Category: GLBT

The biggest problem a lot of people have with transfolk is that we know who we are because of what goes on in our minds…and nobody but us can truly see what that is.  There is often nothing measurable from outside other than a million tiny clues.

So too many people fear the worst and classify us as sexually perverse…as some sort of bizarre fetishists who would go to extraordinary lengths to pray on women and children in public restrooms (Nobody every worries about transmen sexually abusing men and boys in men’s restrooms).

What puts the lie to a lot of such crap are the trans kids.   In  Development, Risk & Resilience of Transgender Youth (2010), (pdf) Kimberly A. Stieglitz, doctor of nursing and certified pediatric nurse practitioner, has produced a gem.  I read the pdf’s so that you don’t have to.  

Rachael Gieschen’s family founded Hanover Seaside Club in Wrightsville Beach, NC, in 1898.  When she lived as a man, she took her children there during those hot summer days.  But the 69-year-old Air Force veteran transitioned a few years ago and that made other club members uncomfortable, so the board of directors decided to cancel her membership.

Essentially, the club decided she was disposable.  One shouldn’t expect the club members, some of whom are her children, to be forced to consort with a tranny, after all, no matter how long they have known her.

Usually I have a longer break between summaries of news of interest to the trans community and perhaps to our allies.  But I have only had a couple of days since I returned from the desert to gather my wits together and try to develop a topic and an essay…and one of those was consumed by a medical test.

Additionally, there have been several items of interest that have transpired while I was gone.  I doubt many of them were covered by anyone else.  A few of them were touched on in previous trans news diaries…so consider this to be a set of updates, if you wish.

Without further ado, here is the introduction to the first story:

Vandy Beth Glenn was a legislative editor in Georgia who came out to her boss about beginning to transition at her workplace.  She was fired by Legislative Counsel Sewell Brumby  because he believed her transition would make her colleagues feel uncomfortable and be viewed as immoral by Georgia legislators.  

We are back, just a bit late, to wrap up the discussion we began about the pair of rulings issued in Boston by Federal District Judge Joseph Tauro this week that declare the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.

In the first half of the conversation, we examined the ruling in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today we examine the companion case, Gill v Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

I don’t usually tell you the end of the story at the beginning, but this time I will: there are a lot of happy Plaintiffs this week, and the Federal Government, as Defendant (whom I will refer to as “the Feds” from time to time), is not so happy at the moment.

As with last time, there’s a lot of ground to cover, and the sooner we get to it, the better.

I have to work fast over the next two days to get you this story, but it is a good one.

We are all aware of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), championed by former Congressman Bob “I’m A Libertarian If It Doesn’t Involve Your Penis Or Vagina” Barr; we now have two rulings, released on the same day by the same Federal judge, that will render the Act moot, if they’re either upheld throughout the appeals process…or if the Obama Administration decides to end that appeals process right now.

There’s a lot of ground to cover, and time is short.

Let’s get to work.

Every once in a while, I try to share news of interest to the trans community with people from outside our community, in the hopes that people will get a better idea about what goes on in our lives.  It’s all part of that teaching effort that we have been told we must do before we can ever hope to be accorded equal rights.

Recently there has been some good to go along with the usual stories of misuse and abuse.

Inside are stories from Houston and Dallas, San Francisco, Ireland, England, New York and the state department.

Most of you know that June is designated as LGBT Pride month because of the Stonewall Riots, which began on June 28, 1969.

At Wikipedia, one can find the following statement:

They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

The only problem with the words above is that they are not quite true.  Almost three years before, there had been a blow struck for freedom on the other side of the country.

At last, a different meme and a small victory in the culture wars.

Today’s Hudson, New York Register Star has the counterpoint to the horrendous Itawamba County, Mississippi, prom stories.  It seems that two gay friends have been elected prom king and queen by the student body at Hudson High School. I’m applauding.

Join me in Columbia County, New York.

The Register Star reports:

The Hudson High School prom made history this past Saturday when openly gay best friends were named prom king and queen.

Seniors Charlie Ferrusi and Timmy Howard won their respective crown and tiara by a landslide Saturday and said the support they received from their peers and school administration has been fun and humbling.

“It’s a really big step for Hudson but also for the gay community in general,” Howard said Wednesday. “To have this happen in our city is pretty exciting.”

Ferrusi said he and Howard started thinking about running about a month ago. While there were some students who were in opposition to their idea many more approved and the boys decided to go for it.

By prom night the overwhelming majority of students cast their votes in the open ballot race. They won by such a wide margin the school didn’t crown any runners up.

Earlier this afternoon, the Superintendent of Schools and the High School Principal gave a press conference (sorry no reportage yet) in which they supported the boys’ election and said that was all there was to it.  It remains to be seen how the School Board might respond.

I’m really proud of the Hudson High School students and staff.  This is so much a better story than one tinged in homophobia and hatred.  Join me in applauding.

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simulposted at dailykos and The Dream Antilles  

We are again having to take a short bypass on our planned writing journey; this time to a place that’s, according to their Facebook page, about 148 beer stores north of Toronto, Ontario (which, for the benefit of the less-geographically aware reader, is in Canada).

It’s a crazy place, where duct tape is more truly the coin of the realm than loonies, but we’re going to try to explain it all today…and in the effort we may even learn about a few things that really matter, like the unimportance of importance, and the kind of quality of life that comes from having a junk pile and a sense of adventure.

So grab the bug spray, Gentle Reader, because it’s time to visit Possum Lodge.

Every year about this time, I feel the need to write something about pride.  Or maybe I should capitalize that to Pride.  The first is more personally and the second describes the month, sort of officially.  But is there really any difference?

Isn’t…or shouldn’t it be that…Pride month is when we get a chance to review and proclaim the personal pride we have in who we are?

Over the years I have, of course, encountered different voices, with different views on pride…and Pride.

When I first transitioned, I encountered quite a few transpeople who believed that it made no sense to express pride in who we are…just like it makes no sense for people who are not trans to express pride in not being trans.

I disagree with that sentiment.  I have always been and shall constantly strive to remain proud of who I am and what I have accomplished.

Quite a few transwomen, if not all, have encountered the fear of other women when they transitioned.  Women-born women don’t feel safe with us using their restroom facilities.  At least the fear that is voiced is that somehow we are rapists or pedophiles, hunting victims in women’s bathrooms.

The reality is that nobody has ever provided an example of that ever happening.  And the reality is more along these lines:

On April 15, Colle Carpenter, a female-to-male transman, post chest-reconstruction surgery, who also happens to be a person with a disability and a graduate student at Cal State Long Beach, chose to use a men’s restroom at the university and encountered someone transphobic, who pulled Colle’s tshirt over his head and carved the word “IT” on Colle’s chest with an X-Acto knife.

So once again my writing schedule is going to be turned upside down by unforeseen events-but it’s going to be worth it, as I have one of the funnier stories to tell you that I’ve brought to these pages for some time.

It’s a tale of catering and rejection and redemption, all in one, along with a bit of the Harlem Renaissance thrown in for good measure, and the big circle that was created was officially closed last Saturday night.

So come along, Gentle Reader, and I’ll tell you the story of how I was officially notified that I’m a member of the gay community-by email.