when I went to shake his wife’s hand I started to say “Hi, I’m Diana.” When I realized what I was about to say and I coughed. What came out was “Hi I’m Di… cough”

The second most memorable collision was on the same business trip. When we had to go down to corporate we always tried to get a seat on the corporate jet first instead of a commercial flight. The seating on the jet was based on RHIP (Rank Has It Privilege), the big wigs got the first pick of seats and the peons got what was left. But that day there were two seats left so we got to fly (You haven’t lived until you fly on a corporate jet that is the way to travel! You can read about it here.). On the way back it was snowing at Bradley, when one of the VP made a comment about 5 inches of snow there I said something like “shit.” One of the VPs asked what was wrong and I could say that I was going out to the Polo Club to watch a drag show so I made up a little white lie.

Also at work one time I was making copies and I heard Diana can you make these copies for me (This was the first day back from a week at Fantasia Fair where I was Diana for the entire time). I was just starting to reply when I heard someone say yes. I looked behind me and Diane the executive assistant to the general manager was there waiting to use the copier.

Which brings me to the time at Fantasia Fair when I was having dinner with some friends at Nappi’s and as we were eating I heard from the table nearby, “It looks like the winds will be favorable for flying.” I looked around and there was a table of friends that I knew from town that I used to hang glide with. And in order to leave the restaurant we had to walk right past them. Yikes! It turned out that the same week of Fantasia Fair there is also a hang glider meet in North Truro. Later when I came out to them I mentioned also most bumping into them at Nappi’s and they hadn’t even noticed us. As usual my fears were for nothing.

And you wonder why I was getting panic attacks before I transitioned; living a double life is very stressful.

My Story is a weekly series of blog posts about my transition and observation of life as a trans-person.

The Rest Of The Story

Many of you by now have probably heard about or saw Katie Couric’s show yesterday and transgender children. In case you missed it here is a link to the video.



The other segments that were on the show yesterday you can find here.

It was mentioned in the interview about the complaint that was filed on her behalf by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), this is from their press release.

TLDEF today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who has been barred from using the girls' bathrooms at her elementary school. For the past year, Coy Mathis, a first-grader at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, CO, has used the girls' bathrooms. In mid-December 2012, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 informed her parents that Coy would be prevented from using the girls' bathrooms after winter break. The District ordered Coy to use the boys' bathroom, a staff bathroom, or the nurse's bathroom.
[…]
"By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy's school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment," said Michael Silverman, TLDEF's executive director, and one of Coy's lawyers. "Through the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, Coloradans have made it clear that they want all Colorado children to have a fair and equal chance in school," he added. "Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."

Many of the news articles mention the court case up Maine where a similar case was tried and the judge found in favor of the school system. The Denver Post wrote,

In November, a Maine state court ruled that a school district did not violate a transgender student's rights under the Maine Human Rights Act when it prohibited her from using the girls' restroom.

But what the articles don’t say is that Maine’s Commission on Human Rights ruled in favor of the parents and also that the judge in his ruling said that the “law casts a broad stroke where one more delicate and refined is needed.” And he refused to follow the intention of the legislature and he interpreted the law narrowly.

You Can Be Anything You Want To Be

I saw this on Helen Boyd's blog en|Gender and I thought it was worth sharing.

I met Ms. Robinson when I was an intern at the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) in 2009 when she came here to testify in favor of the CT gender inclusive Anti-Discrimination bill on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). As the intern I was charged with helping her while she was in CT and making sure she got to the hearing on time.

Her lecture at a TED conference is excellent…
You Can Be Anything You Want To Be: Allyson Robinson at TEDxTeachersCollege

Will This Year Be New York’s Year?

The northeast is slowly becoming a solid block of states that protect gender identity and expression, so far the only northeast states that do not have protection for us are Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and New York. In New York they have been trying to pass protection for ever since we got dumped off of the anti-discrimination bill in 2003 and the closest that they came to passing a law for us was in 2011. But we got pushed aside so that the legislature could pass a marriage equality bill.

Well this year there is progress being made to pass the gender identity and expression anti-discrimination bill. The bill has always passed in the Assembly but stalled in the Senate which the conservatives control. In the Wall Street Journal there was an AP article about the bill. In it they wrote…

"Naturally, we're opposed to it," said state Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long. "They should be protected, as we all are. We are for equal rights for all human beings. There is no need to create special classifications for individuals."

