Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
News
I’m honestly a little surprised the US news media is reporting these terrorist bombings in India, because usually, they don’t. Most Americans have no idea how many bombings have gone on there in past years; all these years we’ve been worrying, since 2001, they’ve had regular bombings with regular fatalities.
Our condolences to all the people whose lives were lost or injured by these hateful acts.
On Twitter, Gunner Scott of GenderCrash directed me to the new Obama-Biden administration’s employment policy, which says:
The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.
Note the bold print.
Feministing points out that the CT Employment Law Blog has stated that this “signals a dramatic shift in the hiring practices of the executive branch because current law does not prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity.”
So not only is this a proposed change or ideological shift, but an actual policy change has already happened with the Obama-Biden administration.
I told y’all they were hip to gender!
Stu Rasmussen is my new favorite person. Here’s his mayor’s page, with his photo prominently displayed.
The news is just in that the incomparable Studs Terkel has died at the age of 96. I knew the news was coming, sooner rather than later, but I was hoping he’d make it to see the first black president of the US.
I’m not going to say more just now. He was one of my favorite people ever, and I’m sad to see him go.
added: the NYT obit is up.
The Nation’s John Nichols has his tribute up on Alternet.
She was a paid organizer! She was a paid organizer!! & Ted Stevens is guilty!
(Do you hear that sound? It’s Palin, getting ready for 2012.)
Oh, this is too lovely.
It looks like the person we’ve all come to know as Christine Daniels is de-transitioning, and has returned to work as Mike Penner.
Kevin Roderick of highly-respected LAObserved.com reports late Monday that “Eighteen month after writing a column about becoming Christine Daniels, veteran sportswriter Mike Penner has quietly returned to work at the Los Angeles Times, according to multiple sources close to the LAT’s Sports staff.â€
Anyone know any more than this? All of the articles/blog posts written by Christine Daniels are gone – sports ones, as well as the ones about the transition.
If anyone has more information, let me know. As far as I know, this is the most famous person to de-transition I’ve ever heard of, and it’s surely going to cause additional confusion to people who are just starting to get why people transition in the first place.
So – why do people de-transition? I’ve met people who did because they couldn’t find a job as a female, especially if/when there were dependents in the picture. Others realize they weren’t transsexual – and that is the point of RLT, after all, & that means it’s working. Any other reasons people have come across?
A week later, the Trans for Obama campaign is still going: we’ve gotten over 300 donors and have raised nearly $14,000 for the campaign. That’s exciting! A blogger at GLAAD, Mik Kinkead, who is their Transgender Advocacy Fellow, wrote a nice piece about the campaign (and about me).
So keep spreading the word, because there are still weeks left until Election Day, & the more visible we are, the more pols care about our issues.
(h/t to Andrea James)
The body of the transgender woman who was found in the American River in Sacramento last week has been identified by police as Ruby (nee Fernando) Molina. The police are citing it as a “suspicious” death and need more information:
Anyone who knew the victim, the victim’s recent whereabouts, or who has other information about this case is asked to contact the Sacramento Police Department at (916) 443-HELP. A $1,000 reward is currently being offered.
Please, if you know something, let the police know. She deserves to have her murderers caught, as does her family.
(thanks to Angus/Andrea Grieve-Smith for the info.)
Be ashamed, Americans. This is just godawful news: a mosque in Dayton, Ohio, was sprayed with a toxic substance during Ramadan prayers. And not just that, but the shitheads that did it chose the room where the small children and babies were waiting for their moms, who were in prayer.
Religious freedom, my ass.
On behalf of the rest of us Americans, my apologies to the Dayton Muslim community.
The body of a transgendered person has been found in the American River in Sacramento, CA. No word yet on how the person died, but we’re bracing to hear the bad news. It’s never a good day when you realize that you’re hoping it’s because of suicide instead of a hate crime/murder.
22 years old, and Latina – which tells me it was a hate crime that put her in that river. Vaya con dios, whoever you are.