Author's posts
Nov 29 2014
There’s your problem right there
North Carolina police are searching for a Rowan County transgender woman, Elisha Walker, who has been missing since October 23. Her mother reported her missing on November 11.
Elisha normally stays in contact with family and friends via phone calls, texts, and facebook [sic] postings, but has done none of that since October 23rd, when [she] had contact with a cousin on that date.
–Rowan County sheriff’s office
Last Sunday Sampson County authorities found Elisha’s silver 2000 Pontiac Sunfire near the town of Clifton, NC. It had been intentionally torched, in the opinion of investigators.
Her car sported a homemade license plate.
An officer from the Salisbury City PD ran the tag for the Pontiac Sunfire on October 30th, after spotting the car, using the paper tag, traveling on Hwy 150 out of the city limits. The officer ran the tag and no problems surfaced.
The officer had no probable cause to stop the car at that time, and it was last seen traveling on Hwy 150.
–Rowan County sherrif’s press release
Nov 22 2014
Transgender Day of Celebration: Unlikely Sources
Transgender Day of Celebration is a new event, totally non-standardized, which has been added at the End of Transgender Day of Awareness, as a time we can remember and acknowledge the good things that have happened to us as we integrated into our new lives.
Boulder:
A dinner and community gathering to share in each other’s company, meet new trans*-identified friends and give thanks for the love and support of our community. We will also be having a clothing exchange, so bring your pre-transition clothes that’ve been wasting away in the closet!
–OutBoulder
Boston:
Transgender Day of Celebration is an opportunity for trans people and all who love them to come together and celebrate. We celebrate our own trans lives, and we celebrate the trans people whose lives have touched ours.
–Jamez Terry, MCC Boston
I’m integrating some stories from unusual sources to help establish the mood.
Nov 19 2014
Speaking for the Dead: Transgender Day of Remembrance
 Doorway
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Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse!
–John Derek, Knock on Any Door (1949)
The quote is often erroneously attributed to James Dean.
Some of the murder victims whose stories are told after the break may have tried to live with that philosophy, but the violence visited upon them almost assuredly negated the last part. Being set on fire, run over by a car, shot in the face, or stoned to death usually preclude a “good looking corpse.”
A few comments of note: In Brazil, where most of the murders took place, those who would probably be regarded as transgender women here are referred to as travesti (transvestites) and so male pronouns are most often used. I tried to correct that as much as possible. It is also the case that the Police in Brazil are whole-heartedly in favor of blaming the victim, so revenge, drug involvement, “working the program” (prostituting), revenge, or “reckoning” are almost always given as the suspected motives. Gay men in drag, on the other hand, are usually thought to be victims of homophobia. Finally, an autopsy of a transgender woman in Brazil is usually called a necropsy…a word which we reserve for non-sentient animals.
All of those comments may shed light on why there are so many murders in Brazil (77 out of the 118). The United States is second, with 10, (but we try harder…I’m sure we can catch up). Mexico is third with 9.
The list I have generated os colated from several sources, including the Transgender Violence Portal and Memorializing 2014 at the International Transgender Day of Remembrance site.
Nov 15 2014
The battle for equality
In times of trouble federally and at the state level, the battle for equal treatment and access moves to the local level.
In recent times I have written about current attempts to move us forward in South Florida and Northeast Ohio.
Miami-Dade commissioners unanimous in support of transgender protections (preliminary vote)
Nov 13 2014
Muse in the Morning
Nov 12 2014
Muse in the Morning
Nov 08 2014
Transgender Awareness
It’s Transgender Awareness time. In some locations it’s the entire month of November. Some locales are celebrating for a week…generally around November 10-20…ending with Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20 and/or Transgender Day of Celebration on November 21.
So I guess it is my job to help make you aware. 🙂
I’ve got some videos from the I Am project and some news bits which I hope fit that agenda.
Oct 31 2014
Woman’s Day shares story of Christian woman who learned to support trans son
In its October 2014 issue, the magazine Woman’s Day strayed outside its usual comfort zone with an article about a Christian mother learning to accept and support her transgender son. In The Son God Gave Me, Gina Kentopp tells Barry Yeoman about her coming to terms with her son’s identity and the process of its formation and the changes she had to go through herself.
When my second child, Kyle, was born in 1994, and the nurse told me I had given birth to a daughter, I was thrilled. I already had a son, Alex, and now, I thought, a baby girl. During the first year of Kyle’s life, I dressed him in every frilly outfit I could.
I use the pronoun “he” when talking about Kyle, because I now understand that he has always been male-his inner soul, when he was born, didn’t match his body.