National Coming Out Day

This is a reprint from 2017... My thoughts are still the same.

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…Or not. Today is National Coming Out Day and I am not a big fan of it.

A person that I know says on National Coming Out Day she wants to pick up the phone and dial a random number and when they answer just say, “I’m a lesbian” and hang up.

You might expect that I am in favor of it, but I am not. Coming out involves great risks and you should assess the risk before you come out. Know if you have a support network just in case things go bad. Do your parents support LGBT issues or are they opposed to them. Assess the risk if you are coming out in school; know how much support the school administration will give you. These are some of the factors that you should consider before coming out.

Harvey Milk’s quote “Burst down those closet doors and stand up once and for all, and start to fight.” Is okay but think first; will coming out put me in danger?

Have a plan on coming out, just don’t blurt out “I’m trans!” Timing is everything; you don’t want to be sitting down at a family Thanksgiving dinner and just pop it out that you are transgender. When I came out I came out to my brother I had a plan and he was the first person that I came out to because I knew he would be the most supportive.

You don’t want to come out to the whole family at once because all it takes is for one person to have a negative reaction and that could sway the rest of the family. You want to build family allies before you come out to your whole family so that they can speak on your behalf.

When you come out at work you want to tell HR first so that they can prepare to tell the whole company. You don’t want to just send out an email to the whole company that says, “Hey everyone, guess what? I’m trans!”

So be safe, think before you act and remember what Smoky the Bear said… Only you get to decide when, where, and to whom you come out to.

Why Is It Always Bathrooms

Why is feeling uncomfortable grounds for discrimination?

All though out history we see discrimination based on fear of the “other,” the other’s color of their skin,  the other’s religion, the other’s national origin, the other’s sexual orientation, and the other’s gender identity.

The Supreme Court justices brought up bathrooms in the argument on Tuesday about Title VII coverage.

Bathrooms came up more than 50 times during the Supreme Court’s landmark LGBT rights hearings
Pinknews
By Emma Powys Maurice
October 9, 2019

[…]
The arguments centred on employment discrimination and whether gender identity and sexual orientation are protected under existing federal laws. But somehow, bathrooms became a focal point for the justices.

The Trump administration and lawyers for the employers directed the debate towards the changes that might be required in bathrooms – as well as locker rooms, women’s shelters and school sports teams – if the Supreme Court were to rule in favour of the plaintiffs.

When president Obama nominated a Supreme Court justice Senator McConnell refused to hold hearings on his nominee and when Trump came to office he nominated an ultra Christian conservative judge Neil Gorsuch and during the arguments asked if it would trigger “massive social upheaval”…

“As drastic a change in this country as bathrooms in every place of employment and dress codes in every place of employment that are otherwise gender neutral would be changed,” he argued.

Cole quickly shot this down. “First of all, federal courts of appeals have been recognising that discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination for 20 years. There’s been no upheaval,” he said.

Also in something like 22 states protect trans people in employment and none of the “massive social upheaval” has happened.

And of course justice Kavanaugh was interest in the definition of “sex” (Hmm… you think that he might in a president Clinton’s defense of the definition of “sex?”).

Kavanaugh asked if he was drawing a distinction between the “literal” and “ordinary” meaning of “because of sex” in the context of sex-based discrimination. Harris said he was not.

The Trump administration’s position is that lawmakers never considered gender identity or sexuality when passing Title VII in 1968, so neither of these are protected by the “because of sex” clause in the law.

We probably will have to wait until June to find out is we are second class citizens.

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Sadly while the Supreme Court was debating our rights, our death count is 21 killed…
Suspect Wanted in the Murder of a Houston Trans Woman

Itali Marlowe is the 20th known black trans woman murdered in the US in 2019.
OutSmart
By OutSmart Staff
October 9, 2019

A transgender woman was shot to death in Southwest Houston on Friday, Sept. 20, according to a police report.

Houston Police Department (HPD) identified the victim as Itali Marlowe, 29.

Marlow is at least the 21st trans person murdered in the U.S. in 2019. Twenty of the victims, including Marlowe, have been black trans women. Four of the murders have occurred in Texas.
[…]
Charges have been filed against Raymond Donald Williams, 23, who is the suspect wanted in Marlowe’s murder. Williams, who was living with the victim, was seen fleeing the scene on foot prior to HPD’s arrival and has not yet been found. 

If Only U.S. Courts Would See It This Way

We are losing the battle with “Religious Freedom” to the Evangelical Christians judges that the Republicans have been appointing, in England the judges see it differently.

He Opposed Using Transgender Clients’ Pronouns. It Became a Legal Battle.
A British agency employee said a policy on pronouns went against his religious beliefs. A tribunal found his stance to be “incompatible with human dignity.”
The New York Times
By Iliana Magra
October 3, 2019

LONDON — A British government agency did not discriminate against an employee who refused to use transgender clients’ pronouns because he felt it violated his Christian beliefs, an employment tribunal has ruled.

The employee, David Mackereth, 56, had argued that the Department for Work and Pensions acted in breach of the country’s Equality Act when it instructed him to use clients’ preferred pronouns, or face the loss of his job.

But the tribunal, in a ruling made public this week, found his stance to be “incompatible with human dignity.”

Do you think that the Supreme Court will see yesterday’s cases the same way?

The government clerk even quoted the Bible passages…

The tribunal heard that Dr. Mackereth believed in “the truth of the Bible and, in particular, the truth of Genesis 1:27.” By his interpretation, that biblical verse — “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” — supported the view that people are immutably male or female.

While the tribunal panel found…

In its ruling, the tribunal panel found that Dr. Mackereth had not been discriminated against or harassed under the Equality Act. Christianity is protected under the act, but the panel found that Dr. Mackereth’s specific beliefs were not.

It ruled that “belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.”

While here in the U.S. the courts have put religious bigotry ahead of "human dignity and in conflict with the fundamental rights of others."

Refusing housing, public accommodation, and employment to others because of their race, color, religious creed, age, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender identity or expression, mental retardation, mental disability or physical disability is in conflict with your religious beliefs is wrong.

The tribunal got it right.

What Is The Meaning Of… “Sex?”

Do you remember when Congress took up the debate of the meaning of “sex” when President Clinton said he didn’t have “sex” with Monica Lewinsky.

Well today the U.S. Supreme Court debated the meaning of “sex.”

Supreme Court clashes over meaning of ‘sex’ in LGBT discrimination cases

• The justices of the Supreme Court clashed over the meaning of “sex” in heated oral arguments on Tuesday for a blockbuster set of cases concerning the rights of LGBT workers.

• The court heard the cases of three LGBT employees, two gay men and a transgender woman, who claim they were fired because of their identities.

