Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
A remarkable, short column by Wick Allison, a former Editor of The National Review and current Editor in Chief of D Magazine, where this piece appears.
This sentence, especially, stood out:
It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.
Do read the comments and reactions; it’s a very interesting set of opinions, all pretty articulate.
& Thank you, ACLU.
WASHINGTON, DC September 19, 2008 — Today the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of Diane Schroer, supporting her claim that she was wrongfully denied employment by the Library of Congress after she notified them that she intended to transition.
In 2004, while still living as David, retired US Army Colonel Diane Schroer was offered and accepted a job with the Library of Congress. When she notified her new employers of her intention to transition, the offer was rescinded. After a highly distinguished military career, Col. Schroer decided to fight once more to uphold American values of fairness and justice.
“True to form, Diane Schroer has once again demonstrated her bravery and her commitment to American democracy,” noted Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “By fighting for her rights, she has defended the honor and rights of all transgender people who have been discriminated against on the job. NCTE congratulates her on this historic win and applauds the tremendous work of the ACLU in securing this victory for us all.”
In his ruling United States District Judge James Robertson stated, “After hearing the evidence presented at trial, I conclude that Schroer was discriminated against because of sex in violation of Title VII.” He went on to note, “None of the five assertedly legitimate reasons that the Library has given for refusing to hire Schroer withstands scrutiny.”
Judge Robertson concluded, “In refusing to hire Diane Schroer because her appearance and background did not comport with the decision maker’s sex stereotypes about how men and women should act and appear, and in response to Schroer’s decision to transition, legally, culturally, and physically, from male to female, the Library of Congress violated Title VII’s prohibition on sex discrimination.”
You can read the whole of the decision at the ACLU’s website (pdf).
Wow. John McCain has lost his mind. Today he blamed the Washington insiders and lobbyists for the economic woes of the country, which may or may not be the case. But THEN he pointed out that it’s Obama’s judgment was bad as a Senator.
Goddamn does that take balls. Balls or outright delusion. I wonder if he sleeps at all these days, but for one of the Keating Five to get up & say that shit – well, wow. He’s sunk to a whole new level.
For those of you who don’t know, the Keating Five was the group of senators who were accused of less-than-ethical practices when it came to the Savings and Loan bailout of the 1980s. (McCain has been called “the most reprehensible” of the five.)
Wow. What a piece of work. First Obama’s not in the Senate long enough to have enough experience to be President, and now he’s personally responsible to a global economic crisis. There’s actually this famous scandal pinpointing McCain’s ability to be swayed by lobbyists, and no such dirt on Obama, and he’s getting up there & righteously pointing the finger at Obama.
Wow.
Respond to the survey online at
https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim
WASHINGTON, DC September 11, 2008 — In the wake of one of the most violent years on record of assaults on transgender people, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (The Task Force) have teamed up on a comprehensive national survey to collect data on discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, public accommodation, health care, education, family life and criminal justice.
To date, in 2008, several young gender non-conforming people of color have been murdered, including California junior high school student Lawrence King, who was shot in public during the school day. King’s murder, and the murders of Simmie Williams in South Carolina and Angie Zappata in Greeley, Colorado come in a year in which we are still working to include transgender provisions in a federal bill to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual workers from discrimination in employment.
Hate crimes against transgender people suggest multiple points of vulnerability, which can compound each other: discrimination in employment may lead to unstable housing situations which in turn can leave transgender people at the mercy of public programs and public officials who may not respond respectfully or appropriately to them. These stressors add burdens in a health care system that is often unprepared for transgender people’s needs. The list goes on. “We know that transgender people face discrimination on multiple fronts,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE. “This data will help us sort out the combination of forces that leave transgender people vulnerable to unemployment, homelessness, and violence.”
Jaime Grant, director of the Task Force Policy Institute noted, “There is so little concrete data on the needs and risks associated with the widespread discrimination we see in the lives of the transgender people we know. This data will help point the way to an appropriate policy agenda to ensure that transgender people have a fair chance to contribute their talents in the workplace, in our educational systems and in our communities.”
