This Is Why We Have Pride Marches

Sometimes here on the east coast and I also imagine the west coast we forget that there is still a struggle for our rights in the heartland (i.e. the Republican Controlled mid west).

Backlash to LGBT exhibit shows persistent power of homophobia in Missouri politics
Kansas City Star
By Jeanne Kuang, Jonathan Shorman, and Daniel Desrochers
September 13, 2021


Future U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler once warned that if Missouri didn’t ban same-sex marriage in its constitution, judges would dictate “new forms of families to the citizens of our state.” More than 70% of Missouri voters approved the ban in 2004.

As recently as 2014, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law of the land, a group of Republican lawmakers tried to impeach then-Gov. Jay Nixon over an executive order allowing same-sex couples legally married in other states to file joint Missouri tax returns.

As public support for LGBT rights has increased over the past 20 years, Republican rhetoric against the gay and transgender community has shifted. Once marked by open hostility, it has moved to fights about transgender access to healthcare, bathrooms and athletics.

But gay lawmakers say homophobia continues to linger in GOP politics and that the recent backlash to placement of an LGBT history exhibit at the Missouri Capitol only serves as proof.

Here in Connecticut the state historical society had an exhibit on the history of the LGBTQ+ community and it was written up in the local newspaper, in my blog I wrote,

Last night I attended a reception at the Connecticut Historical Society for a traveling exhibit on LGBT history.

The exhibit was a collaboration between the historical society and Central Connecticut State University’s class in LGBT history and will be on exhibit around the state.

Which is a lot different reception than the Missouri exhibit had.

LGBT lawmakers say the persistent power of homophobia in Missouri is best illustrated by the anti-LGBT-discrimination proposal that has languished in the General Assembly for 23 years.

It is not just Missouri, it is also here in Connecticut there are some legislators who will not vote for anything LGBTQ+. For the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill in 2011 there were 62 Republicans in the House who voted against the bill out of 138 and in the Senate 16 were against it out of 36 Senators, the vote back then was right down party lines.

The frustrations appeared to have spilled over into the party’s officials. Pat Thomas, the Missouri GOP treasurer, wrote on Twitter that the removal was “hypocrisy” when the national GOP recognizes a Republican LGBT organization, the Log Cabin Republicans.

“How can your entire party acknowledge #LGBT but a ‘party member’ wants the history removed?” she wrote.

There are still many places around the U.S. that transphobia and homophobia run rampant, places where I wouldn't feel safe as nation we lag way behind. We need to pass the Equality Act!

House Passes The Equality Act: Here's What It Would Do

NPR

By Danielle Kurtzleben

February 24, 2021

Updated Feb. 25, 4:39 p.m. ET

The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to pass the Equality Act, a bill that would ban discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also substantially expand the areas to which those discrimination protections apply.

It's a bill that President Biden said on the campaign trail would be one of his top legislative priorities for the first 100 days of his presidency. The House vote was largely along party lines, passing with the support of all Democrats and just three Republicans. The bill now goes to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

[…]

The Equality Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

We need to pass it in the Senate, it passed the House but is stuck in the Senate so please call, email, write, or visit you U,S. Senators and tell them help bring the Equality Act to a vote and to vote for the bill.

Danica Roem Reelection

It is a never ending battle, Danica Roem won the election but now she is up for reelection and guess what the opposition is saying?

Trans Politician Danica Roem Faces Off Against Antigay Trump Follower
The trans Virginia legislator is running for reelection against Christopher Stone, who opposes marriage equality and wants more religious exemptions from pro-LGBTQ+ laws.
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
September 9, 2021


Virginia legislator Danica Roem is facing a conservative marriage equality opponent and former Trump administration member in her reelection race this November.

Roem, a Democrat, was elected to the House of Delegates in 2017, becoming the first out transgender person to be elected to and seated in a state legislature. In 2019 she became the first out trans person reelected. In her first election, she defeated Del. Bob Marshall, a longtime legislator who was intensely anti-LGBTQ+. She beat an anti-LGBTQ+ challenger, Kelly McGinn, in her reelection race.

Christopher Stone, the Republican challenging her in Virginia’s 13th District this year, has described the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality decision as an example of “legislating from the bench,” the Washington Blade reports. He also said the court’s infamous Dred Scott decision from 1857, which held that enslaved people and their descendants could not be U.S. citizens, was another case of legislating by judges. He opposes adoption rights for same-sex couples as well.

He further said that laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination should have more accommodations for religious objections and consider “both sides” of the issue. “A lot of people that I talk to are concerned that the way the laws are written you are protecting one group and infringing upon the constitutional freedoms of another,” he told the Blade, adding, “But you don’t just ignore those people. You accommodate both sides. I don’t like laws aimed at a single group or giving protections to one side. That is how a lot of people see LGBTQ laws.

So what issues is he running on? Well it seems like it all boils down to one issue… they are not Democrats.

And of course since he is a loyal follower of Trump… he is big on conspiracy theories.

Stone has also said he wants to fight “cancel culture” and that there has been “government overreach” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial unrest of 2020. He has additionally claimed that worries about the integrity of last year’s presidential election have not been taken seriously.

All elections are local, it is what you can do for me and somehow I don’t think that the voters really care about the “cancel culture” or the “plague” they care about their community. Ms. Roem won because she cared about the condition of the roads, yeah the far-right cares about those things but the majority of the voters do not.

The Republican party is weak on issues strong on divisiveness. They are good at wedge issues but I think that the people seeing through that smokescreen and even some Republicans are turning away from Trumpism. One congressman sees that, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, “The question is – Are we going to be the party of opportunity and hope, or the party of anger and division, where truth has no place in it?” So far it is a party of anger and divisiveness.

My Story Part 180: Pride

Yesterday was the Hartford Pride.

I looked up in my diary the first Pride that I went to and it was on September 2001. Wow! I cannot believe that it has been twenty years!

The COS tabling crew, I'm on the left

I wrote back then in my diary (note over the 20 years meaning and usage of words have changed),

If you asked me a year ago if I would be in the Connecticut PRIDE, I would of said “No way!”. Even six months ago or last week I would have said the same thing. But, T caught me in a good mood and I said yes. So, here I am shaving my legs, doing my nails getting ready to go out, march and help out at the COS [Connecticut Outreach Society] table. In a most public GLBT event of the year, with newspaper and televisions reporters. I’m scared, but I’m going. As the Grateful Dead said “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Just got back from the Pride Day festivities. I had a very good time. Sat around the COS table-answering questions people had about COS and Transgenderism. The Pride day celebrations were held in Bushnell Park right behind the state capital. As usual T got here two hours late and we got there to late for breakfast with the state legislators or the parade.