• At issue was the meaning of Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination because of “sex” but does not specifically refer to gender identity or sexual orientation.

CNBC
By Tucker Higgins
Updated minutes ago.

[…]
Arguments, which lasted two hours, concluded around noon. It was not immediately clear which side will garner a majority. Decisions are expected by June of 2020.
[…]
Several of the court’s conservatives argued that expanding Title 7 to include discrimination against LGBT workers would be better handled by Congress. Attorneys for both sides have acknowledged that at the time the law was passed in 1964, its drafters likely did not envision that it would apply to gay or transgender individuals.

Justice Samuel Alito, one of the court’s Republican appointees, noted that Congress has had time since the law was first passed to add protections for LGBT workers, and has declined to do so. If the court said the law applied to gay workers, “we will be acting exactly like a legislature,” he said.
[…]
But Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first appointee to the bench, suggested with his questioning that he was sympathetic to the argument that the word “sex” necessarily includes sexual orientation as well as gender identity.

Then it was the plaintive turn to defend their position.

“Interpreting a statute is not depriving the democratic process,” Cole [David Cole, an ACLU attorney] said.

In an exchange with Cole, Gorsuch said “I’m with you” on the text of the statute, adding that it it was “really close.” But he expressed reservations about other elements of the case, warning of “massive social upheaval” should the Supreme Court rule for Cole’s client. “That’s an essentially legislative decision,” he added.
[…]
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the senior member of the court’s liberal wing, noted that interpretations of Title 7 had changed in the past. Since the law was enacted, the Supreme Court has held that it applied to discrimination based on sex stereotypes, as well as same-sex harassment, two zones that were not likely on the minds of the legislators who voted for it.

And Kavanaugh didn’t ask any questions (Probably because there was no beer being discussed)

So ladies and gentleman we will now have to wait until June to find out if we have our human rights or if we are second class citizens.

Gee… I Didn’t Know

According to the Christian CBN News article we are dropping like flies.

They have an article about all the trans people who regret transitioning… Gee I only know two who de-transitioned and one of them re-transitioned and the one who stayed was because they couldn’t find a job and had to move back in with the wife’s parents out in the mid-west someplace.

In the article they interview one trans person who says that “he knows hundreds” of people who de-transitioned and they also talk to an author of a book who wrote about his de-transition 25 years ago. He writes… “he's been contacted by hundreds of transgender regretters as well.”

Wow! Hundreds of people!

From the studies that I read, real studies and not just anecdotal stories, yes people do de-transition but mostly because societal pressures to conform.

I know that I am against the trend but I do think that we need some therapy at sometime in our transition, not as gatekeepers but more introspective. I have seen so many trans people, some had an easy time and some faced strong societal pressures to conform that they couldn’t cope with

I know of one trans woman who wanted GCS NOW! She never went out in public but she wanted GCS, the therapist wouldn’t give her the letters so she forged the letters and went overseas. The last I saw of her was when she popped into the support group and said she had an appointment for surgery and “F**k You All” that was the last time that I saw her and I wished her luck.

In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found…

II. De-Transitioning
Respondents were asked whether they had ever “de-transitioned,” which was defined as having “gone back to living as [their] sex assigned as birth, at least for a while.” Eight percent (8%) of respondents reported having de-transitioned at some point. Most of those who de-transitioned did so only temporarily: 62% of those who had de-transitioned reported that they were currently living full time in a gender different than the gender they were thought to be at birth.

Transgender women were more likely to report having de-transitioned (11%), in contrast to transgender men (4%). Rates of de-transitioning also differed by race and ethnicity, with American Indian (14%), Asian (10%), and multiracial (10%) respondents reporting the highest levels of de-transitioning.

Respondents who had de-transitioned cited a range of reasons, though only 5% of those who had de-transitioned reported that they had done so because they realized that gender transition was not for them, representing 0.4% of the overall sample. The most common reason cited for de-transitioning was pressure from a parent (36%). Twenty-six percent (26%) reported that they de-transitioned due to pressure from other family members, and 18% reported that they de-transitioned because of pressure from their spouse or partner. Other common reasons included facing too much harassment or discrimination after they began transitioning (31%), and having trouble getting a job (29%).

Of course those who have permanently de-transitioned probably would not have taken the survey.

But you can see from the study that the majority of those who de-transitioned at least for a time did so because societal pressures and only 0.4% because they didn’t feel that transitioning was not for them.

There have been some studies that report a de-transition rates as high as 80% but the major flaw in the studies is that they included those who left the study for any reason as de-transitioning.

So I label this article as suspicious, biased, and lacking any hard data.

Today's The Day The Supreme Court Decides Our Fate

Today is the first Monday in October, the day the Supreme Court begins the new session.

There is much at stake today [Ops... it turns out Tuesday the cases are being heard], not only for trans people but also lesbians and gay; the court today is deciding if we get our human right to exist. Whether we are treated as human beings or as sub-humans is in the hands of nine people.

A little history…

The first Supreme Court case that is used as precedent in court cases was Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Servs. held that same-sex harassment is sex discrimination under Title VII. 

The next case that is used as precedent in court cases about our rights is the classic case Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins which said that sex stereotyping is covered in Title VII.

Then the case that I liked what the judge said in his ruling was, Schroer v. Billington where the Library of Congress refused to hire a trans woman,

The court stated that since the employer refused to hire the plaintiff because she planned to change her anatomical sex by undergoing sex reassignment surgery, the employer's decision was literally discrimination "because of ... sex." The court analogized the plaintiff's claim to one in which an employee is fired because she converted from Christianity to Judaism, even though the employer does not discriminate against Christians or Jews generally but only "converts." Since such an action would be a clear case of discrimination "because of religion," Title VII's prohibition of discrimination "because of sex" must correspondingly encompass discrimination because of a change of sex. 

About these cases today…

'On the Basis of Sex': SCOTUS Revisits 'Price Waterhouse' and 'Oncale'
On October 8, two days into the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 term, the justices will take up three cases from the 2nd, 6th and 11th Circuits that will have profound implications on employment nationwide.
Law.com
By Thomas H. Prol
September 13, 2019

On October 8, two days into the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 term, the justices will take up three cases from the 2nd, 6th and 11th Circuits that will have profound implications on employment nationwide. The court will hear arguments in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, Case No. 17-1618, and Altitude Express v. Zarda, Case No. 17-1623, appeals from the 11th and 2nd Circuits, respectively, on the question whether a sexual orientation discrimination claim is actionable as sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Then, in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Aimee Stephens, Case No. 18-107, the court will consider an appeal from the 6th Circuit on the question whether a gender identity discrimination claim is actionable as sex discrimination under Title VII.

