Category: politics & causes

politics, both trans & otherwise

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Forcible or Not

This past week, Republicans wanted to redefine rape to mean only “forcible rape.” To understand how ridiculously insensitive – and ignorant – that is, read Jeanette Freidman’s account of her own rape 37 years ago and why she didn’t have any bruises in the aftermath. They failed, at least, largely due to ongoing pressure such as the #DearJohn campaign that happened on Twitter & focused on getting Boehner’s attention.

I don’t think we would even have to discuss something so heinous if we didn’t already live in a rape culture — where most forms of rape are already ignored or even openly encouraged:


Rape culture is rape being used as a weapon, a tool of war and genocide and oppression. Rape culture is rape being used as a corrective to “cure” queer women. Rape culture is a militarized culture and “the natural product of all wars, everywhere, at all times, in all forms.”

Rape culture is 1 in 33 men being sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Rape culture is encouraging men to use the language of rape to establish dominance over one another (“I’ll make you my bitch”). Rape culture is making rape a ubiquitous part of male-exclusive bonding. Rape culture is ignoring the cavernous need for men’s prison reform in part because the threat of being raped in prison is considered an acceptable deterrent to committing crime, and the threat only works if actual men are actually being raped.

I wish we didn’t.

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Discrimination Against Trans People Documented

NCTE and The Task Force released the findings of an extensive survey on the kinds of discrimination faced by trans people in the US. It’s not good news, and anyone who is surprised that it’s not good news hasn’t been paying attention.

Said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of NCTE: “Reading these results is heartbreaking on a personal level—each of these facts and figures represents pain and hardship endured by real people, every single day. This survey is a call to the conscience of every American who believes that everyone has the right to a fair chance to work hard, to have a roof overhead, and to support a family. Equality, not discrimination, is the ideal that Americans believe in, have fought for, and need to apply here.”

You can read the Executive Summary, or the entire survey.

We need a gender-inclusive ENDA.

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Are You Ready for Some Sex Trafficking?

Because I live in Wisconsin where football – or at least Packers – is a state religion, I’ve been poking around the edges of the thing because I don’t get it, and I’m absolutely sure it’s not because I mind beer, yelling, processed foods and funny hats. Beer + yelling + processed foods + funny hats are my idea of a good time, generally speaking.

I came across this sentence the other day. at change.org:

The trafficking of children for sale at the Super Bowl is well documented.

And I was honestly flabbergasted: not surprised, because where men with money gather, children are sold for sexual pleasure. Still, it’s sickening. So many people watch and play football because it’s fun — shoot, even I go to Super Bowl parties! What a way to mess up an otherwise (mostly) harmless sports event.

Continue reading “Are You Ready for Some Sex Trafficking?”

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On AZ

I’m letting Bill Hicks speak for me on this one:

Like, I was over in England. You ever been to England, anyone, been to England? No one has handguns in England, not even the cops. True or false? True. Now-in England last year, they had fourteen deaths from handguns. FFFFFourteen. Now-the United States, and I think you know how we feel about handguns-woooo, I’m getting a warm tingly feeling just saying the ******* word, to be honest with you. I swear to you, I am hard. Twenty-three thousand deaths from handguns. Now let’s go through those numbers again, because they’re a little baffling at first glance. England, where no one has guns, fffffffourteen deaths. United States, and I think you know how we feel about guns-woooo, I’m getting a stiffy-twenty-three thousand deaths from handguns. But there’s no connection, and you’d be a fool and a Communist to make one. There’s no connection between having a gun and shooting someone with it, and not having a gun and not shooting someone. There have been studies made and there is no connection at all there. Yes. That’s absolute proof. You know, fourteen deaths from handguns. Probably American tourists, too.

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Free Speech, Assange, & Espionage

Robert Meerpoll is the youngest son of Julius & Ethyl Rosenberg. His parents were legally executed for espionage under The Espionage Act of 1917, which is the same law that may be used to indict Julian Assange. The Espionage Act has been used to stifle dissent throughout American history. Meerpoll writes:

The 1917 Act has a notorious history. It originally served to squelch opposition to World War I. It criminalized criticism of the war effort, and sent hundreds of dissenters to jail just for voicing their opinions. It transformed dissent into treason.

Many who attacked the law noted that the framers of the Constitution had specifically limited what constituted treason by writing it into the Constituton: “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort” (Article III, section 3). The framers felt this narrow definition was necessary to prevent treason from becoming what some called “the weapon of a political faction.” Furthermore, in their discussions at the Constitutional Convention they agreed that spoken opposition was protected by the First Amendment and could never be considered treason.

It appears obvious that the Espionage Act is unconstitutional because it does exactly what the Constitution prohibits. It is, in other words, an effort to make an end run around the Treason Clause of the Constitution. Not surprisingly, however, as we’ve seen in times of political stress, the Supreme Court upheld its validity in a 5-4 decision. Although later decisions seemed to criticize and limit its scope, the Espionage Act of 1917 has never been declared unconstitutional. To this day, with a few notable exceptions that include my parents’ case, it has been a dormant sword of Damocles, awaiting the right political moment and an authoritarian Supreme Court to spring to life and slash at dissenters.

Whether or not it’s unconstitutional is not mine to decide, but there is a very scary line of free speech being broached in this case.  What a way to start the year.

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Stoning A-Okay

I seemed to have missed this news, as did my outraged friend who sent me the link (it must have been an otherwise busy news week), but did you know that the UN elected Iran to be on the Commission on Women’s Rights? What the hell?

The letter draws a dark picture of the status of women in Iran: “women lack the ability to choose their husbands, have no independent right to education after marriage, no right to divorce, no right to child custody, have no protection from violent treatment in public spaces, are restricted by quotas for women’s admission at universities, and are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned for peacefully seeking change of such laws.”

The Commission on the Status of Women is supposed to conduct review of nations that violate women’s rights, issue reports detailing their failings, and monitor their success in improving women’s equality.

You can read more about Iran’s stunning record on women’s & human rights abuses – there’s plenty more to read, believe me – but this is horrific.

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Nadler Introduces Fair Housing Act Amendment

News from NCTE:

Rep. Jerry Nadler of New Jersey introduced a bill yesterday that would ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or source of income. The bill would amend the Fair Housing Act to include these categories and would impact the sale and rental of housing, home financing and brokerage services.

“Transgender people urgently need protection from discrimination in housing. It is unconscionable that people are being forced out of their home and onto the streets because of prejudice,” noted NCTE’s Executive Director Mara Keisling.

A survey of transgender and gender non-conforming people conducted by NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force last year found that 19% of the 6,450 respondents reported having been homeless at some point in their lives because of their gender identity. People of color reported even higher rates, with an alarming 41% of African Americans and 29% of Latina/os in the study having been homeless because of bias.

Continue reading “Nadler Introduces Fair Housing Act Amendment”