It was a very good experience, I meet a lot of interesting people and possibly some new members. All in all a very productive and positive day.

Now it is different then it was 20 years ago, the difference is that twenty years ago I didn’t know anyone, Saturday it was like old home week. I knew so many of the people there, as they went by the CTAC table we said hi and talked for awhile. I got up and made the rounds of the other booths, someone from the Stonewall Speaker recognized me and we talked, and at the Prime Timers table I recognized the whole crew at the table, I took a bus trip with them to the Culinary Institute of America and then to West Point. Wandering down some more booths we a cooperate sponsor’s booth where I picked up a couple of flags. About three quarters around the circle of tents was the Health Collective tent where I volunteer.

2021 Hartford Pride --Photo by Sue.

Then I stumbled down to one of the last tents and it was the Planned Parenthood tent and it was tabled by an old friend, I have know here since 2006 when we were at the first meeting of the anti-discrimination coalition’s meeting on passing the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill, over the years we have worked on many bills together. She is the lobbyist for Planned Parenthood here in Connecticut and a classmate at the UConn School of Social Work and is the one who told me at the Legislative Office Building that I was named in the state budget appointing me to the legislative committee, “LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services Network.”

There are so many good memories at the Pride.

Saturday 9: Jose Cuervo

Sam’s Saturday 9: Jose Cuervo (1983)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…
This Saturday is Hartford Pride so I will be out of the house most of the day.

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Here it is...

1) In this song, Shelly West sings that she woke up late on a sunny morning. How's the weather in your part of the world?
Today is going to gorgeous, no humidity and temps in the mid-seventies.

2) She wonders if she started any fights while under the influence. Who's the last person you quarreled with?
That was so long ago that I don’t remember… quarreling is non-productive.

3) OK, margaritas for everyone! Shelly sings that she likes hers with salt. What's your order? Classic or strawberry? Salt or sugar on the rim?
Classic margaritas with salt.

4) Jose Cuervo was a real person. He was one of the first to put tequila in bottles instead of barrels. Since bottles are easier to ship, it was a good decision. Tell us about a recent choice you're glad you made.
Getting my MSW.

5) This week's featured artist, Shelly West, decided upon a career in music while still very young. She went on the road and sang backup for her mom, country music legend Dottie West, when she was still in her teens. When Sam was in her teens, she really didn't give her professional future that much thought. How about you? Did you already have career ambitions when you were in your teens?
Yes, I wanted to go into electrical engineering. I had one student advisor that told me to give up on my dreams of becoming an engineer.

6) In 1983, the year this song was popular, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Do you ever fantasize about being an astronaut?
Of course, we even tried to figure out how to make a rocket.

7) Also in 1983, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was born. The NFL season is just kicking off. Do you have high hopes for your team this year?
I don’t have a “team” and I am not interested in sports.
Back in high school gym class I wear it like a badge of honor; being the last one picked for a team. It was football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring and I hated all of them. Gym classes revolved sports, the gym teachers were all coaches, their life revolved around sports, they lived and breathed sports, they considered it un-American to not like sports.
Then in college, liberation! The gym classes that I took: Scuba diving, skiing, backpacking, and skeet shooting, I loved them all!

8) In 1983, Motorola introduced the first cell phone. Do you have an easy time adapting to new technology?
It depends. Certain technology I pick up on, what I don’t understand are apps. Why do you need them?
Take Facebook they want you to use the Facebook app and the Messenger App why?
If I am in an internet browsers why should I have to open an app to see Messenger? When all I have to click on the Messenger icon on the top left, it just doesn’t make sense to me, the only thing that I see that it does is for Facebook and other apps to better track you.

9) Think of the last potato chip you had. Was it plain, sea salt, barbecue, sour cream and onion ...?
Plain, only because a bag of chips came with the Turkey wrap with Cranberry Sauce, Mayo,
Lettuce, Tomatoes and Onions .

I Bet You Haven’t Seen A Commercial Like This Before

This is an amazing ad! And the response to it has also been amazing,

This jewelry commercial will leave you speechless when you realize what’s going on
"Most of our stores are in rural parts of the state. We were not sure how much exposure people there would have had to these issues."
LGBTQ Nation
By Bil Browning
September 9, 2021


A jewelry advertisement has become the talk of the internet – and India – for its groundbreaking theme. The spot features a transgender actress.

The firm specializes in traditional wedding jewelry and the ad includes the tagline “Pure as love.”

While transgender actors and themes in commercials have gained wider acceptance in other countries, Bhima Jewelry’s customer base is in rural India. They say any feared backlash, however, was quickly thrown out the window after the ad went viral and the kudos started to roll in.

The campaign was originally met with “fears and apprehensions” by her colleagues, Navya Rao, the head of the chain’s online marketing, told the BBC.

“All our previous ads had happy heterosexual brides. So we were worried about how people would perceive it and react to it,” she said. “Most of our stores are in rural parts of the state. We were not sure how much exposure people there would have had to these issues.”

Conservatives are pushing their hate all around world, screaming and yelling but you know what? The people are ignoring them. When they have referendums we win, while one party Republican states continue to pass their hate.

Here is the ad...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile down in Texas they are still trying to ban us from sports and make out lives miserable .

Transgender Prevention Act Enters 3rd Special Session
Texas News Today
By Cathleen Buxton
September 9, 2021


Austin, Texas — When lawmakers reunite in Austin later this month for the third special session of 2021, one of the things they work on is a law that limits how transgender students can participate in sports. is.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has prioritized legislators to pass a Republican bill requiring transgender students to play in sports teams that correspond to the gender assigned at birth rather than gender identity. ..

A similar bill failed to cross the finish line during the regular session earlier this year and the first two special sessions.

Republicans say the bill is about maintaining the fairness of girls’ sports, but LGBTQ activists and families of transgender students oppose the sports bill and other transgender prevention legislation. He also states that he is perpetuating and discriminating against harmful stigma. Transgender children.
[…]
For months, the governor has prioritized passing legislation requiring transgender students to play in sports teams that correspond to the gender assigned at birth.

Do you remember last winter Texas had a state wide power failure did the Republican governor and the Republican tackle that? Nope anti-trans bills took precedent.

Last year they had a state wide lack of safe drinking water did the Republican governor and the Republican tackle that? Nope anti-trans bills took precedent.

They want to push their social agenda over the needs of the people.

They use trans people to distract the voters.

Don’t Forget The ACA!

A lot of times we get turned down by insurance companies, then we have the states that ban healthcare for us well we have a big weapon at our hands the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Transgender insureds can sue over health plan exclusion, U.S. appeals court affirms
In 2018, the North Carolina State Health Plan decided to exclude all coverage for gender dysphoria counseling, hormone therapy and other transition-related treatment.
NBC News
By Reuters
September 3, 2021


Transgender people who are enrolled in the North Carolina State Health Plan can proceed with a lawsuit over its 2018 decision to exclude all coverage for gender dysphoria counseling, hormone therapy, surgical care or other treatment, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Wednesday.