The two sexual orientation discrimination cases are consolidated into a one-hour argument, with the plaintiff-employee appealing in Bostock and the defendant-employer appealing in Altitude Express, followed by a one-hour argument scheduled in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, where that employer is also appealing. This comes against the shift in the political backdrop to these social and legal issues that followed the 2016 presidential election, a seismic change that has impacted the cases on both sides of the bench.

Harris Funeral Homes offers a curious scenario in which the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), represented by the U.S. Solicitor General, has joined with the employer to ask the court to reverse the 6th Circuit, which found in favor of the transgender employee. Interestingly, despite the prodding of the Solicitor General’s Office, the EEOC’s general counsel did not join in the government’s brief, nor did any EEOC staff attorney.** Moreover, despite the solicitor’s legal arguments to the contrary, the EEOC had not (yet) formally rescinded its position that gender identity discrimination claims are covered under Title VII, though that is largely expected soon, including a possible overruling of Macy v. Holder, EEOC Doc. 0120120821, 2012 WL 1435995 (2012), and Baldwin v. Foxx, EEOC No. 0120133080, 2015 WL 4397641 (2015), which underpin the agency’s rationale for extending Title VII protections. During oral arguments before the 2nd Circuit in Zarda v. Altitude Express, the en banc panel seemed to express judicial “bemusement,” as LGBT legal scholar Professor Arthur Leonard at New York Law School expressed it, in facing lawyers from both the solicitor general’s office and the EEOC arguing against each other. The solicitor’s argument is discussed in more detail below.

So those are the cases being heard today and they have far reaching implications for us.

Trump Justice Department Says It's Fine If Women Are Forced to Wear Skirts
In this op-ed, ACLU fellow Emma Roth explains how the Trump DOJ's attack on LGBTQ+ rights has far-reaching implications for cis women and girls.
Teen Vogue
By Emma Roth
September 30, 2019

On October 8, the Supreme Court will hear a case with sweeping implications for anyone who does not conform to outdated gender stereotypes. In its brief, the Trump administration argued that a funeral home was justified in firing an employee, Aimee Stephens, just because she is transgender. Although the case centers on transgender rights, Trump’s lawyers took a position that would diminish the rights of cisgender women and girls too — by allowing employers to force all employees to dress and behave in accordance with archaic gender norms and punish them if they do not.

If this sounds like the stuff of a Margaret Atwood novel, rather than a realistic scenario in 2019, unfortunately it’s all too real. The brief should set off alarm bells for everyone who cares about gender equality.
[…]
Ignoring this longstanding precedent, the Trump administration argued in its brief that employers can insist that men and women dress in a manner that aligns with stereotypical understandings of gender. Title VII, Trump’s lawyers claim, permits employers to force women to conform to sex stereotypes so long as they also force men to conform to parallel sex stereotypes. Under this logic, an employer is off the hook for forcing women to wear skirts so long as it prohibits men from doing so.

From an article in USA Today by the husband of the gay skydiver…

If the Supreme Court rules that Title VII does not protect us from this kind of discrimination, as this administration hopes it will, it will set a precedent that discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace is legal. This means that any employers who want to shun us and prevent us from actualizing our talents will have the blessings of U.S. law. It is imperative the court does not sanction prejudice in that way. The consequences would be dire.

Whatever happens it will have long lasting effect on us.

Even state laws may not protect us if the court rules in favor of religious bigotry, if the court rules that ‘religious freedom” tops state laws on discrimination.

I have to be hopeful, I think Chief Justice Roberts will be the swing vote and he will vote in our favor. He is the only conservative justice on the court who isn’t a religious fanatic.

The Question Is Why?

Why should we even have to disclose at all?

Why should a trans person have to disclose to an employer that you’re trans, that fact has nothing to do with your job, it is none of their business.

When Do You Disclose That You’re Transgender in Tech?
Opinion: Transgender employees live in fear even in the most progressive workplaces. We need clearer and more dedicated support.
Wired
By Joan Westenberg
October 3, 2019

I am terrified of being unemployed. As a transgender woman, I know that I am at risk of becoming a statistic, among those unemployed at rates three times higher than the national average, who are struggling to find work, and who are looking at a future that can seem bleak and terrifying. Surveys from the National Center for Transgender Equality have found that up to 26 percent of transgender respondents had lost their job through bias and discrimination and 50 percent had been harassed on the job.
[…]
Tech is not immune to trans exclusionary activities that, even when indirect and not necessarily ill-intentioned, can contribute to our sense of unease. Earlier this year, Google announced the inclusion of Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James, who had recently expressed anti-trans views, on their Advanced Technology External Advisory Council. While the response from Google employees was swift, and the council was disbanded, the underlying lack of questioning or insight into the trans experience from their own company was striking. Tech giant Dell has faced multiple complaints in recent years from transgender and gender non-conforming employees who claim to have experienced harassment in shared bathrooms, been limited in their roles, or, as one current lawsuit alleges, been let go because of the impact of their transition on their ability to travel. There have also been complaints from queer and transgender workers in Tesla and Amazon warehouses who have had negative workplace experiences with allegedly severe consequences for their jobs.

Before I retired I had one of my technician found out that I was trans. He waited until I was laid off because they were shutting down the company and laying off employees in stages when he sent out a general email to all the other employees outing me. He was having an affair while he was married but he said I was a sin against god… he seemed to have a narrow interpretation of his holly book.

One of the key challenges for myself and the people around me is: At what point do we disclose that we are transgender? At what point do we tell potential new employers and coworkers about who we are? At what point do we share something that is intimate yet often clear, knowing that the information could prevent us from progressing through the hiring process?

This presupposes the fact that you can integrate into society, there are many trans people that you can tell they are trans just by their appearance and voice.

The author brings up  an interesting point…

Some recruiters have told me the information I share isn’t relevant, but it does allow me to both filter through companies where who I am would become a problematic issue during either the hiring process or my actual time on the job. It also allows me to avoid confrontations for which I may lack the emotional bandwidth or a sufficient sense of physical safety and comfort.

If the company doesn’t bat and eyelash when the find out that you’re trans that might be a good sign.

When I came out to HR her firsts words were “There’s a sale on dresses at Sym’s, 30 percent off!” and that was followed by… “Oh, I get to add another woman to our diversity statement!”

Saturday 9: (Dear Mr. Gable) You Made Me Love You

Sam’s Saturday 9: (Dear Mr. Gable) You Made Me Love You (1938)

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



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

1) This version of "You Made Me Love You" is the teenaged Judy Garland's fan letter to Clark Gable. Tell us about one of your teen crushes.
Whoa… That was a longtime ago! I met her again at our high school class Fiftieth reunion. She’s changed and I’ve changed.

