2/24/13

Lauree Hayden SEIU Staffer Speaks About LGBTQ-labor Intersectionality

Lauree Hayden a Service Employees International Union(SEIU) Staffer presented at the 2013 LGBT media conference explaining why it's important for LGBTQI writers to cover union issues.

First thing Lauree did was to ask to see a show off hands of how many of us had ever been union. Approximately 30 of the 60 or so in attendance raised theirs hands including me. Lauree then asked how many of us currently belonged to a union and all but a smattering including myself lowered our hands.

I was fired from my first job after beginning transition at Walmart after "Our Walmart" organizers entered the store a month earlier. Seemingly a non issue at the time to me I told the store manager, in a meeting he asked for, that I once belonged to the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. I wasn't concerned partly out of a misplaced sense of loyalty to the store that had hired me when no one else would and after all hadn't I had just received my third year review indicating I was doing a good job?

I should have been worried.

I was fired a few months later after they continually demanded that I do a job they were fully aware was beyond me physically to do. That was just a cover as they ended up quickly firing most of the other employees who were present or even employed at the times the organizers had entered the building.

I like untold thousands of Walmart employees were fired because we  once had been or were suspected of having union affiliation even if it was years in the past. The rich are that scared of us organizing and demanding a fair share.

The truth is as the rich continue to profit at our expense at ever increasing percentage while we continue to make less in respect to what we made twenty years ago. Union breaking is and continues to be a leading tool of the one percent as evidenced by the lack of Union members present at our LGBTQI media conference.



Truly union, Cis-labor, and transgender people are meeting at the intersection of poverty, homelessness and despair. The LGBT media has a obligation to publish the map that will help guide our way back.

2/23/13

An Interview With Cleve Jones LGBT Icon on Compton and Beyond

Cleve Jones and David Mixner held an a Q&A session during the opening reception for the LGBT Journalist's at this years Convention in Philadelphia that left many in the room scratching their heads wondering why they were talking about topics not normally associated with the LGBT agenda.

Ah, coalition building:)

One recurring theme talked about by both speakers was the importance of coalition building and their shared grief at losing much of their generation to Aids/HIV. Cleve Jones being involved with unions trying to introduce us to a demographic thats not usually LGBT friendly relaying his horror at seeing LGBT activist cross picket lines and exhorted those present not to do so. Both Jones and Mixner joked about being over 60 but answered questions with such youthful joy as to stir emotions and passions within everyone present, albeit not favorable from everyone.

This first class reception and dinner was held on the top floor of the Comcast tower so we had the opportunity to listen to a presentation expounding on how inclusive Comcast is, owner of NBC universal and Logo, and how they are striving to become the LGBT community's channel of choice.



After a quick perusal of Comcast shows I couldn't find anything highlighting transgender people in a positive way, only Rupaul on Logo who's made his contempt of trans people public and Drag Queen Sherry Vine, again not representative of trans people

Cleve Jones, sometimes called the conscious of the Castro became a volunteer for Harvey Milk after this chance encounter with him as shown in the movie "Milk":



I had a chance to catch up with Mr. Jones after he spoke. I asked Mr. Jones about the level of participation trans people had in the LGBT's communities earliest uprisings. He told me "at Compton they did but not so much at Stonewall.".
Then I asked if he felt as many trans people do, that we were being erased by mainstream media now that President Obama has raised the bar by mentioning Stonewall along with other civil rights milestones. He told me that more people did need to talk about our participation because it wasn't just gay and lesbians, there were transsexuals and tranny's there as well.

Jones noted I was slightly taken back by his use of the word tranny so he explained saying he knew it's not a word to use cavalierly but said he has always had friends who identified as trannys. He said he didn't' think it should be thought of a bad word anymore so than 'queer'. In the respectful context that Cleve said it, nether did I. Jones went on to say that he thinks transgender people spend way too much time and effort arguing about dichotomy and believes trans people need to take a more active role in advocating for ourselves.

He also said he didn't like the concept of the transgender umbrella. Monika Roberts joined in the conversation then explaining to Cleve the word transgender is essential as it allows legislators to more easily identify us.

Given that trans people are still not being represented overall in media a positive light I think one major focus of ours as LGBT journalists is to remind Comcast that there desire to be 'our' channel can only be achieved with a fair portrayal of trans people as well as gay and lesbians.

2/21/13

Video: London Police Throw Sick Transwoman To Ground ripping Her wig Off in Brutal Arrest

Eyewitness have come forward after seeing a transwoman assaulted in Soho by police. Although this video may not show explicit police brutality apparently there was much more happening since numerous complaints have been filed. A crowd estimated at 100 people gathered and begun yelling for the police to stop after they knocked her wig off, tore her purse from her scattering the contents, pounding her head into the pavement while they stood on her twisting her arms behind her back shouting at her she wasn't 'normal'.



