10/23/13

Courage Campaign Battled Prop 8 now needs members to say YES to fight for Transgender Students

The right has redoubled there efforts to force a vote on human rights, the right of the smallest most unprotected and valuable part of the LGBT community, Transgender and gender variant students.

Even though trans positive bloggers like planetransgender and The TransAdvocate are doing everything we can its NOT ENOUGH!

The response from the LGBT community and liberal media  has been disparate in comparison, essentially leaving the fate of our next generation up to the groups like  Privacy For All Students Capitol Resource InstitutePacific Justice Institute, and the Traditional Values Coalition to be amplified by the untruths and hate mongering of the right wing media.

WE can start giving the support we must!  Courage Campaign a group I joined to fight Prop 8 is asking their members if they should join this fight. You can respond  here

I Say HELL YES!

VOTE: Should Courage Campaign take on this fight?

As a member-driven organization, Courage Campaign must consult with our members before taking an official position on ballot measures. We only take official positions on these initiatives if 60% of our members agree.

We need your input before we gear up to take on the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)’s latest and most regressive attack against our transgender youth in California. If we’re going to act, we need to act now.

Please help us in our decision making process by reading the pro and con arguments below and letting us know where you stand as a Courage member. Thank you very much.

“School Success and Opportunity Act ” (AB 1266), otherwise known as the "transgender student law."
Proponents arguments: School can be a difficult and unsafe place for transgender students. Transgender boys and girls often face discrimination and bullying just for being who they are and dressing they way they want to dress. These students are unfairly excluded from restrooms, and various educational and extracurricular activities -- such as physical education and athletic teams -- making it more difficult to succeed academically and graduate with their peers. This law would help transgender youth to feel safe at school and have the opportunity to fully participate and succeed in our public education system.

Opponents arguments: Opponents call this law “dangerous” and an “assault on privacy and safety of vulnerable children.” Privacy for All Students, the coalition of citizens and organizations opposed to this law, claim that it “damages kids” and “forces our school children to be exposed in showers and bathrooms to members of the opposite sex who claim a ‘gender identity’ with that sex.”

Staff Recommendation: The Courage Campaign staff fully supports the “School Success and Opportunity Act” that will protect transgender youth from discrimination and bullying in schools. LGBT youth should be treated equally and provided the same educational opportunities as all other students in California’s public schools. If this law were to be delayed or repealed, it will be detrimental to the safety, well-being and success of transgender students in California.



10/22/13

Dasha Shtern Russian Transgender Woman fired because of Putin's anti LGBT Laws commits suicide

A small crowd gathered in Red Square October 19th to hold a vigil for 22 year old Dasha Shtern the first known suicide of a LGBT person that can be directly attributed to Vladimir Putin's anti LGBT laws.
Cross posted from guseinova's blog found at the Association of Russian Lawyers for human rights:
"The action was held on Red Square in Moscow 19 October 2013: the activists gathered on the square in memory of transgender girl Dasha Shtern, who had committed suicide in Ekaterinburg."
on photo: Masha Bast near Kremlin, 19 Octoder 2013, Day of Remembrance: Dasha Shtern 
The organizers said, that originally the event was planned outside the building of the Plenipotentiary representative of the Sverdlovsk region in Moscow, but the character and scale of the tragedy led them to the walls of the Kremlin. The activists lit the candles and laid the  flowers to the portrait of Dasha Stern near Kremlin.

As top-lawyer and human rights defender Masha Bast said , Dasha Stern is the first victim of Vladimir Putin’s “Anti-gay Law”: as Dasha Shtern’s friends reported, she lost work as a municipal employee after signing of the law, she lost the opportunity to repay the hypothecation, the relatives abandoned her.

As Masha Bast stressed, Vladimir Putin had created the system where there is no place for transgender, there is no place for dissidents. Masha Bast considers, that Dasha Shtern is the victim of the indifference of the Russian society.
Remind, October 19 - International Day for TG depathologization, this day there are public events, calling exclude the category "gender dysphoria" and "gender identity disorder" of new versions of diagnostic and statistical manual of the American Psychiatric Association , the International Classification of Diseases, WHO, from national statistical classification and medical guidelines.
www.rusadvocat.com


SexMind's Mcalc Transgender Friendly Gender Neutral Menstruation Calculator


Sex Mind a group that describes itself as a interface between humanity and medical professionals is on Indigo seeking crowd funding for the development of a menstrual cycle app for mobile devices.

Why? With the advent of dads having children why shouldn't we have apps that treat us respectfully?

From the Indego site:

"There is a large amount of people in the world who do not identify with the traditional conception of gender, or who don´t express their gender in the same way as others. A gender neutral app like Mcalc is the perfect alternative for people who menstruate and have a hard time using overly feminized apps, or simply, for people who don´t want their tracking app to assume their gender and their sexual orientation. Aside from that, Mcalc helps to promote the inclusion of the LGBTQA community in the app market , joining plenty of other apps that have been supportive from the start."

Sex Mind has already released a beta version for Android. What bothered me was that I couldn't find a link to that app on their Tmblr or any other sites run by Sexmind. I found it by googling Sexmind  and down loaded the app to my Android.

The App worked the first I used it but then it quit accepting input. Even if it is in Beta thats not too impressive but then nether are the reviews.

Being a trans woman I have never had period but one of my partners did make timing hers my business. And I think its a great idea from my experiences presenting as male. I don't think there are too many manly trans men who would appreciate the flowery designs or being misgendered on the other apps I downloaded.