2) Garland sang to this to Gable at a birthday party thrown for him at MGM. Who is the last person you sang "Happy Birthday" to?
One of the counselors at health collective where I volunteer.

3) Thinking of birthdays ... Judy received an engagement ring from the man who would be her first husband, David Rose, for her 18th birthday. Are you wearing a ring, or any jewelry, as you answer these 9 questions?
Earrings.

4) It's said Judy's favorite dish was steak and kidney pie. If you could have anything at all for dinner tonight, what would you choose?
Anyone who knows me knows the answer… lobster! Runner up… lobster Newburg! Honorable mention… lobster roll.

5) Judy was ambidextrous, writing with her left hand but playing tennis with her right. Are you equally comfortable using your right and left hands?
I’m sinister.

6) To relax between takes of her most famous movie, The Wizard of Oz, Judy read comics in the newspaper. Do you still read a printed newspaper?
I read the town weekly but the daily I get electronically.

7) She could also knit. Judy was known to make blankets and caps for the children of crew members on her films. Do you knit?
Nope.

8) In 1938, when this record was popular, the March of Dimes founded. Do you have any dimes in your wallet (or pocket) right now?
Most likely

9) Random question: Catsup puddle next to your fries, or a drizzle of catsup on your fries?
Next to them so they don’t make the fries soggy.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Life’s A Drag

I came across this article about trans people from the “Days of Old.”

54 Rare Historical Photos Of Drag Queens Before It Was Safe To Be Out!
Because of our forefathers, we in the LGBTQ community are fortunate enough to live in a more tolerant world.
Little Things
By Todd Briscoe

“Queens,” or men who defy gender norms and dress as women, have always been present in the LGBTQ community and pop culture: Straight men like Flip Wilson and Milton Berle used them as punch lines in their humor; Divine created a media sensation when she burst onto the scene; and RuPaul began to break down barriers with her mainstream pop hit, “Supermodel (Of the World),” and a cheeky VH1 talk show.

RuPaul’s popular reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race helped bring drag queens further into the mainstream consciousness.
[…]
We acknowledge that not every person in the photos below is a “drag queen,” and that there’s a big difference between a transgender person, a transvestite, and a drag queen: A transgender person is someone who does not identify with their assigned sex and would most likely not want to be referred to as a “drag queen.” A transvestite is a cisgender male who enjoys wearing women’s clothing. A drag queen tends to be someone who dresses in women’s clothing more so for performance or entertainment purposes.

Yikes! Transvestite… does the author know that is now considered a derogatory term for a crossdresser?

Matthew's Island of Misfit Toys

Retronaut

Retronaut

F Yeah Queer Vintage/Tumblr

I have to wonder back before Cross-gender Hormone Therapy and Gender Confirming Surgery how many of these people would have transitioned? And I also wonder how many trans people were there back “Good old days” that we don't know about. Trans women would have had a harder time to transition because there would have been no way to remove a beard while a trans had a slightly easier time since they could have been “clean shaven.” Also it is hard to give labels to people who lived back then because we don’t how they thought about themselves, did they question their gender identify or did they just like crossdressing, or maybe they just crossdressed as a lark.

One of the first trans person that we can say definitively that they were trans was a trans men was Dr. Alan Hart.

We know pretty certain that he was a trans man because he had a hysterectomy and gonadectomy and synthetic hormones were discovered in the 1920s, we know that he took them them in the 1940s.

And later still, when grasshoppers croon from the moonlit Hartford meadowsweet and his wife sits up in bed reading Dickens, he’ll be at his desk, testosterone syringe clutched in hands. The needle will sink into cleaned, exposed skin: sharp pinch in the thigh, push of the plunger, synthetic hormones oozing into the muscle. Evidence, like the hysterectomy scar on his abdomen, of how far he journeyed to build in himself this river-swell of confidence. (Dr. Alan L. Hart, Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission, 1955 | Keaton St. James)

He lived in Connecticut and he pioneered the use of x-ray technology to detect tuberculosis and he served as the director of hospitalization and rehabilitation at the Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission. (Oregon Encyclopedia: Alan Hart (1890-1962))

Stolen!

The white supremacist stole the Marine Core Gadsden Flag and now the OK sign.

The Gadsden flag first saw combat under Commodore Hopkins, who was the first Commander-in-Chief of the new Continental Navy, when Washington's Cruisers put to sea for the first time in February of 1776 to raid the Bahamas and capture stored British cannon and shot.

And now they stole the OK hand sign.

It can be found as far back as Ring gestures and it appear in Greece at least as early as the fifth century BCE, and can be seen on painted vases as an expression of love, with thumb and forefinger mimicking kissing lips. In modern usage it is used by divers, it signifies "I am OK" or "Are you OK?"

But now they have been corrupted by the white supremacist movement and will forever be linked to them..

When Your Boss Tells You To Do Something And You Say No.

Yesterday I wrote about an Anchorage Alaska homeless shelter was awarded $100,000 for denying at trans woman admittance to the shelter and now a man is suing a school system for firing him because he was disrespectful of a trans student.

Teacher fired for refusing to use transgender student’s pronouns launches legal action
Lawyers claim teacher was forced to ‘express ideas about human nature he believes are false’
The Independent
By Vincent Wood
October 2, 2019

A Virginia high school teacher has filed a lawsuit after being fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s pronouns, arguing he is being discriminated against for his faith.

Peter Vlaming, who worked as a French teacher at West Point High School, Virginia, said he would use the student’s chosen name – as well as a French equivalent they had picked out – after his parents revealed their son’s transition to the school.

However the teacher refused to refer to him using male pronouns, while continuing to use female pronouns when talking about them to other students and members of staff.

R. E. S. P. E. C. T.

It seem that the teacher does not respect his students, he says it is his right to disrespect the student. It is his “religious freedom” to cause harm to a student.

After class he approached the teacher, saying “Mr Vlaming, you may have your religion, but you need to respect who I am”.

The teacher was later fired and guess who he has for his defense team?

The teacher is being represented by lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom – a legal advocacy operation identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The ADF refute the claim.

The same firm that represented Anchorage Alaska homeless shelter.

Its Getting Worst

The religious oppression is getting worst, they have been given a green light to attack us by Trump and the courts. The far right so called “Christians” are using their “religion” to shelter their bigotry.

A Christian homeless shelter is getting $100k in damages after they turned away a trans woman
The city was investigating them for anti-trans discrimination. So they sued the city for religious discrimination.
LGBTQ Nation
By Alex Bollinger
October 1, 2019

A homeless shelter that turned away a transgender woman will be getting $100,000 in a settlement from the city. They say their religious freedom was violated when the city investigated them for turning away a transgender woman.

