Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
This morning, Rob & Arnie & Dawn of KRXQ radio talked about transgender youth with Autumn Sandeen (of Pam’s House Blend) and Kim Pearson (of TYFA).
Veronica has the links up of the original comments and has this mornings show up in three audio files.
A local (to the radio station) blogged about it too.
Today’s the day! I’m blogging, as I have in years past. for LGBT families — who have, thankfully, seen some gains this year! I know plenty of my queerio friends are tired & frustrated with the whole push for same-sex marriage, and trans activists are frustrated as well, because they want the attention on non-discrimination legislation, but as a married person, who is now same-sex, it makes me kind of ill to realize that the state I’m currently living in is actually struggling only to recognize domestic partnerships (for f***k’s sake). My home state can’t work it out either, which is downright embarrassing as a NYer. It’s a mistake, in my opinion, to divorce marriage from the economic issues that are at stake: even something like health insurance is vitally important, & very expensive if one spouse can’t be covered by the other’s health insurance.
So from my very small family to yours: keep working on same sex marriage. You don’t have to ignore other issues – like the gender identity & expression version of ENDA – but goddamn if I’m going to be a 2nd class citizen, & neither should anyone else.
Here’s some other trans family bloggers:
Join us next year!
Saturday’s edition of the French language newspaper Le Provence headline:
Transsexuality will no longer be classified mental illness in France
and the article explains why France has now become the first country to depathologize transsexualism.
English translation is now online.
Very, very interesting and good news on the eve of the APA conference in California, where protesters will be gathering to protest the GID diagnosis.
Have you all seen this latest iteration of trans + feminist(ing) + bathroom issues? Oy, it makes me tired. Here’s what I had to say about it four years ago.
Some days I just want to apologize to all the trans people who I ardently needed to talk to about bathrooms when I was working this stuff out, so let me: sorry, all of you, and thank you for educating me when it wasn’t your responsibility.
In the meantime, Gunner Scott has started a new blog about trans people + bathroom experiences, and he put up a sample at TGB (& info about how to send him your own stories, too).
& Unlike the million other times when calls went out that TSA might be especially suspicious of anyone who crossdressed, now it’s real: your gender is supposed to match your ID.
Their explanation, according to Polymorphous Perversity, goes as follows:
Many names are gender neutral. Additionally, names not derived from the Latin alphabet, when translated into English, do not generally denote gender. Providing information on gender will reduce the number of false positive watch list matches, because the information will distinguish persons who have the same or similar name. Consequently, TSA is including gender as a required element of the SFPD, which covered aircraft operators must request from individuals and which individuals must provide to the covered aircraft operator.
So theoretically, this is only about them telling the female Jordan Teller who lives in AZ from some male Jordan Teller who is a terrorist.
Theoretically.
Betty is already regularly hassled by the security people at airports, but not disrespectfully. She just knows in advance she’s going to get pulled out of line to explain why she looks like a woman and has an M on her license. Her attempts at butching up are downright pathetic these days, so that doesn’t really work either.
I found this groovy new blog about women painters who’ve painted portraits of women and just loved the idea. I suggested Romaine Brooks, and specifically her portrait of Lady Una Troubridge, but I’ll be honest it’s her self portrait that’s my real favorite, which is the painting to the left of this text.
If I could look like that for about 12 minutes I’d be very happy indeed.
A Peruvian television station was invited to a planned attack on a local prostitute who is a “travesti” – a MTF trans prostitute. It aired on television, and was later aired with a longer segment.
Blabbeando covered it, as did Queers United.
Note: prostitution is not illegal in Peru.
This week Freedom to Marry is featuring a ton of guest bloggers talking about marriage equality, and my post goes up today at 1PM.
It’s both a pleasure and an honor to be given the chance to say something in support of full marriage equality for everyone.Do go read tons of the posts this week, & direct your friends and family and community members to do so, too.
If you don’t feel convinced, or even if you do, watch this:
“Fidelity”: Don’t Divorce… from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.
It may be an advertising hook, but this list of gender-y blogs is pretty thorough, covering feminist issues, LGBT issues, and even folks like me.
Transgender Workplace made it, as did other sites I contribute to, like Trans Group Blog and Invert(e), but I’m especially happy to see Sugarbutch rounding out the list at 100.
There is a diarist at Daily Kos who has written about the high incidence of murder of African American trans women.
Queerty (tongue in cheerk) predicts Memphis will reach out to the trans community as a result. I doubt it. They’re 2nd in homicides in the country, which means everyone – not just trans people – have been victims of violence (via Grand Divisions).
What a way to start a new year.