That is one of the same old arguments about “special rights” but if you read the bills (A.4226/Gottfried) (S.195/Squadron) nowhere in it does it say anything about giving rights. All the bills say is that you will not discrimination it doesn't establish any quotas and it doesn't require any special treatment for gender non-conforming individuals. As a matter of fact the bills say nothing about anything trans and in other states and cities the law have been used to protect straight people who do not conform to the gender normal; women or men  who’s manors or look that are not “feminine”/”masculine” enough.

The Wall Street Journal article goes on to state,

"If we get a vote, the chances are very good," said Sen. Daniel Squadron, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan who is sponsoring the Senate bill. "People are shocked you can lose your job, or your home or be denied a place in a restaurant because of sexual identity. No one thinks that's what New York should look like."

The measure also has the critical support of the Independent Democratic Conference, five breakaway members who share majority control of the Senate with Republicans. Republicans haven't yet discussed the measure, but aren't dismissing it in this new era in which more Democratic-leaning bills get to the Senate floor even with GOP opposition.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed gay marriage into law, didn't respond to requests for comment.

The question now is will the bill come to a vote in the Senate and will the governor help push the bill like he did the marriage bill.

Unemployment

When I was laid-off I chose to take early retirement for two reasons. The first reason was my age, I knew that I could never get a comparable job because of my age and also because I was a supervisor. I knew my engineering skills were rusty and someone fresh out of college had an edge over me. The second reason was I knew that as a trans-woman my chances of a job were slim to none. In the support groups I had heard many tales of highly skilled trans-people not being able to get a job. One person had a post-PhD and couldn’t get a job. I also know that “passing” does have it privilege, that the better that you are not identified as trans the better your odds of getting a job.

I read the national surveys that said that unemployment in the trans-community was higher than four or five times the national average.

There was an article on CNN on Friday that was about unemployment in the community and it had no surprises.

Transgender job seekers face uphill battle
CNN Money
By Blake Ellis
February 22, 2013

Rebecca Juro, 50, has been unemployed for the last four years and she can't help but think it's because she's transgender.

She has applied for almost 100 jobs and has gone on close to 20 interviews, but there have been no offers. No one says they aren't hiring her because she's transgender. But some employers tell her the job has been filled even though she continues to see postings for it online. Others have "laughed in my face."
[…]
Jennifer Chavez, 55, has 40 years of experience in the auto industry but said she was terminated from her job as a mechanic just two months after telling her boss she planned to transition from male to female. Upon finding out about her transition, she said co-workers stopped talking to her and her boss even told her an applicant had turned down a job because of her. Soon, word about her transition spread.

In another story on CNN Money they report on six other trans-woman problems in getting a job…

I was working at a spa while I finished transitioning, and my boss insisted I couldn't present myself as female at work -- and even bought me men's polo shirts to wear as soon as I bought women's shirts.

It created such a hostile work environment that I left in mid-December and I've been looking for work since.

I've applied for 213 jobs. A coffee equipment company offered me a job a couple days ago and I just needed to meet with the technician to get trained. But after I discussed the name change with the employer on the phone, I got a call saying 'we changed our mind,' and they gave me some excuse. 

Unfortunately, I have heard many stories like Rebecca, Jennifer and Diana’s stories. As a result I know of a number of trans-people who live together because that is all they can afford or they live with relatives or they live in homeless shelters.

The first article goes on to say,

But a federal law protecting transgender workers remains crucial to getting to the root of the unemployment problem, advocacy groups say. And there's growing optimism it could happen, with state anti-discrimination laws that specifically protect transgender employees now covering 45% of the population -- up from 5% about 10 years ago.

Even so, it's often hard to prove a discrimination case.

That is so true. Businesses have learned how to dance around discrimination law suits. They will not say they are not hiring you because of your age, but you are “over qualified.” If you are a woman they know not to mention sex as the reason that you didn’t get the promotion. The same is true for trans-jobseekers, they will say the position has been filled like they did with Rebecca.

However, I still think the Connecticut’s anti-discrimination laws help. It keep the honest companies honest and it makes other companies think twice before they discriminate.

Saturday Six #463

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #463

1. Y is for YACHT: What’s the biggest boat, ship or vessel you’ve set foot on?
I think it was the ferry from New London to Orient Point.

2. Y is for YAM: What kind of potato do you prefer most: the traditional white potato or the sweet potato?
White potatoes, but now I have to cut way back on potatoes because they have too many carbohydrates. Did you know that different types of potatoes have different amounts of carbs and that the way you cook them change how fast the carbs are absorbed? The longer you cook them the faster the carbs are converted into sugar.