The Downtown Hope Center in Anchorage, Alaska, turned away a transgender woman last year, citing their religious beliefs. The center argues that it’s Christian, so it can turn away people who don’t live up to their religious principles.

Do you believe that? They were awarded money for discriminating!

The trans woman filed a complaint with the Anchorage Equal Right’s Commission. While the state does not ban discrimination against LGBTQ people, the city of Anchorage has a civil rights ordinance that bans sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in public accommodations.

The commission opened an investigation, but the Downtown Hope Center didn’t wait for a decision before it filed a complaint in federal court. The center said that their religious freedom was violated because they should be allowed to turn away transgender people.

Their “religious freedom” to let trans women freeze to death.

But don’t paint all religions with a broad brush because not every Christian group agrees with the settlement.

Christians who are concerned about the homeless, though, were less happy that a homeless shelter won the right to refuse to provide shelter to transgender homeless people in Alaska.

“Personally, I believe if one is to consider themselves a Christian – a person of faith – they have to extend their charitable actions to everybody, regardless of gender,” Reverend Matthew Schultz with First Presbyterian Church told KTUU.

October 1st

Today there is a bunch of new laws that go into effect here in Connecticut including a law to ban trans/gay panic defense in criminal trials. The law bans the defense where a defendant claims that they lost it when the found out the victim was trans or gay, but most of the time they knew that already and it was when they were harassed by their friends for dating a trans woman or they were dating a gay man and got a guilty conscience.

Trans Woman's Killer Used the "Gay Panic Defense." It's Still Legal in 42 States.
Islan Nettles' assailant claimed he’d felt duped and humiliated by the revelation of his victim's gender identity
Vice News
By Juliette Maigné
July 21, 2019

[…]
Islan Nettles was walking home with a friend when she ran into James Dixon and a group of six young men headed south on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem, on their way home after plans had been cancelled [sic]. As the two groups collided, a drunken Dixon, 23, began flirting with 21-year-old Nettles, whom he thought “was a female.” Dixon told police he didn’t remember the exchange of words.

But when one of his buddies shouted, “That’s a guy!”, Dixon pushed Nettles away, and she pushed back. Dixon said he tripped and “got enraged,” so he punched her in the face. Nettles fell down and hit her head on the curb, causing a serious brain injury. Dixon swung a second punch “as she lay on the ground,” while “driving the side of her head into the pavement,” according to prosecutors.
[…]
“Sadly, the crazy part about it is [that] he probably really was into her,” Houston said in a phone interview. “I believe the presence of his friends was what made him intimidated. The fact that he was trans-attracted and his friends were present initiated the anger in him. If you’re beating somebody with your bare hands, you’re trying to kill this person. I think a lot of it had to do with him being attracted to trans women in the past. But this time, he happened to be with his homeboys.”

Here in Connecticut the law banning trans/gay panic defense goes into effect today reads in part…

PA19-27  AN ACT CONCERNING GAY AND TRANSGENDER PANIC DEFENSE.
[…]
In any prosecution for an offense, justification, as defined in sections 53a-17 to 53a-23, inclusive, shall be a defense. Justification as a defense does not include provocation that resulted solely from the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted, nonforcible, romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship. As used in this section, "gender identity or expression" means gender identity or expression, as defined in section 53a-181i.
[…]
(b) No person is justified in using force upon another person which would otherwise constitute an offense based solely on the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted, nonforcible, romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship.

Some of the other laws going into law today are (Patch)…

Gun Laws
Several gun safety and ghost gun laws will go into effect Oct. 1. The law will require safe storage of guns even when the yare unloaded and they know that a minor under the age of 18 could gain access without parental permission.

Pistols and revolvers will have to be kept in a locked trunk, safe or locked glove box when left unattended in a motor vehicle.

Come Oct. 1 people won't be able to create or transfer what is commonly referred to as a "ghost gun," which is the process of creating a firearm that doesn't have a unique serial number. Those who create such guns will be required to get a unique identifier from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. The law also bans the manufacture of firearms made from plastic that aren't detectable through metal detectors.

Also…

Minimum Wage IncreaseThe minimum wage will rise from $10.10 to $11 come Oct. 1. It will then increase by $1 every year until it reaches $15 come June 1, 2023. Future increases will be tied to the federal employment cost index.

Short-Term RentalsShort-term rental facilitators like Airbnb will have to collect and remit the state's room occupancy tax.

From CT News Junkie…

Police AccountabilityAs of today, police departments whose officers are involved in the use of deadly force must release any video footage of the incident within 96 hours.

The new law paves the way for more police accountability after several dramatic shootings that sparked protests and calls for legislation. The law requires police departments to release any body- or dash-camera footage of police using deadly force within 48 hours of involved officers viewing the video, or within 96 hours of the incident, whichever comes first.

The definition of police “use of force” expands to include chokeholds and pursuits. It also prohibits police from shooting into or at, or standing in front of, a fleeing vehicle in most cases.

The Office of Policy and Management will also be tasked with cataloging police uses of force and reporting them to the legislature, in addition to making them available online.

Jailhouse WitnessesConnecticut became the first state in the nation to require prosecutors to track information on jailhouse witnesses with the signing of SB 1098.

The first-of-its-kind law that went into effect today requirea that the state’s Office of Policy and Management Criminal Justice Division set up a system to track information on all potential jail houses that can be accessed by every prosecutor in the state.

The law is designed to create safeguards against the use of unreliable jailhouse testimony that could impact the outcome of a case.

Youthful OffendersA new law will close Connecticut courtrooms and seal the records of juveniles being prosecuted as adults for certain crimes.

The legislation passed unanimously by both chambers of the legislature will retroactively seal 116 pending and future cases.

The arraignment and all subsequent proceedings in these cases before the entry of a guilty plea or the entry of a verdict after trial are to be conducted in a closed courtroom. The records of these proceedings are confidential in the same manner as are juvenile proceedings in accordance with state law, except that the victim can obtain case records and information through an official designated by the court.

IOU

When I transitioned back in 2007 I had a number of loans outstanding and with my name change I had to change my name on the loans.

Student Loans Are Even More Complicated For Transgender Borrowers. Here's Help
Forbes
ByAsia Martin
September 22, 2019

Blossom C. Brown graduated from Mississippi University for Women in 2015 with a degree in public health education and $40,000 in student loans.  When the time came to pay off those loans, she faced the complications most of the 44.7 million Americans with student debt confront, plus an additional one: she’s transgender and her loans were all taken out in her old, male birth name.
[…]
Brown discovered that she had to change her name with her student loan servicers when she received a repayment bill in her old name. So she called both of her student loan servicers to update them. She thought it would be safer to pay her loans under her new legal name lest someone suggest she had changed her name to shirk her loans or commit fraud. But to this day, she says, one of those servicers continues to bill her under her former name. Brown is currently making payments to the servicer that has her name change right, but not to the other servicer—that loan is in forbearance until Brown’s name change form is fully processed and approved, she says.