NCTE and the Task Force have partnered with Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education to collect and analyze the data. Applying rigorous academic standards to the investigation will strengthen any case made to legislators, policy makers, health care providers, and others whose decisions impact the lives of transgender people. A national team of experts in survey research and transgender issues developed the questionnaire, which can be completed on-line at https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim. Paper copies can also be downloaded from the NCTE and The Task Force websites soon.
Keisling notes: “This is an absolutely critical national effort. We urge all transgender and gender non-conforming people to take the survey to help guide us in making better laws and policies that will improve the quality of life for all transgender people. We need everyone’s voice in this, everyone’s participation.”
Well this explains everything about why I like the guy: I worked at NYPIRG, and I went to City College, too. I showed up at both about five years after he was there.
After about a year, he was hired by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit organization that promotes consumer, environmental and government reform. He became a full-time organizer at City College in Harlem, paid slightly less than $10,000 a year to mobilize student volunteers.
Mr. Obama says he spent three months “trying to convince minority students at City College about the importance of recycling†— a description that surprised some former colleagues. They said that more “bread-and-butter issues†like mass transit, higher education, tuition and financial aid were more likely the emphasis at City College.
“You needed somebody — and here was where Barack was a star — who could make the case to students across the political spectrum,†said Eileen Hershenov, who oversaw Mr. Obama’s work for Nypirg. The job required winning over students on the political left, who would normally disdain a group inspired by Ralph Nader as insufficiently radical, as well as students on the right and those who were not active at all.
Nearly 20 years later, Mr. Obama seemed to remember the experience differently. Gene Karpinski, then executive director of U.S. PIRG, a federation of state watchdog groups, met Mr. Obama in Boston. It was at the time of the 2004 Democratic convention, when Mr. Obama delivered the speech that made him a party luminary. Mr. Karpinski introduced himself. And, he recalled, Mr. Obama told him: “I used to be a PIRG guy. You guys trained me well.â€
(From The NY Times)
10:08PM – Here we go. I’m fully expecting to cry through most of his speech, and I expected that before Olbermann read some of it as a preview.
10:09PM – Though wow is this video heavy-handed.
10:13PM – As a speaker, I think I know that look on his face. He is about to blow this thing wide open.
11:02PM – By God. That is an historically important speech – the craft of it, the earnestness, the humor, the empathy. By god. “It’s how Henry won at Agincourt,” says Chris Matthews. Nation of whiners my ass. Own your failure, you ownership society types. Democrats and Republicans fight and die under the same flag. What a stunning piece of work, which simultaneously laid out his plans, criticized the bullshit that’s in DC, and taught Americans how to defeat and debunk the Republicans & John McCain. Jeez louise he just hit that OUT OF THE PARK.
ENOUGH, he said. I agree. We have had enough. Change doesn’t come from Washington; the people go to Washington and demand it. Damn straight.
Sign me up for the PA canvas. & Otherwise you can donate through the Trans for Obama campaign.
1:30AM – & on the second listen: “You’re on your own” = Obama’s summation of Trickle Down Economics.
& Pat Buchanan says it wasn’t a liberal speech. Silly, silly man. What it was is something so rare in American politics that we don’t recognize it when we see it, A Genuine Article Populist Speech.
I didn’t blog tonight because I was busy worrying about Betty and having dinner with my sister.
I don’t care what anyone else thinks — I think (Bill) Clinton’s speech was mediocre. For him, & for this campaign. Were I his speechwriting consultant, I would have sent him back to the drawing board. It was too safe, nearly mealy-mouthed. This is the man who defined what is is, after all.
Who did rock tonight was John Kerry. His talk left me thinking, as I did with (Hillary) Clinton’s, where the hell was that during their own campaigns? Kerry had his claws out, & that was lovely.
