SF Gay Pride(?) 2010: Is YouTube Transphobic Wittmann51, DLC's Marshal Wittmann?

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Or, I just got them confused?

Probably not judging by the overwhelmingly militaristic tendencies in his YouTube Channel's Videos, but since I do not know for sure, let's say I got them confused.

I'm more than a bit ticked-off by what transpired on the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade 2010.

This is how it started to raise our hopes that... Finally!!! Transgender Folk's Role in the struggle for equality, was to be recognized, at least in San Francisco where we had the first recorded act of Defiance, IN OUR HISTORY, against the abuse:

Trans People are LEADING the San Francisco Pride Parade
June 14, 2010, For Immediate Release

The Center of Excellence for Transgender Health is proud to announce that trans people will be the Lead Contingent for the 2010 San Francisco Pride Parade on Sunday, June 27th! The lead contingent directly follows the Dykes on Bikes and the official SF Pride float. This historic first is a wonderful opportunity to show that trans people are proud, united, and fierce!

"From the Compton's Cafeteria riot and the Stonewall rebellion through today, transgender people have always been at the forefront of the LGBT movement," said Amy Andre, the Executive Director of San Francisco Pride. In recognizing the many significant contributions of trans community members to the larger LGBT movement, San Francisco Pride honors our trans communities with the invitation to participate as the Lead Contingent for the Parade.

At El / La Para Translatinas, where we are always in action [MAYDAY 2010 (Our 4th year)], [Vagina Monologues in Spanish (San Jose, 2nd time & first in SF 2009] the excitement was so great! I, being the oldest of it's members, was very doubtful that it would really happen, how would be otherwise? With a large segment of the Gay community and parts of the Lesbian Community still exhibiting their historical active and latent Transphobia, why should this time be any different?

I told my younger and beautiful sisters, good luck! As for me, I will not march again in this Gay Parade until the LGBT community is fully inclusive - I was asked: Again? What do you mean? Well, I said, as a matter of fact, this will be the 11th year of my personal boycott of the Gay Pride Parade, which should be renamed, Gay Shame, the last time I was in it, was 1999.

Back to SF Gay Pride Parade 2010.

Albeit I didn't even go to watch it, I was curious if it had really happened and how did it look, I searched for videos and found the ones (3) posted by wittmann51, I viewed the first, which at it's end had the 'River City Gems' Contingent (Sacramento), I thought this was weird, because they were behind the Transgender Contingent, which was not leading the Parade, in fron of them was Cheer Started by a Gay Man and who do great work but, as far as I know, were not scheduled to lead the parade, but they were ahead of the Transgender People.

I don't know and maybe it really doesn't matter if they (Cheer) were thought more important or the Cheer group just cut in front, I'm inclined to think the latter is what happened, why not cut in front? After all, they are just Transgender Folk who will take it from us, least they be labeled 'divisive' or, maybe selfish or, discontent.

So, I started watching wittman51's video one, this is what I saw:

Dykes on Bikes
Mikes on Bikes
Cupcake Cars
SF Official Gay Pride Float was around here, I think.
Cheer San Francisco
Cheer LA
Cheer Sacramento
The Transgender Contingent, which included the River City Gems, marched in this slot, but it was cut out of the video, except for the Gems, which were shown.

See for yourself



This is the part that was cut out or, left out or, not included, whatever! (Aprox. 1:24 min.)

San Francisco Pride Parade 2010 Trans Contingent



I'm trying to figure out why, what was the objection? The many, many ENDA signs carried by my community?
I also ask: Is wittmann51 a Transphobic Gay? I saw the other 2 videos and there appears to be a lot of attention on his part for young, good looking gays.
Or, is he just another Transphobic Hetero Male?

Is he the same Marshall Wittmann of the DLC?

DLC Mooseshit: A Letter to Marshall Wittman - The BEAST: Buffalo's ...
DLC Moose Shit. Matt Taibbi ...Marshall Wittmann, the former legislative director for the Christian Coalition and also a veteran talking head of such

The reason I ask is that if you look at the videos in his YouTube Channel, would fit this guy's militaristic tendencies in them, I have not checked out all of his videos, but at a glance, it is about war plane, tanks, et al.