The 2-1 decision affirmed a federal judge in Greensboro’s 2020 ruling that NCSHP lacks sovereign immunity from the suit, which was filed by Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis on behalf of seven state workers or their dependents under the antidiscrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

NCSHP waived its 11th Amendment protections against the discrimination lawsuit by accepting federal funds, Chief Circuit Judge Roger Gregory wrote for the majority.

If a medical care provider accepts federal funds that they cannot discriminate against us. There are exceptions and you probably have guessed the exception – religious hospitals.

Religious health care providers win injunction on ACA rules
The providers feared the Biden administration would interpret the Affordable Care Act as requiring them to perform abortions and gender-affirming procedures.
NBC News
By The Associated Press
August 16, 2021


A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction on behalf of religious health care providers who feared the Biden administration would interpret the Affordable Care Act as requiring them to perform abortions or gender-transition treatment against their conscience.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had argued that it doesn't require religious providers to offer such procedures and has never brought or threatened any enforcement activity against a religious entity in such a case.

But U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor interpreted HHS regulations as forcing the plaintiffs — a Catholic hospital system in the Midwest and a Christian medical association — to choose between their beliefs and their livelihood, resulting in “irreparable injury.”

The decision underscores a continued dispute between conservative religious health care providers and HHS over an issue that has generated a patchwork of rulings that will likely have to be sorted out by appellate courts.

Connecticut has some of the most protective laws still exempt religious institutions. When I was an intern at a non-profits that advocate for women, I was tasked with what would the alternatives be if a hospital in Waterbury was bought by a religious organization, what I found was used in testimony against the buyout. I found that if a women lived in Waterbury and the hospital shutdown the fertility clinic then a women who had no personal transportation would have to travel by bus all day to an appointment at another hospital. The sale fell through when the state said that the new buyer could not close any of the clinics.

Of course all the laws will not prevent bias.

Nearly half of trans people have been mistreated by medical providers, report finds
The onus of addressing discrimination against transgender people should fall on medical institutions, one of the report’s authors said.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
August 18, 2021


[…]
CAP’s [Center for American Progress] report found that nearly half of transgender people — and 68 percent of transgender people of color — reported having experienced mistreatment at the hands of a medical provider, including refusal of care and verbal or physical abuse, in the year before the survey, which took place in June 2020.

Discrimination can then prevent people from seeking future care, the survey found: 28 percent of transgender people, including 22 percent of transgender people of color, reported having postponed or not gotten necessary medical care for fear of discrimination.
[…]
The CAP report said harassment and discrimination “contribute to high rates of stress,” and — along with social determinants of health — make trans people “more likely to experience poor health outcomes.”

People will read about health disparities among trans people “and just think of that as something that, horribly, is associated with just like being trans, but actually a lot of these experiences have to do with being trans in a world that is constantly oppressing you and where you’re experiencing discrimination both interpersonally but also institutionally and in these broader systems,” said one of the report’s authors, Caroline Medina, a policy analyst at CAP.

I have been lucky so far in that my doctors have been very supportive. I only had one doctor that I felt uncomfortable with. So remember ACA can be used to fight healthcare discrimination along with state laws

When you have to go to an emergency room it is a crap shoot on how you will be treated.

Morbidity

Now there’s trans a nice topic to discuss. There is a new study out that looks at trans deaths.

Mortality Rate Higher for Transgender People
HCP Live
Dr. Martin den Heijer
September 3, 2021


A new analysis shows transgender individuals have a significantly higher mortality rate when compared to cis men and women.

Using data compiled from the Netherlands spanning 5 decades, a team led by Dr. Martin den Heijer, of Amsterdam UMC, found the mortality risk among this population did not decrease between 1972-2018, based on a number of factors.

“The findings of our large, nationwide study highlight a substantially increased mortality risk among transgender people that has persisted for decades,” den Heijer said in a statement. “Increasing social acceptance, and monitoring and treatment for cardiovascular disease, tobacco use, and HIV, will continue to be important factors that may contribute to decreasing mortality risk in transgender people.”

The Study
The study included 4568 adult transgender people—2927 transgender women and 1641 transgender men. Each participant attended the gender identity clinic at Amsterdam UMC to receive gender-affirming hormone treatment. The investigators analyzed data from medical files on participants’ age at the beginning of hormone treatment, the type of treatment, smoking habits, medical history, and the last day of follow-up.
[…]
The investigators compared the ratio of deaths among transgender individuals to the rates for the adult Dutch population using data provided by the Statistics Netherlands (CBS), which holds a record of all death of residents of the Netherlands.

Their findings…

A total of 317 (10.8%) transgender women and 44 (2.7%) transgender men died during the duration of the study, which equated to an overall mortality rate of 628 deaths per 100,000 people per year.
[…]
An analysis of the subgroups show transgender women were 2.6 times as likely to die of cardiovascular disease, 3.1 times as likely to die from lung cancer, 8.7 times as likely to die from infection, and 6.1 times as likely to die from non-natural causes as cis women.

The greatest risk for those suffering from cardiovascular disease was heart attacks, which were 3 times higher in transgender women than cis women.
[…]
While the differences were not as high for transgender men, they were still higher than cis women in comparison. Overall, the mortality rates between the 2 groups was similar, with transgender men 1.1 times as likely to die as cis men.

Wait a minute!

What about trans men compared to cis-men? Don’t compare them to women!

The bottom-line;

“Gender-affirming hormone treatment is thought to be safe, and most causes of death in the cohort were not related to this,” den Heijer said. “However, as there is insufficient evidence at present to determine their long-term safety, more research is needed to fully establish whether they in any way affect mortality risk for transgender people.”

In an article in Forbes about the study…

Transgender People Twice As Likely To Die As Cisgender People, Study Finds
By Robert Hart
September 2, 2021


TOPLINE Transgender people are twice as likely to die as cisgender people, according to a long running study published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology on Thursday, a difference researchers said underscores the need for improving social acceptance and medical care for trans people.

Hold it right there… we are all going to die. I think they mean sooner than cis-gender people.

The increased risk did not fall over the almost five decades studied between 1972 and 2018, according to an analysis of medical records from nearly 3,000 trans women and more than 1,600 trans men treated at the Amsterdam University Medical Center, which treats around 90% of trans people in the country.

Trans women had particularly elevated risks of death—notably from heart disease, lung cancer, HIV-related illness and suicide—the researchers noted, and were almost twice as likely to die than cis men and nearly three times as likely to die than cis women.