Its defiantly a idea who's time is due. (pun intended). Maybe the funding will help them have the resources to work the bugs out.


10/21/13

ACT drops Transgender and Intersex people from the marriage equality bill at last moment

The Australian Capital Territory or ACT dropped transgender and intersex people from the territories new same sex marriage law. According to Out in Perth the changes were made so the bill would have a better chance of standing up to the federal government’s promised High Court challenge.

ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell had told the ABC that the government is following the advice of constitutional law experts and provisions for transgender people will be added at a later date.

“We recognise that the views of a number of constitutional experts are that we should put that issue beyond doubt and the terminology that’s applied in our bill.”

“If our bill is upheld we will certainly move at a later date to expand its scope,” Mr Cordell said.

Australian trans and intersex people express their frustration at being excluded at the last moment. Trans Health Australia had this to say about it on facebook:

  • It is such a pity that "Gay Marriage Rights in Australia" also fails to change their name, and realise that "GAY MARRIAGE" or "SAME SEX MARRIAGE IS NOT MARRIAGE EQUALITY and now they wonder why the trans* and intersex communities have these types of problems? "

    WHERE TO FROM HERE?
    'Separate but equal' is not equal. It shouldn't matter where you live, who you love or what sex you are.

    After the bill passes in the ACT tomorrow, thousands of Australian couples will be able to marry their 'same-sex' partner for the first time in the ACT but there will still be couples who are excluded and there will still be couples forced to divorce because of their legal sex status or the sex of their partner. This is not the 'fair go' Australians pride themselves on. This is not 'marriage equality' for Australia. This is 'same-sex marriage' in the ACT. The only way we can achieve full and inclusive marriage equality is to change the Federal Marriage Act. It's important that as we celebrate tomorrow that we remember that and most importantly tell all our family and friends and our Federal politicians.

    We will not rest until ALL Australians in ALL states are treated fairly and have the right to marry the person they love and have their love recognised as equal. "No freedom till we're equal. Damn right I support it."

Listen to Professor George Williams, constitutional law expert at the University of New South Wales explain to ABC why he believes these changes challenge proof the law Click here (opens in a MP3 window).


Partying hard, Laid off, Depressed, Dating. Police still clueless about who murdered Texas Transgender woman Artegus Konyale Madden

The Dallas Morning News  used those adjectives to describe my sister Texan Artegus Konyale Madden last days. I will use those same words at great risk of being condemned for not personally knowing this woman.

I do know that I live only miles away and in the same country as she did.

If the Dallas News article acutely describes how she lived her last days what is the take away. We must hold ourselves in high esteem not allowing ourselves to become to dependent on how others view us. Be careful of how and where we date. And it is my conviction its our responsibility to others and ourselves to let a potential romantic interest know if we have had any anatomical alignment surgeries, or not.

They haven't even found the bullet which ended her life. The police even admitted there were a lot of  unanswered questions.

The sad truth is as time passes unless there is a break in the case most of our murdered become a static remembered on the TDOR then put into the back of our minds.

Her obituary in the Longview Journal made no mention of her trans status repeatably misgendered her in contrast to the woman in the obits picture.

If you have any information on the case, contact Denton County Sheriff’s Office investigator Donn Britt at 940-349-1667.

10/20/13

Pacific Justice Institute makes yet another blundering attack against Florence high school's transgender student

WMD interviewed Matthew McReynolds staff attorney at the right wing "Pacific Justice Institute" (PJI) which claims to represent students at Florence High School about alleged peer objections to a transgender student's access to public accommodations.

The interviewer was eager to nail down some specifics about what legal actions the PJI was taking against the trans girl. But all he was given was the same song and dance that we read in PJI's second backpedaling press release which was published immediately following TransAdvocate's Cristan Williams interview with the District School superintendent.

McReynolds stated  "if there wasn't something to this the school wouldn't be conducting a law enforcement investigation which is what their doing"' suggesting they were looking to prosecute the transgender student.

Superintendent Rhonda Vendetti made it clear in her interview with Cristan Williams the ones who would be made being legally accountable were those who were propagating these lies targeting their transgender student.

Who is this child?  Cristan Williams at the Transadvocate speaks with her mom and gives her the space to speak as well.



Please read Cristans incredible article on the Transadvocate.

McReynolds stated that Colorado law was vague on public accommodations and that there intent was to test it. The law in Colorado states very clearly  that Places of public accommodation may not deny any person participation, entry, or services based upon the person’s sexual orientation, including transgender status.

The PJI has no evidence, no clients and no case at this time, only objecting to what they consider behaviour that is 'inherently harassing' when a transgender student uses the restroom.

In other words they are fabricating untruths and creating a condition in which a transgender high school student faces increased prejudice, discrimination and the inherent accompanying violence.

McReynolds said that we transgender activists, 'talk out of both sides of our mouths' by insisting that we have protections under Title IV and  Title VII only because of the way we 'interpret it'.  In fact courts  have recently repeatedly upheld provisions protecting transgender and gender nonconforming people under both Title IV and Title VII



We've come a long ways baby.



Featuring two-time Olympian and Yale rower, Chris Ernst, who galvanized her rowing team to protest the substandard conditions facing female athletes in the 1970s. On a cold rainy day in 1976, Ernst led her teammates to the athletic director's office, where they stripped, baring bodies emblazoned with the phrase TITLE IX in blue marker. This event rocketed around the globe, leaving an indelible imprint on the nation in terms of what gender equity really meant. Directed by Mary Mazzio.

The Center for Transgender Equality Gender non conforming and transgender students Your Rights At School