3. Y is for YAWN: You see someone yawn: how likely are you to yawn within a minute after that?
Most likely, even if a dog yawns I yawn. It is very contagious.

4. Y is for YELLOW: Look around you: what’s the first yellow thing you see?
A pillow.

5. Y is for YOGURT: Which flavor of yogurt is your favorite?
Activia, I like their light Blueberry yogurt and it only has 10 carbs.

6. Y is for YOLK: If you were to eat eggs for breakfast, how would you prefer them cooked?
In an omelet with peppers, onions, cheese and ham along with sides of sausage and hash browns (but only 1.5 oz. of hash browns)

Saturday 9: Call Me Maybe

Crazy Sam’s   Saturday9: Call Me Maybe 

1) Do you owe anyone a phone call?

Nope, I’m all caught up.

2) Do you still have a landline phone?

Yes, but I also use Google Voice which I love. With Google Voice one phone number rings both my cell phone and my home phone, and when I’m up at the cottage it will also ring that number.

3) When was the last time you looked up a number in the phone book?

I can’t remember… years ago.

4) Do you receive more calls or texts?

I make send no texts messages nor receive any texts messages.

5) Carly Rae made the Final 3 on Canadian Idol. Can you name another cultural import from Canada?

Gordon Lightfoot. I was just listen to him on Pandora

6) Sam grew sick of this song by hearing it too often on the radio. Where do you listen to the radio most often? Car? Work? Somewhere else?

At home I listen to podcasts or iHeart or Pandora and in my car I listen Sirus XM

7) Mother Winters can work wonders with an iron and a can of spray starch. Every blouse and shirt she presses looks good as new. Is there a domestic chore you excel at?

Cooking, I love to eat.

8) Do you consider yourself competitive?

Nope. Not a bone of competitiveness in my body.

9) Tell us your superhero name -- as determined by the color of your shirt and an item to your right. For example, Crazy Sam now fights crime as The Light Blue Coffee Mug!

The Grey Mouse.

Hey! You’re the one who set the rules. I have on a grey turtleneck and my mouse is to my right.

Friday Fill-in

Janet’s Friday Fill-ins
 
1. Paisley _reminds me of my hippie days_.
2. _I’ll never throw my_ hat _into the political ring_.
3. Where is _SPRING_.
4. _Will the cold weather ever_ end?
5. Sometimes, less is _better_.
6. _I buy the generic brand of mustard instead of the more expensive_ Grey Poupon.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _reading or watching a movie on Netflix_, tomorrow my plans include _watching the freezing rain and rain come down_ and Sunday, I want to _watch it change over to snow… fun, fun. fun_!

My Story Part 153 – The New Closet

I am on a forum where everyone knows me as Diana; the forum is for people with a certain medical condition. Last Saturday I posted a comment about when I had broken my toe and how hard it is to drive a standard with a broken left toe. Well a couple of guys on the forum commented about women who can drive a standard, how we are a rare breed (Right now I don’t want to talk about how sexist the comment was.). Also on the forum I mentioned one time that torque is pound-foots not foot-pounds and that got into another discussion about women engineers. Then last Sunday one of the guys posted some pictures of the snow in his backyard and I was going to comment on the center tapped long wire antenna in his backyard. However, I thought that would open up a new discussion on how a woman recognized an amateur radio antenna so I kept my mouth shut.

I don’t want to disclose my transness there because I don’t want to be known there as that trans-person on the forum. Also it is really none of their business to know my personal history. So I’m back in the closet, guarding what I say because it might give me away.

A lot of time when we transition what we are really doing is trading one closet for another. All our lives we hide our transness, first it was to keep people from finding out that we wanted to transition and then we hide the fact that we transitioned. One of the reasons why I transitioned was the stress of living a dual life. Now in a way I’m back to living a dual life, in my public life I am a very out trans-person but I don’t want to be known by that, I want to be know just as Diana.

My Story is a weekly series of blog posts about my transition and observation of life as a trans-person.

The Name Game

In each of the fifty states there are different laws for changing your name and gender. Here in Connecticut we are lucky, it is easy to change your driver license and birth certificate. To change your gender on your driver license you only need a letter from your therapist. Changing your name in Probate Court* is a simple process and unlike many other states your name does not have to be published in a newspaper of record. To change your birth certificate you need surgery but your old birth certificate is sealed and a brand new one is issued.

In Washington DC they are changing the rules to make it easier for trans-people.

