2/27/13

Tony Zamazal Transitioning Texas High School Student Told No Dress At Prom


Transition, a shared experience for for trans people. We all been through what Tony Zamazal is experiencing internally right now. Tony is in the very first stages of transition having recently come to terms with her gender diversity and a irrepressible need to express it, or as we call it in our community, living authentically.

Sadly in Texas we are discriminated against in all phases of transition. For a trans person that is a life long hardship as we never stop growing and learning more about who we are.

Tony Zamazal has been told by the Spring ISD that the 'dance dress code' disallows her from wearing a dress because she was born a biological male.

I couldn't find a policy specifically for prom attire but I did locate the Spring ISD Dress Code which has no provisions for transgender students:

The District’s dress code is established to teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards, and teach respect for authority.

Students shall be dressed and groomed in a manner that is clean and neat and that will not be a health or safety hazard to themselves or others. The District prohibits any clothing or grooming that in the principal’s judgment may reasonably be expected to cause disruption of or interference with normal school operations.


*Trigger warning. I have used female pronouns when addressing Tony Zamazal because she has indicated she is transitioning from male to female. This video uses male pronouns repeatedly as if to add an explanation point, reinforcing patriarchal Cis~normality.

Phoenix Adds Transgender Protections Including Public Accommodations And Sexual Orientation To City Ordinance

Video: Following 'heated debate' Phoenix added sexual orientation and gender expression to non discrimination ordinances.

CBS 5 reports that the haters were out in numbers last night extending the city's meeting until the wee hours. Joe La Rue who's Scottsdale AZ group "Alliance Defending Freedom" which calls the ACLU a "Radical anti-Christian group" was present. He claimed the law would give "an open door to any sexual predator, not the transgender community, but any sexual predator that pretends to be transgender. That person can go into the women's restroom and this gives them easy access to women and, especially, children."

La Rue's effort to instill fear was unfounded as it was noted that Tuscon amended a similar law to include LGBT people in 1999 and according to city officials there have seen no instances of predators using the law as a pretext for preying on woman and children in restrooms.

Mayor Greg Stanton issued the following statement today on phoenix.gov after the passage of the updates to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance:

“This was the right thing to do for our city. With 165 other cities, including Tucson and Flagstaff, adopting similar ordinances, some more than a decade ago, Phoenix had some catching up to do. We as a city value all our citizens, and consider diversity as our strength. It’s good for business, it’s good for our economy, and it’s the right thing to do for Phoenix."

"Bishop Kirk Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona said he thinks calling the proposal the “bathroom bill” is a way to play on individuals’ fears. They remind him of the scare tactics that were used when it first became illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, he said."
According to the DowntownDevil many Local Phoenix business were present in support of the amendment "along with neighborhood groups including the Evans Churchill Neighborhood Association and the Downtown Voices Coalition, a downtown advocacy group." It wasn't a easy go for fair minded people present, in fact it was traumatic as noted by Kim Pearson a <>outspoken advocate of transgender children's rights on Facebook: "Good Night cruel world! By cruel world I specifically mean the horrible, hurtful people who were saying vile things about transgender children today in down town Phoenix. If your God thinks my son and I are sinners, I don't even want to imagine what your God must think of the things you say and do. Put a fork in me, I'm done!" I will borrow Kim's favorite saying now: For the Kids!







2/26/13

TLDEF Files Complaint to Protect Transgender First Grader From School Discrimination

[TLDEF email] Complaint Alleges Six-Year-Old Transgender Girl Denied Access to Girls' Bathrooms at School

TLDEF today announced that it has filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division on behalf of a 6-year-old girl who has been barred from using the girls' bathrooms at her elementary school. For the past year, Coy Mathis, a first-grader at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, CO, has used the girls' bathrooms. In mid-December 2012, the Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 informed her parents that Coy would be prevented from using the girls' bathrooms after winter break. The District ordered Coy to use the boys' bathroom, a staff bathroom, or the nurse's bathroom.

Coy was labeled male at birth, but has always known that she is a girl, and has expressed this since she was 18 months old. Since kindergarten, Coy has worn girls' clothing to school. Her classmates and teachers have used female pronouns to refer to her and she has used the girls' bathrooms, just like any other girl in her school.

The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against transgender students in public schools. Despite efforts to get the District to reconsider its decision, it has refused to do so. Coy's parents have removed her from school and are home schooling her until this Complaint is resolved.

"We want Coy to have the same educational opportunities as every other Colorado student," said Kathryn Mathis, Coy's mother. "Her school should not be singling her out for mistreatment just because she is transgender."