Brown’s experience isn’t unusual. Professionals who assist transgender men, women and non-binary individuals report those who change their names or the sex they identify with run into a variety of issues and hassles with student loans. 

I had problems when I changed my name and gender on forms.

Most went smoothly but I had two wrinkles.

My mortgage changed easily, I just went to the bank and gave them a copy of my probate letter… no problem. Car loan same thing, credit cards… it went mostly smoothly, stocks… I had one snag,  and work… one crazy hitch.

The credit card companies all but one had forms to fill out and I had to send a notarized copy of the probate letter but one did it over the phone… big mistake! The person was a non-English speaker and said I could change my name over the phone. That should have been a red flag! The person misspelled my name and now on my credit history I have this note, AKA with the misspelled name. When I tried to correct it security froze my card until they figured it out.

My stocks went easily, they all had forms and wanted a copy of the probate letter, that is all but one. I should have realized that calling down to Texas where the company had the firm that handled their stock transactions was located… a very rude woman told me that they can only change the name on stock certificates for marriage… NOT SEX CHANGE! She told me to sell my stocks and buy them back. I wasn’t going to take 40 years of capital gains just to change my name on the certificates. So I kept my old name on them.

That came back to bite me you know where some fifteen years latter. I lost a dividend check and it had my old name on it so they said they would reissue the check, I just had to fill out a form. Ugh I had to sign my old name and send a copy of my driver license… my driver license had my legal and the certificates had my old name, so I called the same company that I called 15 years before and told them my problem. She said no problem she would send me a form to changed the name on the stock certificate and asked me why I didn’t change my name on the certificate before. I told her what the other woman said, she said that wasn’t true the form has always been the same and that there are boxes to check for either name change due to marriage or a legal name change and in either case you send a copy of the document.

And the hitch at work was really crazy. I transitioned the day I got laid-off, the next day I gave my former employer my probate letter and they changed all the paperwork, or so I thought.

When COBRA ran out and I received my insurance payment booklet it had my old name on the payment stubs... hun? (part of the deal they gave those who took early retirement option was we could buy the company health insurance until we were eligible for Medicare)

It turned out all the paperwork for COBRA was changed but not my retirement paperwork. When they finally straighten it out they said they had Diana retired and my old male name still working… I asked does that mean I can get two checks? They got a chuckle out of that… no dice.

The Forbes article goes on to say…

New York student loan lawyer Jay Flesichman says that the name change process for transgender individuals is not too different from common name changes public and private agencies process if newlyweds change their names. (Except there is an extra twist involving Selective Service registration, which we’ll explain later.) First, here are the basic steps Flesichman recommends transgender individuals take after receiving a court ordered name change.

The article goes on to list the order of step to take to change your name on documents and I do recommend you do them in that order… Probate court, Social Security, driver license, Medicare (if old enough for it), and then your loans other legal papers. And my advice is if they want to do it over the phone don’t do it! Request a paper form.

Breaking News: Man Arrested In Attack On A Trans Woman

In a brutal attack on a trans woman a man has been arrested!

Person dragged for 2 blocks by minivan in 'horrendous' attack
Neighbors say transgender victim was beaten, tied, dragged for 2 blocks
News4Jax
By Kelly Wiley - I-TEAM reporter, Steve Patrick - digital managing editor, Roxy Tyler - Web producer, Zachery Lashway - Reporter/anchor
September 27, 2019

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Police are investigating a brutal crime early Friday morning in Northwest Jacksonville: A person was severely beaten and then tied to the bumper of a minivan and dragged for two blocks before the rope was cut and the victim was left lying in the street.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the person, who may have already been unconscious, was dragged from the intersection of Moncrief Road and West 36th Street -- the entrance to the Majestic Plaza Apartments -- to Pearce Street. The victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police recorded graphic video of the incident at the Real Time Crime Center.

"We can't release it," JSO Assistant Chief Brien Kee said. "It is horrendous."

Multiple sources, including the maintenance worker at the apartment, told News4Jax the victim is a transgender woman. 

Just this morning…

Man arrested, accused of beating, dragging person behind van
Neighbors say transgender victim was beaten, tied, dragged for 2 blocks
News4Jax
By Zachery Lashway - Reporter/anchor, Kelly Wiley - I-TEAM reporter, Steve Patrick - News4Jax digital managing editor
September 30, 2019

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Eric Bridges, 24, was arrested Sunday afternoon on charges of attempted murder in connection with what police described as a horrendous attack on a transgender woman Friday.
Bridges is accused of severely beating and then tying a person to the bumper of a minivan, dragging the victim for two blocks before the rope was cut and the victim was left lying in the street.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said the person, who may have already been unconscious, was dragged from the intersection of Moncrief Road and West 36th Street -- the entrance to the Majestic Plaza Apartments -- to Pearce Street. The victim was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries on Friday.
[…]
At first appearance before a judge Monday morning, Bridges was ordered held on $500,000 bond. He is due back in court on Oct. 22.

Bridges has a long rap sheet with charges that include grand theft and resisting an officer. He was released from prison in June 2018.

Conservatives Found A Scapegoat

And we are it, around the world conservatives are using us to rally their base with hate. One of the leading political groups (besides the Republicans) is the Polish conservative party the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) or the Law and Justice party.

There in Poland and other former Soviet Bloc countries are generating hate not only against us but also against the Jews. Anti-Semitic literature was found on the halls of parliament there,

A news kiosk inside Poland’s parliament was found to be selling a newspaper with an article instructing readers on “How to recognize a Jew”, drawing accusations that lawmakers were happy to tolerate anti-Semitism. (Reuters)

In other former Soviet Bloc countries LGBT concentrations camps have been reported.

Chechnya opens world's first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler's in the 1930s where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death (Daily Mail)

In Poland the government is looking the other way when LGBTQ+ people are attacked.
Poland’s Pride Parade turns into disaster.

This City's First Ever Pride March Ended With Far-Right Mobs Hunting Down Queer Kids
Footage taken after the march in Kharkiv, Ukraine shows thugs in balaclavas kicking and beating Pride marchers.
Vice
By Tim Hume
September 16 2019

The first ever Pride march in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv descended into scenes of violence Sunday, as mobs of ultranationalist thugs hunted down and assaulted marchers at the end of the event.

Three marchers and two police officers were injured in the clashes, while police arrested 17 far-right demonstrators for their role in the attacks.