D.C. Council Introduces Bill Protecting Transgender Identities
Dcist
Via Shutterstock

The D.C. Council introduced today a bill that would bring city regulations in line with 23 states and the State Department in protecting the identities of individuals who undergo gender transitions.

While David Catania (I-At Large) read the bill into the record, all 13 members of the Council are listed as either introducers or sponsors.

The bill would revise the requirements for transgender people who have their names legally changed and ask for new birth certificates with the proper gender marker. Under current D.C. law, people who have their names changed are required to publish notices in a newspaper at least once a week for three consecutive weeks. For transgender people who change their name, this process can very easily lead to an inadvertent outing, says Andy Bowen, one of several activists who organized the bill.

Instead, the bill would also require a transgender person's original birth certificate to be sealed from public view with the affidavit of a medical professional. This provision would also include transgender people who transition without surgery. "The only way you can gender marker switched is if you get surgery," Bowen says. "If anyone were to see it it would put you at risk for outing." Sexual reassignment surgeries can often run upward of $20,000.

This is a big step forward for our trans brothers and sisters in Washington DC.

*There is a discussion going on here in Connecticut about if you really need to go through Probate Court to legally change your name since Connecticut is a Common Law state. It will be interesting to see have this turns out.

Another Meeting

I’m off to another meeting; this one is for the Safe Schools Coalition where I represent CTAC (CT TransAdvocacy Coalition). The coalition is made up of state agencies and NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) and the agenda for today’s meeting is a discussion of an event that we are scheduling at the Legislative Office Building. Also on the agenda is a discussion of up coming legislation on bullying and harassment.


I attend the meetings to make sure that issues of the trans-community is considered.

Do You Know What ICD Is?

Most people know what the DSM is but have never heard of the ICD; it is what the DSM is to mental health but for medical diseases. Right now the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is at revision 10 and the next revision is in the works and the trans-community should be aware of the proposed changes.

Yesterday some news came out about the changes…

San Francisco Consensus Augurs Well for ICD Revision
Just Plain Sense
By Christine Burns
February 18, 2013

An important meeting of minds took place in San Francisco earlier this month, with encouraging signs for revising trans related classifications in the forthcoming 11th Edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

I [Christine Burns] was there to participate and influence the discussions as an international adviser to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
[…]
The essential points for discussion were:

1. Whether the F64.0 'Transsexualism' category should be renamed and moved to another (non-mental health) section in the ICD-11 and, if so, where (if anywhere at all).
[…]
2. Whether the F64.2 'Gender Identity of Childhood' category should be retained and, if so, whether it should be renamed and moved to a another (non-mental health) section in the ICD-11
[…]
3. Whether to take a position on deleting F65.1 'Fetishistic Transvestism' or to retain it in a more specific form.

On her blog each of the 3 points of discussion has a detailed report on what the meeting discussed about them and I think that WPATH will have more influence with the ICD than with the DSM. The APA is more of a closed group than the World Health Organisation which publishes the ICD. Changes in the ICD might put pressure on the APA to make additional changes to the DSM.

So far there has been no official word from WPATH on the meeting.

What Were The Things You Wished You Knew?

I found this article on the Huffington Post this morning, “10 Things I Wish I'd Known When I Started My Transition” by Annika Penelope, I agree with some of her things but not others.

Her number one thing that she wished she knew, I don’t agree with…

1. Brace yourself for beauty culture.

This is especially true for my fellow femme girls, and there's a reason it's #1 on my list. Before I started presenting as female, I had no idea just how toxic beauty culture is in this country…

I haven’t found that to be true. I never really had any illusions of being glamorous or embed in the beauty culture. A couple time I had a makeover and I thought I looked artificial. Last Saturday I went to a “High Glam” dinner for a coronation, I was dressed in what I consider semi-formal (this picture was from another dinner) and I wore no makeup, not even lipstick. I sat at the table of the agency where I did my internship and my former boss and the staff was also sitting at the table. There were four women and one man at our table besides me, but none of the women wore any makeup and they all wore slacks. I’m not saying that Annika is wrong, but not every trans-women wears make-up or is tied up in the  toxic beauty culture just like every women is not tied up in the culture.

I agree with Annika on her second thing she wished she knew, “Say goodbye to male privilege.” I think when you lose privilege it is very noticeable. You might have not noticed male privilege when you had it but you sure notice it when you lose it. I also agree with her next two thing she knew, “People will surprise you” and “Prepare for (micro)aggressions.” The people who I thought would disown me, stood by me and were my biggest supporters. I think that no one has turned away from me, some might have gotten a little distance but haven’t cut me off.