"By forcing Coy to use a different bathroom than all the other girls, Coy's school is targeting her for stigma, bullying and harassment," said Michael Silverman, TLDEF's executive director, and one of Coy's lawyers. "Through the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, Coloradans have made it clear that they want all Colorado children to have a fair and equal chance in school," he added. "Coy's school has the opportunity to turn this around and teach Coy's classmates a valuable lesson about friendship, respect and basic fairness."

"We have five children and we love them all very much," said Mrs. Mathis. "We want Coy to return to school to be with her teachers, her friends, and her siblings, but we are afraid to send her back until we know that the school is going to treat her fairly. She is still just six years old, and we do not want one of our daughter's earliest experiences to be our community telling her she's not good enough."

In addition to TLDEF, the legal team representing the Mathis family includes Michael Flynn, Lucy Deakins, Jami Mills Vibbert, and Rosario Doriott Dominguez of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

For the latest information on Coy's case, including upcoming media appearances, please follow us on Twitter and "like" us on Facebook. We'll be posting the latest information there first.




Click for a slideshow of Mathis family photos.

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Statutes Part 3. Definiations:

(7) “Sexual orientation” means a person's orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status or another person's perception thereof."

Part 6. Discrimination in Places of Public Accommodation

(1) "As used in this part 6, “place of public accommodation” means......an educational institution...."

(2) "It is a discriminatory practice and unlawful for a person, directly or indirectly, to refuse, withhold from, or deny to an individual or a group, because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry, the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation...."

Trans Woman Sanam Fakir Running In Pakastan's First Peacefull Political Transition

Breaking the Begging Bowl.

Apropo of the social change in Pakistan where democracy has previously has been just out of reach Sanam Fakir, a transgender woman is running for office.

"It is not our destiny to merely dance for others and hold begging bowls. We have a life to live," Sanam Fakir, 32, told AFP by telephone from the town of Sukkur, about 800 kilometres (500 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

The elections will be for the national parliament and provincial assemblies.

Running as an independent in Sukkur, which is traditionally dominated by the main ruling Pakistan People's Party and which has a tiny transgender community, Fakir's chances are slim of winning a seat in the Sindh provincial assembly.

"We are not corrupt. We have no need to be corrupt. We have no families and our own needs are limited. We are contented people," Fakir told AFP.

This is not the first time Sanam Fakir has made strives to raise our community up in Pakistan where discrimination is so extreme. Previously she bought three old computers and runs a learning center for our family in her house.

Sanam Fakir is truly a inspiration and remarkable leader of the transgender community to emulate. Regardless of the outcome of the election  Sanam Fakir is already a winner.





2/25/13

Fratenity Brothers Raising Money For Prospects Top Surgery

Emerson College Chapter of Phi Alpha Tau fraternity is raising money to fund a prospect's top surgery. From the Indiegogo fund raising site:

"We are a group of individuals brought together through our fraternity and we are here for one reason: to support the brothers of our organization. Yesterday we were informed that one of our prospective brothers, a transgender female to male, was denied the opportunity to recieve financial support from his insurance for top surgery."

"We are now trying to raise that money for him. We are doing this as individuals in an organization rallying around another individual. This endeavor is not being sponsored by the organization as a whole, rather the active members within it."

"We care deeply about each and everyone, and rely on the entire active brotherhood to stand behind any one individual when they are in need."



Read more at Gay Star News.

Trans ICE Detainees: Our Acquiescence Condemns Them To Be The Forgotten

The video is of Ms Bamby Salcedo of the Trans Latina Coalition presenting at the 2013 LGBT Journalist Conference in Philadelphia February 2013. Ms. Salecdo came to the United States seeking nothing more than what everyone here desires, freedom to live her life authentically.

What she found was alienation, poverty and sexual assault at the hands of the people who entrusted with the safe guarding of our borders. When I asked Bamby how it is that she has become a Transgender aids activist addressing this room of journalists today she replied " because she was a empowered woman, even back then, the system was forced into giving her a chance releasing her from incarceration and deportation.



I then asked Bamby what we could do as journalists to get the stories of  the trans people who are currently held by ICE published. She explained with sadness in her voice that most trans woman in ICE detention are too scared to tell their stories out of fear that might further jeopardize there chances at remaining in the United States. Further more she explained we wouldn't be allowed to visit them in the first place.

So is this the fate these woman who passed under Lady Liberty who in reality is transgender? Are we to remain silent?

The original Statue of liberty, some would argue, was a statue of the Greek Titian Colossus commissioned by the Egyptian goverment with decidedly male features.

The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus's Sonnet found on the base of Lady Liberty, is about the transition of Ms Liberty who's roles changed from warrior to welcomer and from male to a female transgender woman.