1/27/09

Chicago: ACLU sues on transgender birth certificate

Source Radical Queer News;

Chicago: ACLU sues on transgender birth certificate

CHICAGO, Jan. 27 (UPI) — The American Civil Liberties Union says it will sue Illinois for refusing to issue a new birth certificate to a citizen who underwent a sex-change operation.

Attorneys announced the lawsuit in Chicago Tuesday, saying the state Department of Vital Records had routinely changed birth certificates for transgender people for more than 40 years before recently pulling the plug on the practice.

The ACLU called birth certificates a fundamental document people need to legally and accurately establish their identity.

Full story at United Press International, Inc.

Supreme Court: law bars sex harassment retaliation


Supreme Court: law bars sex harassment retaliation (Reuters).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An employee is protected from being fired in retaliation for answering questions during an employer's investigation of suspected sexual harassment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The unanimous court ruled the federal civil rights law's anti-retaliation provision for employees who report workplace sex or race discrimination also extended to an internal investigation of a supervisor or another worker.

"Nothing in the statute requires a freakish rule protecting an employee who reports discrimination on her own initiative but not one who reports the same discrimination in the same words when her boss asks a question," Justice David Souter wrote in the
opinion.

Full Article at Democratic Underground

1/25/09

DEMAND the Dallas Voice stops using "TRANNY"



Thank you Nikki Dreams for this wonderfully sensitive and enlightening video. I hope everyone who watches this comes to appreciates how harmful it is to the self respect of transgender people when you call us "Trannie" and unless we are a entertainer with published articles which we identify ourselves individually as a "Drag Queen or Tranny" please do not call us by these names.

The Dallas Voice and it's Web Log which bill themselves as a "LGB Paper" have been a constant recipient of my emails and phone calls to both the Editor, Tammye Nash and News Editor, John Write, both of whom I consider an allies, protesting their use of these derogatory names. I have explained that we suffer from the use of TRANNY as Black people do being called "Nigger" by non Afro Americans or Hispanics hate "Wetback" or Jewish people rail against 'Kike".....this list of bigotry inspired names is used by haters........and how others will capitalize on their insensitivity resulting in the marginalization, Victimization and violent murders of Transgender people.

I have resisted the Dallas Voices invitation to post letters to the editor protesting this because I feel it would exploitative on the Dallas Voices part. My indignation would be used as a promotional commercialization aid for the sales of this very hateful language.

!Please save lives and Take Action! Copy the message below and Send the Dallas voice a email!

Phone: (214) 754-8710
Fax: (214) 969-7271

Robert Moore, Publisher
robertmoore@dallasvoice.com
Tele. Ext.112

Tammye Nash, Senior Editor
nash@dallasvoice.com
Tele. Ext.128

John Wright, News Editor
wright@dallasvoice.com
Tele. Ext.113

Ben Briscoe, Staff Writer
briscoe@dallasvoice.com
Tele. Ext.117
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Dallas Voice,
Our community is comprised of Queer, Transgender, Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Intersexed and Questioning people who deserve the same respect as your staff expects to be shown in there personal daily lives. You would scream bloody murder if I called you "Faggot" do not call our people "Tranny". We demand our own community stops leading the way for hate and violence targeting transgender people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related Posts on planetransgender

"Angie Zapata's Life and Death : changed how we are treated"

"Boston Herald "TRANNIE" is what a 16 year old calls a gear shift. Not a HUMAN."

DEMAND the Dallas Voice stops using "TRANNY" also published at,

Pams House Blend
Queer Toda.com
Dallas Transgender Activists and Allies(DTAA)

DEMAND the Dallas Voice stops using "TRANNY", auto linked at

QueerCincinnati.com
Queers United

Dallas Voice and it's Weblog and outside publications referencing articles by the Dallas Voice containing the word "Tranny"

Dallas Voice's official Blog Instant Tea responds with post"Planetransgender takes action against the word ‘Tranny’" Visit Instant Tea and leave a comment!