The march — the first ever held in the conservative eastern city — faced opposition before it even took place, with Mayor Gennady Kernes threatening legal action to try to prevent the event, and far-right groups threatening violence if it went ahead.
[…]
“These groups of ultra-right youth hunted for participants of the march throughout the city and beat several of them,” Andriy Maymulakhin, coordinator for the Nash Mir Center, a Ukrainian LGBT rights organization, told VICE News.

Meanwhile elsewhere in Poland…

Polish towns advocate ‘LGBT-free’ zones while the ruling party cheers them on
The Washington Post
By Rick Noack
July 21, 2019

[…]
Ahead of parliamentary elections this fall, Law and Justice has thrown the full weight of its party apparatus behind a campaign that is marginalizing Poland’s LGBT community, its critics say.
[…]
This spring, as the Law and Justice party was gearing up for European Parliament elections, its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski highlighted another supposed foreign danger. Warsaw’s mayor had recently advocated integrating sex education and LGBT issues into school curriculums, in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines. In Kaczynski’s telling, this was “an attack on the family” and “an attack on children.” He called “LGBT ideology” an imported “threat to Polish identity, to our nation, to its existence and thus to the Polish state.”

A Law and Justice campaign ad depicted an umbrella with the party logo protecting a family from rainbow rain.

Regional party officials have since pushed to declare cities and even entire provinces in the country’s conservative southeast ­“LGBT-ideology free.” Activists have counted around 30 such declarations so far, including one in the region where Kielce is located.

New Britain Connecticut…

Polish president welcomed to New Britain by Lamont, senators, crowd of thousands
The Hartford Courant
By Don Stacom
September 23, 2019

The crowd that gathered at New Britain’s Walnut Hill Park to hear Polish President Andrzej Duda wasn’t nearly as big as anticipated, but made up for that in enthusiastic determination.

A few thousand people stood for most of the afternoon under a relentless sun, many of them jammed up against metal security gates in hopes of seeing the first Polish president to visit New Britain.

When the motorcade with Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda arrived more than 45 minutes behind schedule, the crowd yelled eagerly. Waving red-and-white Polish flags, the audience then cheerfully applauded a series of speakers, flag presentations and an awards ceremony in Duda’s honor.

Not one word was said in opposition to Polish President Andrzej Duda treatment of LGBTQ+ and Jewish peoples.

Also where was the Catholic church and the Pope in condemning the growing violence against us?

Saturday 9: Shake It Off

Sam’s Saturday 9: Shake It Off (2014)

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



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

1) This song makes Crazy Sam want to dance. What song inspires you to get on your feet?
The songs that the kids listens to now… they make me want to get up on my feet and run away.

2) Paul McCartney met Taylor Swift at the SNL 40 Anniversary special and told her he really enjoys playing and singing this song. What's the last song you sang along with?

3) The lyrics tell us Swift "shakes off" nasty gossip and unfair criticism. What about you? Do you worry about what others think of you?
Yes, I think we all do. There was a book that I had to read, “The Social Animal” by Elliot Anderson, let’s face it we all are social animals that look for approval of our peers. Think about the last time you found out that your friends had a get-together without you, how did you feel?

Rejection of LGBTQ youth by society is the number one cause of suicide in the community.

4) Her parents are big music fans, and were going to name their baby (boy or girl) "Taylor" after their favorite artist, James Taylor. Can you think of a singer that your mom and/or dad really enjoyed?
Glenn Miller.
I listen to "Big Bands" music sometimes when I am in the mood.

They had all his albums and I remember when they attended a Glenn Miller tribute band… they were in heaven for days and all they talked about for days afterward was about the concert.

5) She grew up on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm. Do you get a fresh tree every year, or do you have an artificial tree, or do you not put up a tree at all?
I started putting up an artificial tree and having an open house on the Sunday before Christmas.

6) Taylor Swift is 5'10". According to the CDC, the average American woman is 5'4" while men are, on average, 5'9". Are you taller or shorter than average?
Well in my younger days I was six foot now I think I have shrunk with age.

7) She enjoys good, old fashioned mysteries, especially those by Agatha Christie. Are you currently reading a book for pleasure?
I’m listening to a free audio book “The Clock Strikes Thirteen” by Mildred A. Wirt-Benson.

Penny Parker is a teen-aged sleuth and amateur reporter who has an uncanny knack for uncovering and solving unusual, sometimes bizarre mysteries. The only daughter of widower Anthony Parker, publisher of the "Riverview Star," Penny has been raised to be self-sufficient, outspoken, innovative, and extraordinarily tenacious. Her cheerful, chatty manner belies a shrewd and keenly observant mind. Penny was the creation of Mildred A. Wirt, who was also the author of the original Nancy Drew series (under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene). 

8) Her brother Austin is a freelance photographer who took the official pictures for her 2008 concert tour. Who took the last photo of you?
The police, I had to stand in front of a wall with markings for height and hold a card with numbers on it … just kidding.

A friend took this while we were sitting around drinking a beer in a bar in Provincetown or as it is known by the locals P’town.

9) Random question: What's your go-to comfy outfit?
Well now it is moving away from sundresses or tee shirts and shorts with sandals to jeans, long sleeve tops with sneakers, later in the season the long sleeve tops will be replaced by baggy sweaters.

October 7th The First Monday In October.

You should by now know that is the day when the new session of the Supreme Court begins and that is the day that two major LGBTQ+ cases will be heard.

The cases will make or break transgender rights in the United States. The cases will decide if trans people and gays and lesbians are covered under the Civil Rights Act Titles VII and IX. But there is another case that will be heard in November that also has far ranging consequences for us. The case is not about LGBTQ+ rights but rather about racism.

Justices tuning in to cable television civil rights lawsuit
AP
By Jessica Gresko
September 8, 2019

WASHINGTON (AP) — Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen wants TV viewers to watch the channels his company produces — from one that runs “Judge Judy”-like shows all day to those dedicated to comedy, cars, food and pets. But while many distributors carry Allen’s channels, two cable giants have refused.

Allen says the reason is that he’s black, and so he’s sued for racial discrimination. An appeals court has let his lawsuits go forward, but now the Supreme Court will weigh in and could deliver a setback.

The justices will hear arguments Nov. 13 in a $20 billion lawsuit that Allen filed against Comcast, with the outcome also affecting a $10 billion case he has filed against Charter Communications.

If Allen prevails, black-owned businesses will have an easier time winning suits that allege discrimination in contracting. If Comcast wins, the bar will be high to bring and succeed with similar suits.

The question for the justices is whether Allen needs to show that race was just a factor in Comcast’s decision not to offer him a contract or whether it was the sole factor.

So what does this mean for us?

