Category: GLBT

The White House has a project called Champions for Change, explained here by Valerie Jarrett:

June’s Champions of Change will be drawn from the LGBT community, in honor of Pride Month.  Submissions closed May 4.  Semifinalists should be chosen in the next week or two.

Part of what makes this candidate stand apart is that he has a PR firm on his side.  I suppose by posting this, I have become part of his PR network.  So be it.  I believe in his cause.

Tony Ferraiolo is a certified life coach (a questionable occupation in my view, but to each his own), a trainer, and a speaker.  More important to my way of thinking is that he is an advocate for trans youth.

I realized that I had the opportunity to create myself into the person who I always wanted to be.   I remember asking myself,  what do I need to do to become that person?  There was a very long list of “To Do’s.”  I knew that the anger I carried would transfer over into the person I wanted to create, so I worked very hard to let go of it.  I forgave everyone who abused me, including myself.  Once I let go of my anger, my soul filled with compassion.  I believe that you must see the dark before you see the light – and that some of us must struggle through the challenges we face because it is part of the growth.  I can honestly say that I would not change anything about my past.  I truly believe that my past is what created “Tony.”

Now he has an opportunity to work on his mission at the White House.  Tony is one of the nominees in the first ever White House LGBT Pride Month Champions of Change Challenge.  Each contestant had to submit a video entry about their commitment to improving their own communities, their country, or the lives of their fellow citizens.

Back in 1984 Calvin Burdine was convicted in the stabbing death of his gay lover, who had been trying to pimp him out.  The prosecuting attorney asked the jury to award Burdine the death penalty rather than life in prison, claiming that sending a gay man to prison was like sending a kid to a candy store.  

The jury agreed in only 17 minutes.  The judge also thought it sounded reasonable.

Fortunately, Calvin got a new trial since his public defender slept through the first one.

How ugly is that?

The reality that GLBT people experience in prison is far removed from the myth.  A young man named Rodney tells it like it is here.

I’ve heard before that ‘jail is a faggot’s dream.’ I assure you that cliché is not the case. Gay men who do not attempt to hide their sexuality are forced into passive and submissive roles. To live with some standard of equality, we have to trade in our manhood. We are completely emasculated. It’s a form of technical castration. The role of woman is forced upon us and any rebuttal is considered a sign of disrespect. My way of thinking about myself and my sexuality has been permanently altered.

–Rodney

And if that is how gay men are treated in prison, can you imagine the life of a transwoman sent to a men’s prison?  

In an effort that has been ongoing for about two-decades, there is a new push for a Senate hearing and a committee vote on the Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA).  I know I’ve personally been pushing an inclusive ENDA since 1995.

Yes, we know that it is unlikely to get any consideration at all in the House…unless it is negative consideration.  But Tom Harkin is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and he is a longtime supporter of ENDA.

I hope he will use his chairmanship to organize an ENDA hearing this spring or summer.

–Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work

When there’s nothing else going on, it’s always good to try to get a hearing.  It keeps the ball moving. It keeps reminding everybody that there are some issues that we all know we have to cover eventually.

–Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality

Cross posted fro The Stars Hollow Gazette

Featuring an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon and others, “8” is a play written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and directed by acclaimed actor and director Rob Reiner. It is a powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER ) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial’s historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8 provides an intimate look what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial.

This was a live production of the reading of Dustin Lance Black’s “8″, a play based on the transcripts from the hearings before Judge Vaughn Walker on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 which banned state sanctioned same sex marriage. I join Teddy Partridge in his congrats to Judge Walker for having Brad Pitt play his roll. George Clooney and Martin Sheen play Daivd Boies and Ted Olson, the lawyers who argued the case for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Also, Kevin Bacon plays Charles J. Cooper, the lead attorney for supporters of Proposition 8, and Jane Lynch is Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage. The actual play is about 90 minutes.

In February, a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit upheld Judge Walker’s decision. The supporters of Proposition 8 asked the Ninth Circuit to grant them an en banc rehearing of the 2 to 1 decision.

Some stories require follow-up.  How else are we going to know how they are progressing?  In December I wrote about the treatment of transkids in A Voice for the Future.  I’d written about the issue before that as well.

How are doctors treating these children?

