11/15/13

Tux wearing Texas transgender Teen Jeydon Loredo told his yearbook photo violated "Community Standards"

"When I found out about this I almost didn't want to take it" Jeydon told Action 4 news meaning the picture but his sentiment could mean, and has meant so much more to other trans youth facing discrimination from schools.
The Burnt Orange Reports that the Southern Law Center (SPLC) will take legal action by November 21'st if Jeydons picture is not in the yearbook.

Being a transgender Texan only a few miles away I find this sort of discrimination appalling. Texans are better than that and we know it.

Both HRC and the Southern Law Center have become involved asking the school board to respect Jeydon but in the correspondence form the Board the continued to misgender Jeydon and use his birth name.

The SPLC's demand letter describes how refusing to include the photograph violates the student’s freedom of expression, which is protected by the First Amendment. It also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which protects the student from discrimination, as well as Title IX, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex by any education program receiving federal money. Refusing to publish the photograph would even violate the school district’s own anti-discrimination policies.




Call it out: Yearbooks are for memories not discrimination!

The theme for La Feria High School's yearbook shouldn’t be discrimination.
But officials at the Texas school want to stop Jeydon Loredo, a male student, from being featured in the yearbook wearing his tuxedo like every other boy, simply because he’s transgender.
This kind of discrimination isn't just wrong - it's in direct violation of federal law and the school's very own policies.
The issue has been appealed to the school board with the help of our partners in this effort, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Jeydon’s family has asked equality supporters like you to help ensure that Jeydon can appear in the school’s yearbook wearing his tuxedo.
Tell the La Feria School Board to take decisive and clear action: Let Jeydon’s tuxedo photo appear in the yearbook alongside his friends and classmates. Discrimination against transgender students is a violation of school values.

Click here to send your message to the La Feria school board.



Body found in a Detroit alley trashcan is transgender say community members


Detroit police discovered a body inside an alley trash can Friday night off Woodward Avenue. Members of Detroit's transgender community say the victim was one of their own.
FOX NEWS EDITOR'S NOTE: Detroit police have confirmed this.

There is nothing more about this person on the Internet presently. There must be more.

Ruth Ellis center.org/

Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5
Click here to watch opens in another window

11/14/13

Caught on Cell Video Transgender girl attacked by mob at Hercules High School

Law enforcement and school officials are investigating a fight the occurred Wednesday at the school as a possible hate crime. According to faculty a group of cisgender students have been harassing the trans girl for some time and had received a warning to stop just days before the attack.

ABC 7 reports "School officials say the transgender student initiated the physical contact, but only after she was verbally assaulted."

"After being under stressful situations day after day of being teased and talked about, obviously at some point you're going to explode," said Charles Ramsey with the West Contra Costa School Board.

"The transgender student complained to school administrators about being bullied just two days ago and a warning was given to the other students involved."

"They were told knock it off and then something transpired yesterday afternoon," Adam Taylor with the West Contra Costa School District told ABC 7 news.




11/13/13

Watch Melissa Harris-Perry video tribute to the NCTE

Source NCTE "On November 12, 2013, the National Center for Transgender Equality honored Melissa Harris-Perry with the Media Momentum Award in recognition of her show's groundbreaking work covering transgender issues and including transgender voices. Though she could not be there to accept the award in person, she shared this video with NCTE to express her gratitude. Watch what she has to say about getting our stories right."

Call me Stephen! Meet the high school coach who just came out as transgender

Stephen Alexander is amazing. Born into the wrong body Stephen grew up in a small Conservative Rhode Island town denying his true gender. It wasn't just scary he told Out Sports the prospect of telling his family terrified him.

So he moved to New York city and spent some time learning about himself without constraints and came home one day and declared he wanted his family to call him Stephen. A truly wonderful story of fulfillment and acceptance.

Watch Denver Wrangler protesters explain their grievances. So why is gay media still silent?

A very diverse group of LGBT people and allies met Sunday afternoon in front of a bear gay bar called "The Denver Wrangler" to bring attention to their denying entrance to Vito John Marzano, a regular patron who happened to be in drag that day after performing at a nearby fundraiser.

The bar contends they denied him entrance because his ID did not match him visually while simultaneously telling him he wasn't transgender de facto acknowledging that his ID matched.

The law ( para 47-912) requires places that offer alcoholic beverages to insure patrons are of legal age which was accomplished when the staff recognized Vito after he took off his wig. Vito's video of the encounter shows that the management denied him access to public accommodations because of his gender expression in violation of Colorado civil rights law.

Update: Gay media responds in force. List of article published by gay bloggers since this was posted at the bottom of the page.

I asked feminist Yvonne Wright why she was protesting she told me  "What disturbs me the most about this is the opposition from people within our community. If we don't stand together as a community - GLBT - we will never get anywhere. To hear gay men say things like "let them go to their own bars," is reminiscent of the times whites said let black go to their own bars. It is one thing to cater to a specific clientele. It is another to deny entrance or service because you are not a member of that clientele. When you are a public establishment, in Colorado you are required by law to treat everyone the same regardless of race, religion, sex, gender identification or sexual orientation."

More about the sign that shouts transmisogyny over gay media's silence, after the video.


Denver Wrangler and Gender Discrimination - Protesters Explain Their Grievances from Daniel Gonzales on Vimeo.
Video by Daniel S Gonzales
exgaysurvivordan@gmail.com

Video was filmed entirely on a public sidewalk using a large cumbersome camera in plain view of all present, ergo no subjective nor reasonable expectation of privacy existed. Daniel S Gonzales holds the exclusive copyright to all video footage taken at the protest used in this film.