There were no differences in the risks of death between trans and cisgender men, the study found, though the group was almost twice as likely to die than cis women, especially from non-natural causes like suicide.

My thoughts on the difference between trans women and trans men.

Could it be because of discrimination? Could it be because of how well a person integrates in to society? Trans men have an easier time getting a job while many trans women have to make their living in the margins of society.

The researchers said the findings add weight to the idea that the health disparities observed in transgender people are not primarily driven by gender-affirming hormone treatment—which can potentially increase the likelihood of some conditions—as most causes of increased death identified have no indication of being a consequence of this.

It seems to me that our early deaths are more due to discrimination and being forced to live and work in a dangerous environment than treatment for gender dysphoria.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is "Switch Day" for me, I'm heading home for the Cape today.

Another Court Win

We got another win in our belts, this time in North Carolina.

Transgender state employees can sue NC for discrimination in health care, judges say
News & Observer
By Danielle Battaglia
September 1, 2021


Transgender state employees can sue North Carolina for banning the use of state health insurance to pay for transition care, treatment and surgery, a federal appeals court said Wednesday in upholding a lower court’s ruling.

Six state employees filed the lawsuit in 2019 accusing the North Carolina State Health Plan of discrimination against them or their children.

Attorneys for the state argued that it had protection from being sued under the legal doctrine known as sovereign immunity, but judges ruled that that immunity was waived when North Carolina used federal funds on the state’s health plan but did not uphold the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
[…]
The judges recognized that this was a departure from past policies and that the Affordable Care Act — President Barack Obama’s health care law — prohibits “any health program or activity” that receives federal funds from discriminating against individuals on any grounds prohibited by various federal laws, including Title IX dealing with gender discrimination.

We can thank the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) for the win and last year’s Supreme Court ruling on Title VII.

---

Speaking of North Carolina…

Charlotte protected LGBTQ+ people. There’s much more work to do.
Charlotte Observer
By Tyrell Lowery
August 23, 2021


As a Charlotte resident and a transgender man, I am thrilled to see Charlotte City Council vote Aug. 9 to pass a strong nondiscrimination ordinance protecting people in our city from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and natural hairstyle.

By becoming the tenth community in our state to pass an ordinance like this, the Queen City is showing unequivocally that North Carolina is ready to protect LGBTQ people.

The vote reflects how far our city, state and nation have journeyed on support for the LGBTQ community, and especially transgender people, in the past five years. In 2016, Charlotte tried doing the right thing by passing an inclusive ordinance, only to see it blocked by the N.C. General Assembly’s cruel bathroom bill (HB2), which specifically targeted transgender people by villifying us and restricting our access to public restrooms. HB2 set off a nasty chapter for North Carolina, making our state ground zero for anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
[…]
It’s time: We must look to Charlotte as a blueprint for the rest of our state and country. We must pass these protections for every LGBTQ person, no matter where they live. Our people can no longer wait.

TyRell Lowery is the Transgender Community Liason for Charlotte Black Pride.

As the south lures away northerners one of the side effects is the south is becoming more liberal where those job are created.

Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria is like COVID-19 in that people exhibit symptoms to a different degree. For some people gender dysphoria is like an itch that won’t go away, while others have to transition. I have seen both cases.

There is an old joke… “What is the difference between a crossdresser and someone who transitioned, three years.”

Just because someone didn’t transition doesn’t mean that they don’t have gender dysphoria, or just because someone de-transitioned also doesn’t mean that they don’t have gender dysphoria.

Mother Nature loves to experiment on us.

I have seen trans people that needed to transition NOW! For me I was middle of the road, I tested out the waters first. I was living female except for 8 hours at work and I was planning on transitioning when I retired but work had other plans. They shut down the factory and the day I got my pink slip I transitioned.

I went to the Gender Identity Clinic of New England (GICNE) in 2004 and started on hormones then and then in 2007 I transitioned.

Someone who came to the support group once, never crossdressed in her life wanted to get surgery immediately, GICNE turned her down saying she had to follow the Standard of Care protocols (This was in the early 2000s). She went to Thailand for her surgery, I always wondered how she is doing.

I know someone who de-transitioned and became a trans-exclusionary radical male (TERM) and tells everyone who will listen about the horrors of trans people.

I know a few people who de-transitioned; one because she couldn’t find a job and she had to move back into her parents house. The last time that I talked to “him” he said that he is having a hard time being male again. I know someone else who de-transitioned because of work and family, but she re-transitioned. In another trans person the gender dysphoria is not a driving force in their life and decided not to transition.

I think they all have gender dysphoria but it manifests in different way, in different levels of dysphoria, and they cope with it in different ways.

But then we have trans-exclusionary radical trans persons (TERT), they want to appoint themselves as gatekeepers to decide who is and who is not a trans person. For them you have to have had surgery to be trans, anything else is “Just a man in a dress.” They want to establish a pecking order, a pyramid with them on top. 

To paraphrase Smoky the Bear only you who gets to decide if you are trans or not.

My Story Part 179: Tea Time.

Stana’s Femulate had a cartoon about Tea Time and that got me thinking we haven’t gone for afternoon tea in a long time, so I checked out the tearoom we always have gone to… Tea Roses Tea Room.

We are thankful to our customers for 11 years of a "Sit, Sip, Relax" Tea Room  We closed our physical space in Cromwell, Dec 2020 and look forward to an on-line presence soon. Please be patient while we reinvent ourselves. In the meantime, feel free to reach out if you need tea, accessories, vintage tea cups, dove candles etc.

Another small business that didn’t survive the plague.

There were many a good memories made there, I used to go there with Stana and a few other trans friends and spouses. There used to be about six of us that went there for afternoon tea, we started a long time ago sometime around ten years ago.

It was a relaxing time among friends, laid back, no rush, just sip your tea and talk and the owner was very nice to us, she had so many nice tea blends for us to try and she always used to stop by our table to talk.

Well I guess that we will just have to find another tearoom.

Saturday 9: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

Sam’s Saturday 9: A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)

Ida hit the Cape with tornadoes! A long sleepless night that you can read about it here.

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

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

1) John Lennon sings that he's been working like a dog. What's the hardest job you've ever had? What made it so difficult?
A summer job where I had to load and unload trailer trucks, the heat and humidity made it unbearable inside the trailer.

2) Despite the hard work, he likes his life and asks, "So why on earth should I moan?" What's the last thing you complained about? Who were you talking to?
I am always complaining about something and I don’t remember the last time.

3) John was raised by his Aunt Mimi. She meant well when she told the teen-aged John, "The guitar's all right, but you'll never make a living out of it." What's the worst advice you've ever received?
I never thought about the worst advice before. I think I just nodded my head and forgot about it… with a yeah right, a nod and then I ignored it.