They’re prescribing young GID patients with puberty-blocking drugs until age 16, as recommended in guidelines from the Endocrine Society. Then doctors begin lifelong treatment with sex-changing hormones, while monitoring for potential health risks. The guidelines recommend the aid of mental health professionals throughout the process.

A new study about gender non-conformity has been published and even made its way to the mainstream media (Washington Post, CNN Health, The Week, AP.  Two articles about gender-variant behavior are in the March issue of Pediatrics.  The Advocate picked up the story, but concentrated on a survey from 2010 about how 41% of transpeople have attempted suicide.  They did, however, provide a link to LiveScience, which was helpful.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

This morning the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California’s Prop 8 is unconstitutional striking down the ban on gay marriage under both the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The ruling is limited and specific to California only.

“Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California,” the court said.

The ruling upheld a decision by retired Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who struck down the ballot measure in 2010 after holding an unprecedented trial on the nature of sexual orientation and the history of marriage.

The ruling makes same sex marriage legal again in California but it is expected that the court will not permit marriages to take place while the appeals are in progress. The backers of Prop 8 have stated that they will appeal this ruling but have not said if they would request a the full 9th Court to hear the appeal or take it directly to the US Supreme Court.

Ninth Circuit Prop. 8 decision

On Tuesday, the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to clear then Marriage Equality and Religious Exemption Act (S1 and A1, identical).  WHen Senator Kip Bateman, R-Somerville, voted No, a member of the audience yelled, “Chicken!”  There was a crowd of about 150 onlookers at the 4 hour meeting, with only about 25 against marriage equality.

At the same time as the meeting, Gov. Chris Christie was in Bridgewater calling for a voter referendum to be placed on the 2012 ballot, transparently trying to affect New Jersey’s voting for president.

And he actually had the audacity to say,

The institution of marriage is too serious to be treated like a political football.  I would hope the Legislature would be willing to trust the people the way I’m willing to trust the people.

—Chris Christie

Republicans are all for letting the people vote on equal rights, unless they vote in some way contrary to what they want (see Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire et. al.).

I’m not usually a follower of celebrity news.  I don’t belong to Twitter, don’t watch Entertainment Tonight except by accident, and would rather eat worms than read a National Enquirer or People Magazine.

In recent weeks, Stephen Ira Beatty has caught the attention of the international press.

Stephen Ira has a blog, called Supermattachine.

His most recent post is “I’m sorry, I just can’t get your pronouns right!” Yes, you can. You just won’t.

I once had a long conversation with a highly educated cis man about pronouns.  I know him to be absolutely brilliant.  He was an official at a school.  He told me that I had to understand, that the cis people (everyone else) at my school couldn’t get my pronouns right because I wasn’t “masculine” enough for them to associate male pronouns with me. As I do now, I dressed like a cute gay boy.  As I do now, I gesticulated often and acknowledged the fact that I was capable of bending my wrists and hips.  I talked openly about my interests in dance, poetry, and cute boys.

He acknowledged that this was fucked as hell, albeit in nicer language, because he was at least gender-positive enough to believe that men shouldn’t have to like football and beer and women shouldn’t have to like pink dresses and fluffy bunnies.  But instead of attempting to educate these people-which he could have done, as he was in a position of extremely high authority-he asked me to accept their sexist, homophobic, and cissexist perspective on gender.  I was the one who needed to change, not them, although he openly acknowledged that they were wrong.  During this conversation, I was in tears, because I was having regular panic attacks during the school day.  They were happening because of persistent and unapologetic mispronouning.  (Keep in mind, I was a sixteen-year-old kid.  Sixteen-year-olds are not known for their emotional maturity, and we shouldn’t ask them to be as mature as or more mature than adults.)

Alternate title:  Best Practices in the Care and Nurturing of LGBT People.

Every once in a while, someone or some body does something that has to be applauded.  When they do or it does, it should be acknowledged for the positive that may come out of it…if only to encourage more of similar behavior in others.

The Joint Commission, formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), which is the accrediting agency for hospitals nationwide, has released a new field guide (pdf): Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community.

Financial assistance in preparing this guide was obtained from The California Endowmnent.

The mission of The Joint Commission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.

