Transgender advocates and activists are celebrating the release of Guidelines Regarding Gender Identity Discrimination from the New York City Commission on Human Rights this week. These guidelines interpret the Human Rights Law and are designed to educate the public about the prohibition on discrimination based on gender identity and expression that became part of New York City human rights law with the passage of Int. No. 24, the transgender rights bill signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as Local Law 3 of 2002 in April of that year.
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Remembering We're Living
On the eve of TG Day of Remembrance, it’s bothering me that the only international recognition of transness is in the all-too-brutal murders of transpeople. What Gwen Smith has created in the Remembering Our Dead project is vital work: vital because these transpeople are murdered out of hate, often brutally, and way too frequently, their killers are not found, or not prosecuted. Historically and politically, Remembering Our Dead is a project that is both emotionally powerful and sympathetic; it reminds me, most often, of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
That said, I meet with all sorts of living, struggling transpeople every day. And while you could say that the other 364 days are theirs, we all know that’s not quite true. What we all need – other than to mourn our dead and keep vigils for justice – is a way of simultaneously recognizing the great progress in the trans community among the living, so I propose a supplement to Gwen Smith’s brilliant work: The Remember We’re Living Celebration.
What I foresee is that transgroups stand up and honor their own members by having a kind of New Year’s: by asking each of us to stand up and cite one piece of progress, or a victory, we experienced in the past year. The closeted CD could cite his recent decision to come out to his wife. The out CD might celebrate her involvement with a GLBT charity group. The transitioning sister could tell us how close to the end of her Real Life test she is. And the transitioned woman might share in what ways she’s helped her sisters coming up. Transmen might point to their months on T, coming out (usually for the 2nd time) to their friends and families, or rallying with their transwoman sisters at Camp Trans.
We all struggle within this community; some of us within relationships, some of us with loneliness. But my feeling is that I would put my last dollar on a bet that says we have all accomplished something, whether private or public or both, which could use a round of applause.
I would love to see the vigils for Remembering Our Dead morph into living transpeople testifying to their own successes, their own beauty, their own victories. I would like to see the GLBT papers cover these events and have something other than gruesome deaths to report.
If you think this is a good idea, pass this message on.
For now, we’re asking every transperson who receives this message to send us a note, via the MHB message boards, or leave a comment here, noting one victory, success, or piece of happiness they’ve achieved in the last year concerning their transness.
Helen Boyd
Back to Ohio
No matter who wins Ohio, I’m pretty clear that there are at least 10 states in this country that don’t want me or my trans-husband in their midst and at their malls.
Residents of Oklahoma, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Utah, Mississippi and Arkansas all came out to vote in record numbers, and they voted to keep gays and lesbians from their rights as Americans.
I wonder if they know any gay men or lesbians, any bisexuals, any Ts. I wonder if the CDs in those states voted for or against those bans. I wonder why it is that the legal marriage of a gay man to the man he loves scares some people so much that they vote with hate & inequality in their hearts.
I’m deeply saddened, and I don’t know who is going to be President. Right now, I’m not sure anyone who is sane, forgiving, and who believes in equality, a secular government, or the rights of ALL citizens should even be President of this country. God knows I don’t feel welcome here anymore, when so many of those states that voted for those bans passed it by raging majorities.
Now back to Ohio….
Vote!
Don’t just vote – vote for Kerry!
For Helen, The Nation’s endorsement says it best; for Betty, The New Republic’s does.
Bettyhead!
Check it out: Betty Castor (who’s running for a Senate seat in Florida) has fans called Bettyheads!
You can make a donation to this cool lady’s campaign, and make sure you tell them you’re a different kind of Betty-head!
Out TG Politician running for Arizona House
Amanda Simpson, who transitioned about three years ago, is running for the Arizona House of Representatives and making history.
There’s a local story from news channel KOLD below, and you can donate to Ms. Simpson’s campaign via her website.
She happens to also be an old friend of Lacey Leigh, the author of Out & About and 7 Secrets of Successful Crossdressers, both of which I highly recommend.
Continue reading “Out TG Politician running for Arizona House”
Not In My Name
This is one of the many groups protesting the RNC holding their convention in NYC this September.
I think the RNC is trying to exploit the tragedy of 9/11, and it makes me ill – considering NYC still isn’t receiving Federal funding for anti-terrorist measures. (Wyoming gets more per capita than NYC does.)
So I’ve endorsed their call. Check out the information, come to a rally, tell the RNC to go home!
Not In Our Name
Health Care for GLBT people
A number of states have passed or are considering laws that appear to permit health care providers to deny services to LGBT people. For example: Michigan’s House recently passed HB 5006, which states: “A health care provider may assert as a matter of conscience an objection to providing or participating in a health care service that conflicts with his or her sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.” Similar legislation has been introduced in in Mississippi, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.
The gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) is being asked by the press whether these kinds of laws threaten the health of LGBT people, and specifically, whether we are aware of any real cases in which a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person has been denied a necessary service from a medical professional (including pharmacists) based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
If you are aware of any such case send an email to Joel Ginsberg, GLMA’s Executive Director, at jginsberg@glma.org, or call him at 415-255-4547 x314. In your message, describe briefly what happened and give your name, title, organizational affiliation (if any) and contact numbers so they can follow up. Do not communicate any confidential information. Also indicate whether they have your permission to forward your name and contact information to a reporter. If not, they will give a quote that describes the substance of what happened without giving any identifying information.
Please forward this request to any whom you think may have useful information.
Thanks for your help.
For more information on the GLMA, check their website.
Rebecca Juro article
There’s an article by Rebecca Juro up on www.gaycitynews.com, and it made me think of a quote by Eugene Debs:
“While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
Eugene Debs was a socialist, and ran for President on the Socialist Party ticket five times (once from jail, where he was for protesting the draft).
My feeling personally is that it is too early to expect anyone – much less the stodgy Democratic Party – to include transgender equality. That’s not a reason not to push for it, by any means, and I applaud Juro’s efforts. I will keep working personally on education, which I hope clears some of the pathways to power, over time.
But I’m still picking stodgy over hateful (which is what I find the Republicans to be on GLBT issues), so this year I’m voting Kerry/Edwards.
Continue reading “Rebecca Juro article”
This Week's Action: 7/19/04
Amnesty International is highlighting a local case of excessive force and transphobia on the part of NYPD officers.
To read the full story
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