Biden’s rocked too (though it’s not yet up on YouTube). & Yes, I’m biased, since he’s a good Catholic boy from PA. But I just love that he’s made up for his stutter by being someone who speaks, sometimes too much, in public. In front of thousands. I haven’t liked him much since the Anita Hill fiasco, but he’s a good VP for Obama, and he gives good emotion. I especially liked what he said about America regaining the world’s trust.
What’s funniest is that I find myself agreeing with Pat Buchanan (who’s a regular commentator on MSNBC): Where’s Guatanamo? Where is the criticism of Cheney, that fucker? He’s a traitor and a shit and his approval rating is something like 18%. What about Rove? What about Valerie Plame? ATTACK, DEMOCRATS, ATTACK! These guys suck.
Here’s another thing: someone needs to get up & try to undo (Hillary) Clinton’s poison against Obama, specifically her charge about his “rhetoric.” We need rhetoric right now. Great leadership is not just about policy. It’s about Fireside Chats, and “nothing to fear but fear itself,” and “once more into the breach.” It’s about motivating people. & While no, we don’t need a motivational speaker as President, it doesn’t hurt when a guy as smart as Obama can move the masses with his words. I know I’ve needed someone to tell me to have hope, what with paying $900/month for health insurance that covers who the fuck knows what.
Is anyone else annoyed by the ongoing media silliness about Clinton’s voters? Either they’re on board, or they’re not. Clinton has said her piece about as articulately as anyone could, & it’s very apparent that if they don’t back Obama, they’re going against her wishes, which is one hell of a way to “support” a candidate.
Still, even for those who won’t vote for him, I do hope they vote. Ah, the stupidity of a woman not voting in a year where we had our first female candidate for president… don’t get me started. & All those other Dems running for the other umpteen offices will need supporting as well.
10:45pm – Wow. That was one hell of a video introduction, & one hell of a reception, Clinton just got. & She wasted no time at all expressing her support for Obama.
No way, Nohow, No McCain.
10:53PM – She’s in fine form, coming off as both confident but humble. *sigh* Wish we’d seen more of that during the campaign. & Why oh why didn’t she ever give that talk about gender she should have given? Atlantic Monthly reported that she considered it, but never made up her mind to do it. She should have. We needed that talk as much as we needed Obama’s on race.
11:03PM – Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her give this good a speech. With a shout out to Seneca Falls: “My mother was born before women were given the right to vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for President. This is the story of America.” Nice. & Then rousing Harriet Tubman’s “Keep going.”
Godspeed, Hillary Clinton. Well fucking done.
Normally Betty & I would be talking loudly at each other over the DNC reporting, and since she’s not here, you all get to suffer my opinions, instead.
First: cool to see Luke Russert reporting, but even more cool, the happy smiles on Brokaw’s and Olbermann’s faces after he did.
Then: Nancy Pelosi’s speech was about as boring as dirt. She’s still right, though, that John McCain is wrong.
On the idea that Clinton supporters are voting for McCain… please stay home. Um, HELLO? He’s not pro choice, he’s not for equal pay for equal work, and he has voted against legislation that would make contraception more available, including the Gag Rule.
(more as the night goes on)
Ted Kennedy, filled with optimism and laughter, was like a salve. His comment on the war – and how our soldiers should not be sent into mistakes that aren’t worthy of their courage – was a concise articulation of the how sad so many of us have been these past years while we’re fighting the wrong war entirely.
10PMish – Buchanan is such an asswipe. Just in general.
10:30PM – Michelle Obama’s video retrospective, and now her older brother introducing her.
12:32AM – & Wow was she great. I was right there with all the other women who were crying listening to her, as Matthews & Olbermann pointed out. It killed me that they had to ask a woman why the tears. It’s one of us up there: a smart woman, a woman accused of being angry. The sexism directed at Clinton had its ramifications for all of us – even for those of us who don’t particularly like her.
Now go register to vote if you aren’t.