All patients, regardless of social or personal characteristics, should be treated with dignity and respect and should feel comfortable providing any information relevant to their care, including information about sexual orientation and gender identity.  Every hospital and health care organization is unique and no single approach works best, but The Joint Commission encourages hospitals to adopt a combination of the strategies and practices discussed and to use these examples as a foundation for creating processes, policies and programs that are sensitive and inclusive of LGBT patients and families.

—Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president, Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation, The Joint Commission

A new Harris poll shows that even the majority of heterosexual Americans believe that job performance is what is important, not sexual orientation or gender identity.  The pdf of the press release and report is here.

The 2011 Out and Equal in the Workplace Survey reveals that 74% of heterosexuals somewhat agree (9%) or strongly agree (65%) that employees should be judged on how well they do their job rather than their sexual orientation.  54% either strongly agree (38%) or somewhat agree (16%) to the same statement with regards to gender identity.  For sexual orientation 4% disagree, 7% neither agree nor disagree and 16% believe the question to be not applicable or declined to answer.  For gender identity 11% disagree 21% neither agree nor disagree and 14% believed the question not applicable or declined to answer it.

That might not sound as good for transpeople, but wait.  When transgender was defined before asking how one stood, the numbers rose from the numbers for “gender identity,” a concept which those surveyed may have found nebulous.  74% of heterosexuals, 92% of gays and lesbians and 91% of GLBT people agreed with the following statement:

How an employee performs at their job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not they are transgender.

5% of heterosexuals (3% of gays and lesbians and 2% of GLBT people) disagreed with the statement.  11% of heterosexuals (3% of G/L, 5% of GLBT) neither agreed nor disagreed.  The remainder either thought the statement not applicable or declined to answer.

I’m at a total loss as to what “not applicable” means here.  Would that be people who do not believe in the existence of transpeople or what?

I figure international news includes the United States.  There’s a pretty even split between stories from other countries and national stories, presented so the public might know a little better what’s happening of interest to people in the trans community.

Poland

Anna Grodzka, 57, became the first ever Polish lawmaker to have had sex reassignment…which makes her the only current transsexual national legislator on the planet.  Spain’s Carla Antonelli is transgender, but has not had sex reassignment surgery.

Grodzka runs Trans-Fuzja (website is in Polish), a foundation which supports Poland’s transpeople and says she decided to run in order to promote the work of the foundation.  She won 19,451 in the Krakow II electoral district, making her the top vote-getter for Palikot’s Movement in that district and thereby winning one of the 460 seats in Poland’s lower house, the Sejm.

The world’s first transsexual MP was Georgina Beyer of New Zealand’s Labour Party, from 1999 until she resigned her seat in 2007.

Today, Poland is changing. I am the proof along with Robert Biedron, a homosexual and the head of an anti-homophobia campaign who ran for office in Gdynia.

–Anna Grodzka

Grodzka says that the time has come for sexual minorities to enjoy equal rights in Poland.

Enough of this concealing of the truth.  This group of people, even if small, has its rights and they should be respected. They should not be pushed into oblivion.

On her to-do list are legal partnerships, job security, and state funding of sex change procedures.

Subtitle:  The majority of Americans (including small business owners) support ENDA

How high does the percentage of Americans who believe that GLBT people should have legal protection from discrimination in the workplace have to be before this country will act on the will of the people?

Last June a Center for American Progress poll revealed that 73% of likely 2012 voters supported workplace discrimination protections for GLBT people.  That was 81% of democrats, 74% of independents and even 66% of republicans.  Catholics favored the concept with 74% support and senior citizens with 61% support.  Voters who self-identified as having an unfavorable opinion of GLBT people even supported the idea at a 50% rate.

Since at least the early 1980s, a majority of Americans have supported equal rights and opportunities for gay people in the workplace. Polling questions about transgender workers have only been asked recently. But the CAP poll shows that voters support transgender protections at almost the same rate they support gay protections. Seventy-five percent of likely voters say they favor “protecting gay and lesbian people from discrimination in employment,” while 73 percent say they favor these protections for “gay, lesbian, and transgender people.” The responses are essentially identical.

Even among voters who identify themselves as feeling generally unfavorable toward gay people, a full 50 percent support workplace nondiscrimination protections for the gay and transgender population.

So what’s the problem?