4) This week's song was cowritten and also sung with Paul McCartney. Paul's father was more supportive of the lads' show business aspirations than Aunt Mimi was, but he still worried that his son wouldn't be able fully support himself as a musician. To please his dad, 17-year-old Paul worked over the Christmas holiday season as the "second man" on a delivery truck. Paul would be the one to hop off the truck and drop off the packages while the driver could keep the motor running and the heat on. Where was the last package you received from? (Extra points if you share what was in it.)
Amazon and it was a USB C to HDMI Cable, I am trying to show my powerpoint using my phone.

5) After Christmas was over, Dad insisted Paul get a full-time, year-around job. He ended up at a factory, winding heavy coils to be used in electric motors. He hated the work but enjoyed the lunch hours, eating jam sandwiches and, weather permitting, kicking a soccer ball around the yard with his coworkers. What's for lunch at your house today?
Italian subs from Eastham Superette. They make good subs and they also have good meats

6) In early March 1961, the Beatles accepted a booking to play lunch hour gigs at Liverpool's Cavern Club, and so February 28, after less than two full months, Paul said goodbye to factory work. What's the shortest you ever stayed at a job?
The summer. I never quit a job just because I didn't like it, I only left for a better job or they went bankrupt.

7) Enough about these Brits! Labor Day was introduced to celebrate the achievements of the American worker. How many different employers have you had?
Not counting summer jobs (they were different jobs each year.) my first fill-time job was with Pioneer Medical (they went bankrupt), Allied Control (they got bought out and I jumped ship before they closed), and my last paying job was with Electro Mechanics for 28 years (we were bought out five times and the last time they closed the factory.), and I do have a non-paying job as the executive director of a non-profit).

8) This weekend may offer a golden opportunity for napping and sleeping in. Do you snore?
Well since I sleep alone I have no idea.

9) Labor Day traditionally marks the beginning of the new school year. When she was a kid, Samantha was crazy for her brand new box of 96 Crayola Crayons. It even had a sharpener in the back! What do you remember about preparing to go back to school? If you're an educator, let us know how you get the classroom ready for the kids.
Well I avoided school at all cost. On my first day of school I literally had to be dragged to school, I grabbed on every sign, every telephone pole to avoid going to school. I hated school up to grad school.

I will try to answer your comments but I have company at the cottage for the long weekend.

A Win!

We were due for a legal win and this one is from Washington state.

Christian therapist loses legal battle to overturn Washington’s ban on cruel conversion therapy
An anti-LGBT+ therapist has lost his legal battle to overturn a Washington ban on conversion therapy for minors.
Pink News
By Lily Wakefield
September 2, 2021


“Christian licensed marriage and family therapist” Brian Tingley was represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center-designated extremist hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in the case.

Earlier this year, Tingley filed a lawsuit against Washington attorney general Robert Ferguson, the state’s secretary of health Umair Shah, Kristin Peterson, and the assistant secretary of the Health Systems Quality Assurance division of the Washington department of health.

The therapist argued that the state’s ban on minors undergoing the harmful practice, signed by governor Jay Inslee in 2018, should be overturned as the provided definition of “conversion therapy” was “vague, content-biased, and biased against one perspective or point of view”.
[…]
In the lawsuit, ADF consistently referred to the ban as the “Counselling Censorship Law”, and declared that Tingley “is not able to freely and without fear speak what he believes to be true”.

The ADF is not invincible.

In his ruling, district judge Robert Bryan said that the “conversion law does not violate the plaintiff’s First Amendment free speech rights”, and reasserted that the state of Washington has an interest “in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, and in protecting its minors against exposure to serious harm caused by conversion therapy”.

The ADF won a federal last year claiming that the conversion ban violated the therapist “free speech.”

A Christian news agency said…

“As the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recognized just last year in the Otto v. Boca Raton decision, laws like this Washington state law violate the First Amendment rights that all Americans rightly treasure.”

Brooks vowed that ADF “will appeal this decision and continue to defend the freedom of all Americans to peacefully live, work and speak according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of punishment.”

What they don’t say is that other courts have ruled that it did not violate the First Amendment. The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case in 2013 that said the conversion therapy ban violated his “religious freedom” and in 2019 the court rejected a challenge to the New Jersey conversion therapy ban. In that case Liberty Counsel said that the New Jersey’s law violates the free speech rights of counselors and the courts all said no it didn’t.

So what has changed? Trump. Of the twelve judges on the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Trump appointed 6 judges. He also packed the Supreme Court so that is why all these cases against conversion therapy now, the conservatives hope to over turn the rulings of 2013 and 2019. My guess is the court will do it like that just did with overturning Roe v. Wade via a “Shadow Docket.”

Our Bodies, Our Lives.

I can never figure out why conservatives hate us, what difference does it make to them, why do that have to butt into our lives?

I don’t know if you saw the video of an NBC weather reporter, but this who was driving by stops and gets out of his pickup truck and run to the reporters. He then attacks the reporter… why did he hate a news reporter so much that he stopped his truck and attack him?

People seem so much more confrontational, they feel that they have a right to interfere in our lives and our healthcare.

Gender-affirming care improves mental health for transgender youth
Laws restricting this treatment may harm an already vulnerable community, researchers say
Science News
By Maria Temming
August 26, 2021


Daniel’s birth certificate is marked “female,” but Daniel is nonbinary — not exclusively male nor female. “I’m masculine leaning,” says the 18-year-old.

The disconnect between Daniel’s gender identity and physical appearance, which was apparent to them around age 4, became unbearable during puberty. “I hated showers because I didn’t like looking at my body,” Daniel says. “I just felt really uncomfortable with the idea of being female.” At 13, Daniel came out to their mother as transgender, someone whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.

About a month after coming out, Daniel started seeing a therapist who specialized in gender identity. A year later they were referred to an endocrinologist, who prescribed the sex hormone testosterone. For Daniel, the most important effect was a deeper voice. “My biggest problem with getting misgendered was that my voice was really high,” Daniel says.

Before starting hormone therapy, Daniel considered suicide. With masculinizing hormones, they say they’re happier with life. “I definitely feel more like myself. Like I was just existing before, but now I’m living, now that I’m open to everyone about who I am, and most importantly I’m open to myself,” says Daniel, whose last name is being withheld for medical privacy. “Starting testosterone, for me, saved my life.”

These buttinskies are causing death, they are inferring in our lives overriding proven medical science. Research shows that having medical intervention reduces suicidal idealizations!

Republican (Get the government off my back) states have been in a competition in who can pass the most draconian legislation.