While (micro)aggression I see a lot of, use of wrong pronouns and little digs. Not enough to call them on it but just enough for them to get a little dig in or you see the giggles that they don’t try to hide.

Her next thing she wished to know is “Go to Therapy” which I don’t agree with, I only went to therapy to get my hormones and I didn’t feel that I need any therapy at all, it was only because of the guidelines required it.

I agree with her other five things she wished she knew before she transitioned.

So what are some of your things that you wished that you knew about transitioning or going out in public crossdressed.

Peeing In Peace

Why can’t they just let us go in peace?

Trans woman student abused and shoved out of toilets at Leeds University
Pink News
by Joseph Patrick McCormick
8 February 2013

According to reports, Alexis, a Microbiology student who was transitioning from male to female, was shouted at and shoved in the chest by two girls, during a night called Fruity.
[…]
A Leeds University Students’ Union spokesperson told this paper: “As a Union we support the right of transgender students to use the toilets in which they feel most comfortable. A member of our security team explained the situation to the two females and they said that they understood.”

Alexis, a second year student, did not wish to take any further action but added: “The security staff were excellent, and I really appreciate what they did”.

Every time we have to use a public bathroom we take a change on being assaulted or worst. This woman didn’t cause any trouble she was there just to do what she had to do when she was assaulted. She is not the first trans-person to be attacked in a restroom and she will not be the last. At a support group last Thursday we were discussing how sometimes we get complacent and let our guard down and that is we are most vulnerable.

In England where this happened they have very good anti-discrimination laws but this still happened. Here in New England we also have good laws protecting us, but all it takes is for one person to cause trouble. We might have gone to the same place a hundred times, but all it takes is just once.

On a positive note; Massachusetts Department of Education issues their guideline for gender non-conforming students this past week…
Guidance for Massachusetts Public Schools: Creating a Safe and Supportive School Environment: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity

You can find Connecticut’s guidelines here…
Guidelines for Schools on Gender Identity and Expression

Saturday Six #462

Patrick’s Place Saturday Six #462

1. X is for XENIAL: Are you more likely to be the person who hosts out-of-town visitors or the person who stays with someone else when you’re the one out of town?
My house is a mess, so I’m more likely to stay at someone else’s place.

2. X is for XEROX: What is the last thing you recall making a copy of?
A flyer for our conference this spring.

3. X is for XIPHOPAGUS: If you could have a twin for the day, who would you play a prank on first?
Well that is hard one to answer because I don’t like pranks and if that person is a twin maybe they will not like pranks either. So probably it would be my evil twin to pull a prank frist.

4. X is for XMAS: Have you ever complained about the use of Xmas as an abbreviation for Christmas?
Nope, never, it doesn’t bother me.

5. X is for XYLITOL: Which artificial sweeter do you prefer if you’re avoiding sugar?
I hate artificial sweeter, they leave a bad after taste… YUCK!

6. X is for XYSTER: How many times have you been operated on?
Never and I hope it stays that way.

Saturday 9: Pour Some Sugar on Me

Crazy Sam’s Saturday 9: Pour Some Sugar on Me

1) Do you have a favorite "hair metal band?"
Do you mean the type that you put in your hair? Oh… you mean a musical band! Nope, I don’t even know a “hair metal band.”

2) Def Leppard got their start in South Yorkshire, England. Have you ever been to the UK?
Nope, but I would like to visit England and Scotland

3) Who would you rather chat with, one-on-one: Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William or Prince Harry?
I rather chat with Harry Potter. I don’t care to talk to any of the “Royals.”

4) Do you use real sugar, or a sugar substitute?
I use no sugar at all and I can’t stand the taste of artificial sweeteners.

5)  Valentine's Day is big for candy sales. Did you indulge in any Valentine-themed, sugary treats this week?
I can’t have any sugar or anything with a lot of carbohydrates.

6) Do you regularly balance your checkbook?
Nope. I just keep enough funds in my checking account and I make sure all my checks and ATM withdraws are correct.

7) What was your last impulse purchase?
I can’t remember, I try to avoid them and only have planned purchases.

8) When Sam was a girl, she had nightmares about snakes under her bed. When did you last have a bad dream?
Last December.

9) We're ordering pizza. Do you want deep dish or thin crust?
Thin crust, but since I have to watch my carbs I usually on have one slice.