It will mean that businesses will be exempt from the civil rights laws. Suppose you own a business (for argument sake, a plumbing business) and you are submitting a bid on a job with company X as a sub-contractor. Company X says “We do not hire trans owned businesses.” That would be a violation of Connecticut’s non-discrimination laws, but if the Supreme Court rules in Comcast’s we might not be protected.

So which side do you think the Trump administration is backing?

According to Blavity,

DOJ Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on August 15 supporting Comcast, claiming companies were allowed to decide on contracts based on race as long as it was not the sole factor confirming a decision.

Michael Foreman, the director of the Civil Rights Appellate Clinic at Penn State, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that by backing Comcast, the government was essentially saying it is "OK to discriminate based on race, just don’t make that the significant part of the decision. I’m sure [Trump’s] thinking is, Let’s make it harder to sue for discrimination claims, and he’s taking that position at the Supreme Court.”

This is major departure from civil rights laws, in the past it only had to be a contributing factor, not a major factor. So in other words… “I didn’t hire him because he’s trans but also because I didn’t like his green suit” would not qualify as discriminating based on gender identity because being trans is not the sole factor in not hiring the person.

You are going to see more and more of these cases that try to create wiggle room in discrimination cases whether for “religious freedom” or cases like the Comcast case.

The Capital “G” And The Small “t”

… Or Can A Leopard Change Its Spots?

I had to learn the hard way, I didn’t listen to my peers, and I got stabbed in the back.

What am I talking about?

Why the HRC of course or the Human Rights Campaign.

Human Rights Campaign hasn't always defended LGBTQ people of color — we're changing that
I know what it is like to be both black and gay in America. For too long, LGBTQ people of color have been marginalized in our fight for justice.
USA Today  Opinion
By Alphonso David,
September 26, 2019

Four hundred years after the first African slaves were brought to the shores of North America, we still have a responsibility to confront — honestly and without qualification — the painful truth that the United States continues to oppress people of color on the basis of race.
At this juncture in our history and in our ongoing struggle to realize America’s promise of equality and justice for all, we must confront this fact with unambiguous moral clarity and make intentional commitments to act as individuals, organizations and institutions.

For me, this is deeply personal.

A few weeks ago, I became the first person of color to lead the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people.

This is a step in the right direction, but…

The truth is that LGBTQ people of color have long been marginalized within our community — and by our organization. They have seen their contributions to our collective history diminished or forgotten, and their needs and priorities sidelined. While we have fought and won important battles on issues including marriage equality, we have historically failed to also engage in consistent and meaningful work to address the impact of racial inequality on LGBTQ people across all aspects of their lives — including on issues such as voter suppression, health and economic disparities, and violence. It is our responsibility to make that right and to demonstrate our commitment every day.

Those of us who have been around for a long time knows that this is true for all LGBTQ+ organizations including here in Connecticut and it is not just the LGBTQ+ organizations but also the trans organizations. Go to any support group and it is all most all white trans people.

On November 20^th when we remember our dead it is mostly a white audience remembering people of color who gave up their lives so that they could be their trueselves.

---

Back to the HRC, there is a nickname that many in the trans community has given them… “Gay Inc.”

The might be trying to change their spots but their main donors are rich white gay men and for their donations most of them want a return on their investment, and for along time it was the golden ring of marriage.

Back in 2007 I was a newbie that was just stepping out into the world and I went do to Washington DC to lobby for the gender inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). After decades of of non-trans inclusive ENDAs a proposed bill included us for the first.

Where we had the training for the lobby day was at the HRC headquarters, that day in May everything was lovey dovey and we sang Kumbaya together. The head of the HRC came out and told us that they will only support the trans inclusive ENDA.

A trans man friend told to watch out they will stab you in the back the first time it doesn’t go their way.

At the Southern Comfort conference in September the HRC president Joe Solmonese gave a speech before 800 trans people…

My friend told me watch out!

In late September, Rep. Barney Frank pulls the inclusive ENDA bill and substitutes a non-inclusive ENDA bill, Joe Solmones says the HRC will would not oppose or endorse the non-inclusive bill.

In late October the HRC says they will support non-inclusive bill, but will not penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill.

In November HRC, says they will penalize any congressperson who votes against the non-inclusive bill.

When the vote came up in the House six U.S. Representatives vote against the non-inclusive bill and they lost their 100% rating on LGBT issues from the HRC.

That knife scare in my back still hurts on days when I hear that the HRC is working for trans rights. I wonder if they will drop us like a hot potato if thing don’t go their way and they think that they can get what Gay Inc. wants if they throw us under the bus.

Yes, they have hired some trans people, yes they have hired some black women… but will they end up with bus tire tracks across their backs like we did back in 2007.

They Forget

How many times have you heard complaints about trans athletes? One thing they forget is that there are also trans male athletes, so when you force athletes to only play in their gender assigned at birth that creates major problems.

17-Year-Old Transgender Boy Wins Texas Girls' Wrestling Championship
NPR
By Camila Domonoske
February 27, 2017

The Texas state wrestling championships aren't usually national news. But they made headlines this weekend when a 17-year-old transgender boy — barred by state rules from competing in the boys' league — won his weight class, against girls.

Mack Beggs, the teenage boy in question, hasn't sought the spotlight. By all accounts he just wants to wrestle.

But media attention found him anyway. In part, that's because some parents of female wrestlers have vocally objected to the fact that Beggs, who has been taking testosterone as part of his gender transition, is wrestling girls. One parent even filed a lawsuit against the league that organizes public school sports.

And it is not that he wants to compete against the girls,

"He wants to compete against boys," Merritt says. But under Texas rules, boys can't compete against girls, and students must compete as the gender marked on their birth certificate. That meant if Beggs wanted to wrestle, he had to do it in the girls' league.

In their anger they want us to compete in our birth gender but they don’t think it through because one there are trans male athletes and also what happens when we change our birth certificates?

I bring this up now because there is a federal court case about trans athletes that is winding its way through the system now.

---

This brings up a pet peeve of mine, too much emphasis is to high school sports at the decrement of other after school activities. When you read the newspapers how many time have you read that the school budget was cut and they have either cut back or eliminated all after school activities except for sports.

Students get scholarship in other activities besides sports but that does count, only almighty sports are important. You hear how sports builds self-confidence and self-esteem, teamwork, leadership, social skills, and discipline; well I have news for you so do other after school activities.

The high school robotics team won first place in the New England regional tournament they got one square inch in the town newspaper while on the other page they devoted a whole page to the winning quarterback. Don’t you think that the robotics team at the very least deserved to have their names in the paper?

---

At my 50^th high school reunion most of the football players were all walking around with canes… Just saying.