“Even if the bills don’t pass, even if they die in committee, the damage is being done,” says Jason Klein, a pediatric endocrinologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City. “Many people across this country are already going to be hurt just by the ideas being put out by these bills.”
[…]
Gender-affirming health care could improve those alarming statistics across age groups, says Jack Turban, a child and adolescent psychiatry researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine. “All existing research suggests that gender-affirming medical interventions improve the mental health of transgender youth.”

Get off our backs, get out of our lives.

---

Down in Texas they have introduced a horrible bill aimed at us.

The Texas Assault on Transgender Rights
An interview with Adri Perez, policy and advocacy strategist with the Texas ACLU.
Washington Monthly
By Gregory Svirnovskiy
August 20, 2021


For just a moment in late May, Texas ACLU advocate Adri Perez felt able to breathe.

A Republican-dominated state legislature had introduced about 30 anti-transgender bills. One bill limited trans participation in youth sports. Another classified as “child abuse” gender-affirming surgeries for young people. But the legislative session ended with none of these bills passed.

Then Republican Governor Gregg Abbott called the legislators back for a special session in July. Dozens of anti-trans bills were reintroduced. Then Abbott called a second special session in August that’s still underway.

In July and then again in August, The Washington Monthly’s Gregory Svirnovskiy discussed with Perez this legislative assault on transgender rights in the Lone Star state. The conversation has been edited and shortened for clarity.

The politicization of trans rights first entered the public consciousness 2016 in North Carolina, and then in Texas, with bills prohibiting trans people from using the bathroom that aligned with their gender identity. Were you surprised when such proposals hit the docket?

At the time, it did surprise me that anybody would be concerned with where I went to the bathroom or where transgender youth and adults went to the bathroom. But it was concerning that was the focus of state and national discourse.

They are so spiteful that they put of much needed legislation just to attack us.

In 2019, after a pretty punishing midterm election, Republicans worked with Democrats on education and public policy. They’ve since moved back, proposing a number of ultra-conservative anti-LGBTQ bills. Can you explain any rational calculus?

The rational calculus?

Sure, or I mean, you know, the irrational calculus.

There are several other things that Texas Republicans should be focused on, like our electric grid. [In July,] in parts of central and east Texas, their electricity was flickering for no reason. It failed in February and resulted in about 700 deaths. [Gov.] Greg Abbott did not fix the electric grid. [Lt. Gov.] Dan Patrick did not fix the electric grid. We are still recovering from a COVID-19 pandemic where Texas has one of the lowest rates of vaccinations and health care coverage in the country. And we are seeing the numbers for a potential fourth wave of COVID-19 in the state of Texas where infections are rising and predominantly in rural counties in Texas.

They use us for the old magicians sleight of hand to distract us from the real problems “Look, look over here at these trans people!” while they ignore the real problems. The conservatives say that we have an agenda and I say yes we do. It is to get government off our backs, out of our doctor's office, and out of our lives.

My Story #178: Gold Roc Has Closed!

Don Stacom/Hartford Courant

Many good memories were made there.

Gold Roc in West Hartford, once a popular 24/7 diner, now out of business
Hartford Courant
By Don Stacom
August 31, 2021


After two decades of serving all-day breakfast fans, after-bar crowds, long-haul truckers and third-shift workers from around the region, the Gold Roc diner in West Hartford is gone.

One of a fast-dwindling number of 24/7 diners in Connecticut, the Kane Street landmark shut down recently after struggling for the past year and a half.

With bars closed and less traffic on the highway, the pandemic cut deeply into business at the Gold Roc. It had reduced its once extensive menu and set up a handful of outdoor tables, but the parking lot had been noticeably less crowded — and sometimes empty — since early 2020.

The local news website we-ha.com reported that the building will be converted into an International House of Pancakes location, but neither Gold Roc owner Ayaz Enterprises nor Dine Brands, IHOP’s parent company, could be reached for information.

An IHOP! Sacrilege.

Gold Roc was an institution in the trans community, I was asked many times by the owner about “Our Girls.” Once in a while one of the member of the support group would have stopped by for sometime and he would ask me if she was all right.

Before the pandemic, the Gold Roc had thrived despite a national downturn in the diner business. It was known as a stopping point for Boston-bound or New York-bound I-84 drivers seeking a meal, a snack or just coffee before getting back on the highway.

The dinner was the first place I that I went out as Diana, the support group had a diner there once, the instructions were that they were going to be in the back on the right side of the dinner.

I gathered my courage and with my pocketbook tucked under my arm like a football I marched in head down ready to block any opponents, and made a beeline to where they said they would be.

NO ONE WAS THERE!!!!

Panicking I sat down at the booth and didn’t know what to do, finally a waiter came over and said, I think the group that you want is over there.

In my diary I wrote:

I went to the Gold Roc Café. The COS had dinner there and ten members came. I got there at 7:30 and the directions said to go in the front door, turn left and go all the way to the back and they will be sitting on the right. So I did and no one was there. After about ten or fifteen minutes a waiter came over and said that he thought the group I wanted was sitting over on the left.

I looked and there was about 10 members of the support group sitting there laughing, I had walked right pass them and never saw them there.

But the Gold Roc was also a gathering spot for third-shift workers from around the region, sometimes including state troopers from the Hartford barracks.

I remember one time when I was at the Legislative Office Building until the wee hours of the morning and I stopped there to get either a really late dinner or a really early breakfast and the dinner just filled up Hartford police officers, state police officer, CT Marshals, US Marshals, DEA, FBI, and just about every other police officers. I found out that there was a joint drug raid and fugitive round-up.

Now here is a newly outed trans girl surrounded by about thirty or forty macho police officers (there were about four or five police women there).