For more information on the boycott Denver-wrangler.com

Now about the gay supremacist trans-eraser sign....

Ms. Wright posted this on facebook:

I just e-mailed this to "Out Front."

"One of your regular columnists, Brent Heinze, is outside The Denver Wrangler during tonight's protest with a sign that says "support gay marriage, not drag queens at beer busts." I am just curious if you are covering this event and, if so, if you have seen this. I cannot understand why Denver's leading publication for GLBT issues would allow such a man to be a contributing columnist. It is also my sincere hope, as a legitimate journalist myself, that you are covering this protest. I am an Emmy award winning journalist who has covered stories through-out the world, has worked as both a reporter and an editor, and can say with confidence that this is a significant news event in our community. It has become loud and divisive. The whole issue of gender identity when being used to ID someone at a bar and excluding them and/or women from beer busts is one worth examining (especially since it is illegal and violates the very anti-discrimination codes intended to protect us - an oppressed minority). I realize a lot of people support The Denver Wrangler. I realize the bar contributes to a lot of events in our community. But, I hope you ARE a legitimate source of news and information for our community and, therefore, willing to cover sensitive issues that effect us all. Even more, I hope that you do not allow this man who is publicly spewing hate and discrimination to continue to be a part of your publication." 
Thank you, Yvonne Wright


Brent Heinze posted this "apology" on a facebook group called "Exile Fetish Balls"

"I want to express my sincere apology to those who I hurt through my statement during the Wrangler protest on Sunday. By no means was my sign that read, “fight for gay marriage not drag queens at beer bust,” meant to show aggression, intolerance, or non-acceptance to anyone that expresses themselves how they want. It was intended to express my perspective about the fact that some in our community focus on being extremely negative and their energies could also be put towards larger inequities locally. Again, it was not meant to be construed to be hateful towards people expressing individualized gender expression or that they deserve to be discriminated against. I apologize for this having those undercurrents.

I’m trying to work with a few people to see what can be done in the future to have more conversations and see where it goes. I appreciate those who have taken the time to talk and email me about their concerns and frustrations instead of just throwing me under the bus or writing me off. I’m hopeful that through this combative situation some good can come out of this. I’m looking optimistically towards the future."

Hieinze's sign was not a fux pa as he would like to pass it off as.

It clearly frames the issue as nothing else could have. As the video shows, people who were protesting were thoughtful, positive and sensitive. People who belong to the boycott page who were at the protest said were very encouraged by the reactions of Wranglers patrons with whom they interacted with.

The Protest page is and open group so anyone can post. One gay man in a thread since removed by the page admin called us "Twats" and told us to STFU. That sort of behaviour was seen time and again on other threads removed by the group admin.




Objecting to discrimination isn't "slanderous". The Wrangler is touting this letter by local group after members said they went "incognito' to the beer bust and found no discrimination.

Pink Panther LGBT summarily bans Wrangler dissension on Facebook. Will they ban you too?

In fact the only ones being intolerant is the Denver Wrangler staff. They have tried there best to silence the transgender media with intimidation and even threatened Vito with a lawsuit.

Another fact.  The Denver Wrangler has been very intent on cleansing the Internet of evidence, first getting favebook to censor articles about the incident, getting you tube to violate the video and by pressuring myself and the TransAdvocate to take our posts down.

I wanted a cisgender feminist perspective about the Brent Heinze appology so I asked Ms. Wright to comment on it:
His apology was not an apology. Instead of saying "I'm sorry for what I did," he said "I'm sorry if I hurt anyone because of what I did." This is what Heinze said in his apology about the sign, "It was intended to express my perspective about the fact that some in our community focus on being extremely negative and their energies could also be put towards larger inequities locally." This basically reiterated what he said the night before. So what if there are "bigger issues" in his mind. Who decides what is big and what is small? If you're gay and you want to marry, Equal Marriage is a big issue. If you're trans and you are turned down entrance to a bar and embarrassed in front of your friends, that's a big issue. One case doesn't detract from the other. We can all work on many issues simultaneously. Even the U.S. Congress is able to do so by considering both equal marriage and equal treatment in the workplace. One issue doesn't negate or over-ride another. Furthermore, for Heinze to call the protesters "negative" is a slap in the face to GLBT people who fight against injustice everywhere. If he expects me to sit back and not be "negative" when members of my community are being discriminated, he's terribly, terribly mistaken.

"Trans-erasure" "Gay Supremacist" Gay misogyny? Am I being melodramatic? Well lets go to gay blogs that have picked up this story who have published a empathetic view....

Silence.

That's not for a lack of trying. I tried to get gay blogs to speak about this when it the story first broke.



 And more recently so has Dan Gonzales:





Silence.

And once again...











If we are to win this battle for equality we must be willing to conduct painful introspection and open, civil dialogue. Without it we stop recovering from the Barney Frank era and splinter once again. There is no LGB without the T.

The following bloggers and sites have since joined the conversation.

Towleroad "DENVER WRANGLER GAY BAR HIT WITH PROTEST FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST TRANS PEOPLE, DRAG QUEENS: VIDEO"

The Advocate "WATCH: Queer Protesters Allege Discrimination at Denver Bear Bar"

Soadahead

carriefairfield.com

Thank you  for retweeting and asking, why?


Thank you OUT Front Co!




Thank you Advocate Mag!


Thank you Andy!!! love ya