Gay star News reports that 'Three huge officers violently pushed the trans in question against a window, immediately hand cuffing her with extreme force.

'The victim then had her wig ripped from her head, her handbag and purse literally emptied out on the road, so her personal belongings were damaged and scattered around her.

'Meanwhile police officers mocked her for her dress and having feminine items items in her handbag shouting at her: "You're not normal! We'll let you get you up in a few minutes but you need to act like a normal human being."

Read more at Gay Star News London police accused of mocking a sick trans woman in 'brutal arrest'

H/T to Kelly for this story.



Fox News and Massachusetts Family Institute Slam New Student Transgender Policy


The Fox News headline "Students Who Refuse to Affirm Transgender Classmates Face Punishment" sets the stage for this "Cultural War" against trans people written by Todd Starnes.

Deconstructing Fox lies.

The headline of Starnes article is a lie. There is no wording in the new policy mentioning disciplinary actions of any kind.

Todd Starnes writes "The new rules would also prevent teachers and administrators from telling parents with which gender their child identifies."

That's a lie. According to the MassachusettsNondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity the school will be empowered to formulate a plan with the student to inform others that is in the best interest of the student providing the student is over the age of 14 or has entered the 9th grade. If the student is younger than that the students parents should be automatically be brought into the conversation to help formulate the plan.


Fox used the vitriol of a hate group to validate this hate filled screed:

"The Massachusetts Family Institute denounced the new rules calling them a violation of privacy."

“Fundamentally, boys need to be using the boys’ room and girls need to be using the girls’ rooms, and we base that on their anatomical sex, not some sort of internalized gender identity,” said Andrew Beckwith, the institute’s general counsel."

"Beckwith told Fox News the new policy has a “very broad standard that is ripe for abuse.”

We hear this tripe from haters, the door will be left open for predators. What a heap of trash.

Here's what the new policy says about public accommodations:


Fox isn't done with Beckwith yet pandering to the fears of haters saying:

"And any student who refuses to refer to a transgendered student by the name or sex they identify with could face punishment.

For example – a fifth grade girl might feel uncomfortable using the restroom if there is an eighth grade transgendered boy in the next stall.

Under the state guidelines, the girl would have no recourse, Beckwith said.

“And if the girl continued to complain she could be subjected to discipline for not affirming that student’s gender identity choice,” he told Fox News."

“It should not be tolerated and can be grounds for student discipline,” the directive states

That is a bold faced italicized lie.

Again the policy was posted earlier in the article. There are is no mention of discipline or course of actions laid out if and when a child's gender expression is challenged.

Then gym came up. the directive suggests:


So there it is. You can read the full Fox screed Here.








Kenneth Furr, Off Duty DC Cop Who Tried To Murder Trans Woman Appealing Suspended Sentence

Kenneth Furr the drunk and probably drugged cop who tried to murder two trans woman and three friends is appealing his conviction of off-duty assault with a dangerous weapon and solicitation of prostitution. Furr was sentenced to three years and 30 days in prison, 100 hours of community service and fined $150.00.

I was livid after the judge suspended the sentence placing Furr on three years probation fearing Furr and others would interpret that slap on the wrist as tacit approval by the Judge of his murderous intent.

The DC Trans Coalition was outraged issuing a statement regarding Furr's original sentence: “This result is the product of a legal system that constantly devalues trans people’s lives,” said DC Trans Coalition member Jason Terry. “Officer Furr’s defense team actively sought to portray the victims as somehow deserving of this violence, and apparently they succeeded. If roles had been reversed and a trans woman had gotten drunk and flashed a gun at a police officer, the results would be drastically different.” It is important to note that Furr was convicted only of flashing a weapon at two gay men involved in the incident, not for shooting at the trans women and others involved.

“Officer Furr exemplifies why this fear exists,” said Jason Terry. “DC’s trans communities face blatant discrimination, harassment, and violence from police officers every day, yet when an officer drunkenly shoots at trans people, accountability seems to disappear.”


Furr has no remorse for attempting to murder those transgender woman and has much to my astonishment, filed an appeal.

Jason Terry of the DC Trans Coalition was unaware that Furr was appealing and told Metro Weekly:

'I think this reaffirms the suspicion that Kenneth Furr remains a threat to our communities, and lacks both the remorse and self-awareness necessary for people in our communities to be able to feel they can safely go about their lives,'' Terry wrote. ''Somehow Furr and his legal team keep making him out to be the victim here, and that's just not a narrative that we can allow to stand.''

Terry said he hopes that if Furr's sentence somehow ends up being revisited, the appellate court will mandate ''some sort of transformational justice process, so that Officer Furr, his victims and the impacted communities can find a path forward, free from continued fear.'


It's my hope the Judge will revoke his suspension and put him behind bars were he should be.