Redroc LLC owned it until last month, when Mustafa Ayaz’s Middletown-based business purchased it for $1.95 million, according to town records. As of this week, its phone was disconnected and the doors were locked.

~~~~~~~~~

My regular blog post will be at 3 PM today.

I made it through the night!

Ida struck last night, around 11 last night I was woken up to my phone buzzing and ringing a funny ring, I googly pick it up and look at it.

A Tornado Warning has been issued for your area!

Oh that’s nice and roll over to go back to sleep. Something in the back of my head kept on saying No, no get up… this could be serious!

I got up and turn on the TV and every station was reporting on the warning and where the “possible areas of rotation” were. Martha’s Vineyard had a number of “possible areas of rotation” and towns on the Cape had warnings issued for Falmouth, Sagamore, Sandwich and Barnstable.

I learned a lot last night, how when you look at the velocity setting on the radar you cans see the “possible areas of rotation” where the red winds moving away from the radar and the green winds that are moving toward the radar, and how tornadoes form in areas of convergence just like the one over the Cape.

On Martha’s Vineyard there were a whole line of “possible areas of rotation” moving across the island and heading for the Cape. There were at least 6 places that could be having tornadoes moving northeast across the Cape and islands. The areas would form and then disappear to only pop up in another place.

You know how they show the predicted path of the storm… well it had Wellfleet in its sights in another 45 minutes. But the storm was losing strength and all the tornado warnings were being lifted and when it hit Wellfleet it was just some very strong winds and very heavy rain. I took my pillows out of the bath tub and went back to bed.

So this morning when it gets light out we will see if any of those “possible areas of rotation” formed any tornadoes.

---

Update: 9/24/21 @ 4:00PM

Updated full statement: EF-0 Tornado confirmed in Dennis
CapeCod.com
September 2, 2021


DENNIS – The National Weather Service has confirmed an EF-0 Tornado confirmed by NWS Storm Survey in Dennis, MA on Cape Cod.

Max winds near 75 mph. Damage was concentrated near intersection of E Bay View Rd & Wampanoag Trail:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOSTON/NORTON MA
532 PM EDT THU SEP 2 2021

…NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 9/2/2021 TORNADO EVENT…

.DENNIS, MA TORNADO…

START LOCATION…DENNIS IN BARNSTABLE COUNTY (CAPE COD), MA
END LOCATION…DENNIS IN BARNSTABLE COUNTY (CAPE COD), MA
DATE…SEP 2 2021
ESTIMATED TIME…130 AM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING…EF-0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…75 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH…15 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…0.1 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON…41.7413 N / -70.2135 W
ENDING LAT/LON…41.7427 N / -70.2134 W
* FATALITIES…0
* INJURIES…0

…SUMMARY…
A WEAK TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN IN DENNIS, MA ON CAPE COD EARLY
THURSDAY MORNING AROUND 1:30 AM EDT AND LASTED FOR LESS THAN ONE
MINUTE.

I suppose that if you are in its path a F0 is not fun.

A Big Court Loss.

We lost a big court battle yesterday down in Virginia, at least it wasn’t in a federal court.

Updated: Virginia Supreme Court rejects Loudoun Schools’ appeal to reinstate suspended teacher
Loudoun Times-Mirror
By Nathaniel Cline
August 30, 2021


The Supreme Court of Virginia on Monday rejected a Loudoun County Public Schools appeal challenging a circuit court judge’s decision to reinstate a teacher who was suspended after remarks made during a May school board meeting, according to court records.

Byron “Tanner” Cross, a Leesburg Elementary School physical education teacher, was suspended after stating during a May 25 public comment portion of a School Board meeting that he would not refer to transgender students by their chosen names or pronouns, challenging the school system’s draft Policy 8040, “Rights of Transgender and Gender-Expansive Students.”

Cross said he would “not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl, and vice versa,” citing his Christian faith as his reasoning.

Cross, was placed on paid administrative leave two days later.

And then it became a court battle.

“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false, nor should they be silenced for commenting at a public meeting,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in a prepared statement.

And when the speech becomes hurtful?

Unfortunately hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, that is why if someone calls us a derogatory word it is almost impossible to prosecute someone of a hate crime. Now if they raise a fist or use threatening language then it passes beyond the First Amendment.

To support the opinion, the Supreme Court of Virginia referred to ADF’s Meriwether v. Hartop case, in which “the Sixth Circuit emphatically held that a university professor stated viable free speech and free exercise claims based on his university’s disciplining him for refusing, based on his Christian faith, to use a student’s preferred pronouns.”

The school blew it! I think that they would have had a better case if they fired the teacher for not following school policy or another procedure policy rather then what he said.

Trans Athletes.

As you know there is controversy that is being stirred up by the conservatives over trans athletes and it is coming to a head with a Supreme Court case.

20 states sue over Biden admin school, work LGBT protections
AP News
By Jonathan Mattise
August 30, 2021


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Attorneys general from 20 states sued President Joe Biden’s administration Monday seeking to halt directives that extend federal sex discrimination protections to LGBTQ people, ranging from transgender girls participating in school sports to the use of school and workplace bathrooms that align with a person’s gender identity.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, arguing that legal interpretations by the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are based on a faulty view of U.S. Supreme Court case law.

The Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that a landmark civil rights law, under a provision called Title VII, protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.
[…]
Joining Tennessee in the lawsuit are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia.

You know what the states are really asking?

They are asking for the right to discriminate against another group of people. It is what conservatives do, discriminate against people who are different from themselves. Republicans belief is that it is their god giving right to be on the top of the mountain and they can trample anyone who gets in their way.

In June, the Department of Justice filed statements of interest in lawsuits that seek to overturn new laws in two states. In West Virginia, a law prohibits transgender athletes from competing in female sports. Arkansas became the first state to ban gender confirming treatments or surgery for transgender youth.

People who say that there is no difference between the parties, I say look at their bases. The Republican base is made up of white, evangelical Christians, racist, xenophobes, and LGBTQ+ haters. While the Democrats are made up of everyone else.

---

An interesting contrast to the above is what happened south of the boarder…

LGBTQ+ Rights Victory in Mexico
Equality continues to advance in the neighboring nation.
The Advocate
By Neal Broverman
August 30, 2021


Legislators in the northeastern Mexican state of Yucatán have enacted marriage equality for same-sex couples and also cracked down on “conversion therapy.”

Yucatán lawmakers voted 20-5 Wednesday to extend marriage rights, reports the Washington Blade. The state previously termed marriage a union between a man and a woman, but now the institution is defined as a “free and voluntary legal union of two people with equal rights, duties and obligations.”

They also passed a law banning conversion therapy and in 2003 Mexico passed an anti-discrimination law for lesbians and gays.

Guilty!

It is to late for the woman he murdered but at least the jury convicted him and didn’t buy into his “self defense” story.

Washington state man found guilty in 2019 murder of transgender teen
USA Today
By Associated Press
August 29, 2021


VANCOUVER, Wash. — A 27-year-old man has been convicted of second-degree murder and a hate-crime offense in the death of a transgender teen in Washington state two years ago.

A Clark County Superior Court jury returned the verdict Friday against David Bogdanov, The Columbian newspaper reported.

Prosecutors said Bogdanov met 17-year-old Nikki Kuhnhausen in downtown Vancouver in June 2019, and that he strangled her with a phone charger cable after engaging in sexual contact in the back seat of his car and discovering she was transgender.

