Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
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)
Cindy McCain has said she wants Barack Obama to trade shoes/places with her, so that he would know what it’s like to have a child serving in the US military.
Wow would she be surprised at what it’s like to be black in America.
I think Obama won, & I spent the debate tweeting. You?
Kate Bornstein is fired up, and wants our various transgender communities to start working together more, all because she’s dizzily happy about being acknowledged by the Obama campaign. Jillian Weiss is asking similar questions, but more along the “how in hell did this happen?” about the Trans for Obama campaign. I love that she calls me a Transgender Media Empire – that kills me, since I’m really just an underemployed author with a tech-savvy partner. Even on Monday, when I put a lot of energy into Trans for Obama, half the reason was that I had to take the GRE two days later and my best-loved furball was having surgery.
Still, this issue of “community” is one that always frustrates me. Community is about being willing; if you want in, come on in, and if you don’t, please go away. It’s as simple as that, imho: the HBS type are free to do whatever it is they do (and some are active in feminist issues, actually, instead of trans ones), and the homophobic crossdressers, of which there are some, can hang out together by themselves, and – well, you get the idea. I don’t really care, honestly: since my existence as a member of the trans community is always liminal to some people, because I’m a partner & not trans myself, I’m all for defining community by those who want to be there.
But Monica Roberts (in the comments section of Jillian Weiss’ Bilerico post) has brought up the issue of trans POC not being encouraged, or recognized, and I think she’s right that we need to do more. So I’m looking for a trans POC volunteer to take over my blog for a day, to at least raise some awareness.
Trans folks and partners and allies: you did good with the Trans for Obama campaign, so good, in fact, that the Obama campaign has blogged about our efforts:
Obama Pride is honored by the enthusiastic support of so many in the transgender community and we congratulate all the participants in Trans Blog for Obama day for their huge success!
We’re very proud of us, too, and of Obama Pride for keeping LGBT issues visible for us all.
What’s even more important is that one of my favorite bloggers has written a remarkable piece about Obama from the perspective of someone who is female, African-American, and trans. Monica Roberts is a shining star in this community, and wow is that apparent from this current post of hers. My apologies that she did not hear about Trans for Obama Day until noon on Monday; the event’s organization happened very quickly, and while I tried to get to everyone – and tell them to let everyone else they knew to get on board – Ms. Roberts should have gotten her own invitation.
Sara also has a new post up about why she’ll vote for Obama now instead of voting for Kucinich in protest. & That’s exactly what Monday – and indeed this whole Trans for Obama week – was all about.
This pro-Obama speech by current CIO president Richard Trumka is beyond inspiring – it’s history, and the present, and the future.
Richard Trumka on race, unions, & Obama
It’s the kind of speech that came out of the era when Unions were King.
Sometimes I hear stuff like this and I think they still are.
Kate Bornstein is just popping with thoughts about presidential politics, change & trans. Trans people certainly know something about change, she points out.
We’ve also moved up a ranking in ActBlue’s list of donor groups. We’re at #7 now! And most of these groups have been fundraising for quite a long time. Right now we’re 2 away from hitting yesterday’s goal of 261. I’m really just so damned impressed that I’ve also posted about the Trans for Obama campaing on invert(e) and Bilerico. I’ve never done so much guest blogging ever!
Kate Bornstein has her wrap-up post up (thanks, Kate!) and so does our Canadian friend Veronique, and I also wanted to get in a few words from Melissa Sklarz, who is currently the vice chair of National Stonewall Democrats, about NSD and its trans representation:
NSD has had trans representation on its board for almost 10 years. I have been on the Board for 6 years and have been a vice chair of the Board for the last 4. We have had trans representation from the East and the West and now our friends in Colorado are starting an NSD trans group for all of us. The three of us comprise 8% of the Board total and all do service at the Exec level.
Most gay poltical groups have either few or no trans folks on board.
Which is one of the reasons it’s so damn cool that they decided to host the donations for Obama for the trans community. Thank you, Stonewall Democrats, especially Jon Hoadley and John Marble, who spearheaded this project, and thank you Babrbara Casbar (NJ), Melissa Sklarz (NY), and Laura Calvo (OR), for your work within NSD’s state organizations.
Oh, we haven’t quit. We made our goal of 200 yesterday, and today decided to try to oust the next group on ActBlue’s list, too, if we can, and we only need 42 more people to do that. Here are some more incoming Trans for Obama blog posts:
This is so damned impressive, and as Joanne Prinzivalli has poined out: it’s not too late. So do send me more links to more blog posts if and when you put them up. We’re not really done until Election Day, as far as I’m concerned.
In case you didn’t read along all day, here’s what happened: We started the day at 105 donors and $5400. We ended the day (midnight, EST) at 196 donors and $10,746. That’s a net of 91 donors and $5346 for Obama’s campaign. We did good! Bloggers that posted:
I suspect we will make our goal of 200 if we use midnight time (PDT) I’m sure, but I’ve got to go to bed. Our cat Aeneas had an echocardiogram and 6 teeth pulled today, so I’m emotionally exhausted on more than one front.
This being the trans community, I’m sure that there will be criticism of this event, so I’ll tell you why I got so fired up about this idea & spent the day blogging it: because for me, it’s meaningful not just for an historically gay & lesbian organization like Nat’l Stonewall Democrats to set up a page for trans community donations, but that it’s important for the trans community to respond with enthusiasm when we get an org that is willing to work with us. I think that’s at least as important as criticizing orgs that take us for granted.
More than that, I believe in visibility. There was no minimum donation required, so that your “vote” (or your existence) could count very easily, even for $1. Political visibility is important – and this event made us visible not just to LGBT people, but on a national political landscape where we are, sadly, almost completely invisible. Or, as Angie at Dakota Women put it:
This is a great way to increase trans visibility, so when the election is over, we can point to exact dollars that the trans community and its allies brought in. That. Is. Huge. Whether you identify as trans or a trans ally, this is a win-win. You get to help make sure that we’re not all crying in our beers the day after election day, and help demonstrate the power of the trans community and its supporters–all at the same time!
Right on. For me, personally – well, I live in NY which always goes for the Democratic nominee for President, so it was nice to get to do something that had a little more reach.