Hot tranny Hawaii | Aloha art


2009’s first hot tranny: Katelyn Cusanelli
January 8th, 2009


Hand Puppet Land blog postings

Oregon Live "Dallas bar owner bans drag queens and trannies"

Weblog headlines Local Gay Hate Crime and uses Tranny in later article

SHE-DICK sings 'Galactic Tranny' ... Dallas Voice DVTV News. Candi Shell

2006-2009 outside.in stories about 'lgbt' in Cityplace

Pegasus News Dallas gay bar to ban drag queens on “Trashy Tuesday”

(Dallas Myspace)theres a pic of me in the dallas voice and ive got this stupid look on my ... OMG you tranny whore shouldnt you be kissing some red necks ass right now

Crews Inn rep says drag queens allowed in on certain conditions; performers vow to continue fight

Dallas Voice Joan Rivers shares the stage with the Turtle Creek Chorale, ... recently as “halfway through becoming a trannie,

The list goes on forever and I have to go to church now.

By Kelli Busey,
Transgender Woman
January 25, 2009
planetransgender

Human Rights First Thanks President Obama


From
Human Rights First

"If there was any doubt that a new day is dawning in America, it has been washed away by the events of [last week]."

"I am speaking about the three executive orders that President Obama signed yesterday. They represent a significant victory—a victory for which Human Rights First has fought relentlessly over the past seven years. And you have been there right alongside us the entire way."

"Standing next to the president as he signed these orders were 16 members of Human Rights First's coalition of retired military leaders. Over the past several years, Human Rights First has brought together more than 50 generals and admirals to speak out against disastrous policies of torture, ill treatment, and indefinite detention."

"Taken together, these executive orders end coercive interrogation practices by the CIA and other U.S. agencies, shut down secret detention facilities, and order the closure of Guantánamo within one year."

Please take moment now and send a thank you to President Obama for his action. Let him know that you will support him in making sure that America's leadership is fully restored.

Posted by Kelli Busey
January 25, 2009
planetransgender

1/24/09

Belovedness and The United Methodist Constitution: Does All Mean All?


Sometimes in my wandering I happen to come back to the United Methodist and am instantly thrust into the very passion of Christianity.

A blog post found on "Religion is a Queer Thing" by Rev. Tiffiany Steinwert, pictured right,

"Belovedness and The United Methodist Constitution: Does All Mean All?"

"There is a story that another UM pastor, Janet Wolf, tells about one of her parishioners. This story about Fayette has become gospel for me in understanding the fullness of the meaning of baptism in our Christian tradition. You see Fayette, although new to the Church understood the power of baptism deep her in soul."

"She came to Janet’s church one summer, pacing back and forth outside the open doors, listening intently to the music, the laughter, the words. Occasionally she would crouch down on the front steps engrossed, amazed and astounded at what she heard. Little by little that summer Fayette moved from the sidewalk to the steps, from the steps to the door and finally one day from the door to the pew."

Please read and share Religion is a Queer Thing.

TWO Calls On Officials To Investigate Ted Haggard's Former Church

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, Jan 24, 2009

Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

Truth Wins Out Calls On Authorities To Investigate Ted Haggard's Former Church.

Hush Money Scandal Emerges From New Life's Closet, Says TWO

NEW YORK - Truth Wins Out (TWO) today called on Colorado officials to investigate New Life Church, after the Associated Press revealed that New Life paid money to keep a male volunteer from publicly disclosing a romantic affair with the church's former minister Ted Haggard.

According to the AP, New Life's current Senior Pastor, Brady Boyd, said that the church reached a legal settlement to pay the man for counseling and college tuition, with one condition being that none of the parties involved discuss the relationship publicly.

"Until conservative churches stop shaming gay people and learn to accept them, we will see more tawdry scandals," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "These calamities are a direct result of the closet."

Rev. Boyd denied that New Life paid hush money and said, "Our desire was to help him. Here was a young man who wanted to get on with his life. We considered it more compassionate assistance - certainly not hush money."

TWO called on Colorado officials to look into the matter.

"Authorities should investigate to ensure that this volunteer was not manipulated or coerced into silence," said Besen. "The leadership of New Life has little credibility and should not simply be taken at their word. At a minimum, Boyd should resign for using his position of power to pressure a vulnerable member of his congregation into silence."

In 2006, Denver escort Mike Jones disclosed that he and Haggard had a three-year relationship where money was exchanged for sex. Shortly after, Haggard stepped down from New Life. Next week, HBO will air a documentary on the rise and fall of Haggard. The disgraced minister will be promoting the show in media appearances throughout the week.

There is speculation that the HBO special spurred the volunteer to contact a Colorado Springs television station to discuss the situation.

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that defends the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community against anti-gay lies. TWO also counters the so-called "ex-gay" industry and educates America about the lives of GLBT people.


HBO Showtimes "THE TRIALS OF TED HAGGARD"