Kuhnhausen’s family and supporters exclaimed “Yes!” quietly and tearfully as the hate-crime verdict was read in court.
[…]
Bogdanov, of Vancouver, claimed self-defense, testifying that he wrapped the cord around her shoulder to prevent her from reaching a gun he had near the driver’s seat after he ordered her to get out of the car. The cord slipped to her neck, he said.

But is justice served?

He faces a range of 11 to 19½ years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 9, prosecutors said. His attorneys declined to comment until after the sentencing.

20 years for taking another person’s life? Is that justice?
Because of her death, a law banning trans/gay panic defenses was passed and named after her.

In March 2020, Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law House Bill 1687 — dubbed the Nikki Kuhnhausen Act — that prevents a criminal defense based on discovery of a victim’s actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation.

To bad that it took a death to pass the law.

---

Once again our fiat is in the hands of nine people.

Supreme Court could hear transgender student bathroom case, experts say
Circuit courts may be split on rules that ban trans students from using the bathrooms of their gender identity, which could prompt the Supreme Court to step in.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
August 27, 2021


A federal appeals court this week vacated a lower court's ruling in favor of a transgender student’s right to use the bathroom of his gender identity at school. Experts say the appeals court's move could lead the Supreme Court to take up the issue sometime soon.

Last year, a three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in favor of Andrew Adams, a transgender student in Ponte Vedra, Florida, who sued his school district in 2017 over a policy that barred him from using the bathroom of his gender identity.

His lawyers argued that the policy violated his rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Judge Beverly Martin, who wrote the majority opinion, agreed.

On Monday, however, the full 11th Circuit Court, based in Atlanta, vacated that ruling in a majority vote, meaning that all 12 judges will now hear the case again. Experts said that, given the court's conservative bent, the rehearing probably won’t go in Adams’ favor.

“Given the theological makeup of the 11th Circuit and given the way that they granted a rehearing here, I would say it’s pretty likely that there is a majority of the justices who will say that the school district has the right to make this decision,” said Paul Smith, a law professor at Georgetown University who also argued the landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, which found sodomy laws unconstitutional in 2003.

Sad… Sad… That our right to use the bathroom of our gender is being questioned again.

You may remember that we won a victory in the Hobby Lobby case for trans employee to use the bathroom of her gender identity and that the Supreme Court has leaned our way a couple of times on Title VII and Title IX cases.

---

And lastly a great big victory for Gavin Grimm, maybe other school boards may see the light now that it hit them in their pocketbooks.

Virginia school board to pay $1.3 million in transgender student's suit
Gavin Grimm argued that a Virginia district's policy denying him access to the boys' restroom was discriminatory. He was assigned female at birth.
NBC News
By Dennis Romero
August 28, 2021


A school district in Virginia has agreed to hand over $1.3 million after fighting a discrimination lawsuit filed by a transgender student for more than five years ago.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday that the Gloucester County School Board has been ordered to pay the money to cover attorneys' fees and costs in the case involving onetime student Gavin Grimm, whom it represented.

The board said in a terse statement that its insurance provider has "addressed" the order. The board and the superintendent did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

Congratulations on a battle well fought!

An Editorial In Today’s Hartford Courant Got It Right.

If you have been following my blog you know that I have written about Henri’s erratic behavior in yesterday’s Saturday 9 post. Well there are people who are criticizing the National Hurricane Center’s forecast.

Editorial: Stop criticizing the meteorologists. Hurricane Henri could have devastated Connecticut.

As Hurricane Henri churned off the Atlantic Coast on Aug. 21, Connecticut braced for a worst-case scenario. A direct hit somewhere around New Haven and a march up the I-91 corridor through the most densely populated part of the state would have brought devastating winds and rain to our doorsteps. Eversource was looking at the prospect of hundreds of thousands of homes without power. A shutdown of that magnitude would have paralyzed the state.

But then we got lucky. The storm veered a bit to the east and weakened into a tropical storm as it crossed cooler waters. Henri’s punch proved less powerful than predicted. There were scattered outages, localized flooding and a handful of evacuations. For most in the state, it was little more than a rough summer storm.

Now, predictably and sadly, the negativism that is increasingly endemic to our culture has kicked into gear. The meteorologists got it wrong. The storm was overhyped. The weather people just want to frighten us. Some of the attacks have reportedly turned personal.
[…]
And here’s the thing: They didn’t get it wrong. The circumstances changed.

How far off were they?

About 60 miles! That is all, it was predicted to make landfall between New Haven and Old Saybrook and instead it made landfall in Point Judith RI just 60 miles away. It also shows another thing, at Tropical Storm impacts only a small area but can do major damage. We got 30 to 40 mile an hour winds while in the center of the storm they were just below hurricane force winds around 69 mph.

What’s remarkable about the backlash is that we’ve been here before. Just a year ago, in fact, with Tropical Storm Isaias. And Sandy before that. And Irene. And the October snowstorm. And a blizzard or two. We have lived through nature’s fury, and we know how dangerous things can get.

For one thing people d not understand the cone of uncertainly. Many think that the line in the center of the cone of uncertainly is the path of the storm and the shading on either side of line is where the hurricane will impact… WRONG. The center line is the mostly likely path and the odds of being hit tappers off the father away from the mostly path.

Tropical Storms and Hurricanes are small meandering storms that are highly subject other weather fronts and low/high pressure zones. They are not like fronts moving across a continent and they over water where it makes harder to track, they have to have planes fly through them to get the weather data.

So ease up on our local friends at the weather desks who worked through the weekend to keep us all up to speed, tempting as it may be to join the chorus of negative critics trying to outsnark each other on Facebook and Twitter. We dodged a disaster and stayed safe in the process.

Banned In Boston

When you heard “Banned in Boston” you knew it was a hot sexy book but there is a new book list that is being banned…

Community members from local churches fill BCSD's chambers to speak out against LGBTQ resource library
The Bakersfield Californian
By Emma Gallegos
August 26, 2021


Aug. 26—A large group of community members, many associated with local Christian churches, attended Bakersfield City School District's Tuesday night meeting, mostly to speak against the content of the district's resource library for LGBTQ students.

For the first time since the pandemic began, the crowd in attendance was so large that there wasn't enough room to fit everyone inside the main meeting room, and the crowd outside cheered as they listened in to the speakers.

"There is a steady push to adjust the thinking of children to accept new lifestyles, new LGBT vocabulary, who a boy is, who a girl is," Judith Olson told the board.
[…]
The district's Pride library is aimed at addressing bullying issues targeted at the LGBTQ community. On the district's agenda Tuesday was an update of its bullying policy, which mentioned the LGBTQ community. However, the topic of the library had come up during the previous meeting.
[…]
"What we are trying to accomplish in our district is to ensure that we have safe spaces for every single child and family member," Luque said.

But they don’t want a “safe space.”

The district's new opt-out form states: "In the event bullying and discrimination towards an LGBTQ students occurs within my student's classroom...," and the parent can answer that they either do or do not give permission for their child to "participate in the LGBTQ Antibullying/Nondiscrimination Inclusive lessons."

You cannot opt out of bigotry and discrimination, it is those very people who are opting out who need the training.