Whatever the case may be, he cut out the Transgender Contingent in SF Gay Pride(?) 2010 Parade.

As you may know, many of us in the Transgender Community have huge issues at how we are thrown overboard, under a bus or just left behind, the latest and most notorious is passage of an ENDA which also protects Transgender Folk.

Still remains to be seen if HRC and assorted Gays and Lesbians will leave us behind again, or if, for a change, this time they will not accept anything that it is not fully inclusive -- my money is on that is that if a bill which covers sex orientation but not transgender folk is offered and has a chance of passing, it will be another instance of 'we will come back for you transgender sisters and brothers' - don't worry, we will help you.
I hope I'm wrong in spite of decades of exclussion and discrimination Hate 101: Gay and Lesbian Transphobia - Historical, and also looking at the "Traditional Support" by the HRC Why The Transgender Community Hates HRC .

Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive, but since Sunday, I've cooking in my own juices and, by now, I need to get it out.

I also feel that the ENDA Bill will be again stripped of the protection clause/s for Transgender People.

Will the TG Community be thrown under de bus again?

Transgender or Transgendered?

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Posted at the Huffington Post

Joanne Herman

Transgender advocate and author of Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not

Posted: March 11, 2010 12:57 PM

I've increasingly been seeing and hearing the word "transgendered," and I have cringed every time. What's wrong with the seemingly subtle difference between saying "transgendered" and "transgender?" Actually, a lot.

Readers of my age and older will remember a sad time when this country labeled African-Americans as "colored people." One problem with this label was that it implied something happened to make the person "of color," which denied the person's dignity of being born that way. Today, we are somewhat more enlightened and say "people of color" instead.

Most transgender people I know have felt a gender incongruity for as long as they remember, and evolving science says we were probably born feeling like this. The only thing that changed along the way has been our awareness that there are others like us. We didn't "decide" to be transgender.

If hearing "transgendered people" is a problem for me, you can imagine how I felt when two different non-transgender friends recently told me independently that they knew a "person who had transgendered." These friends were assuming that all transgender people transition from living in one gender to living in another, just as I did. In reality, only part of the transgender population does this.

Other transgender people feel that their gender is part male and part female, or perhaps they feel gender-less. For them, a transition from one gender to another would be pointless.

I have found that whenever "transgendered" is being used, it is usually by a person who is not transgender, or by an organization wanting to be inclusive of transgender people, but not yet having a transgender person involved. I'm guessing one or both were true in the case of the Des Moines Register article that I cited in my prior post "Can One be Transgender and Catholic"?

Note to journalists: In the Associated Press Stylebook, transgender is listed but "transgendered" is not.

I find that the Media Reference Guide of GLAAD, the nonprofit organization that watches over how lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people (LGBT) are portrayed in the media, says it best.

"The word transgender never needs the extraneous "ed" at the end of the word. In fact, such a construction is grammatically incorrect. Only verbs can be transformed into participles by adding "-ed" to the end of the word, and transgender is an adjective, not a verb."

Another problematic extension of the word occurs when people refer to transgender individuals as "transgenders." Here the Media Guide advises:

"Transgender should be used as an adjective, not as a noun. Do not say, 'Tony is a transgender,' or 'The parade included many transgenders.' Instead say, 'Tony is a transgender person,' or 'The parade included many transgender people.'"

Of course, terminology does evolve in everyday usage, in spite of what any media guide, dictionary, or blogger says. Perhaps "transgendered" and "transgenders" will become accepted usage one day. I hope not.

That said, I wrote this post out of a strongly held belief that people should be able to call themselves whatever they want. So while I think the Media Guide's position reflects the desire of most in the transgender population, if a particular transgender person chooses to refer to themselves as "transgendered," I have to accept that.

Yet if that person is using "transgendered" because of a reluctant belief that they must accept whatever box society wants to put them in, feeling fortunate to have any recognition at all, I have to object. We are humans; we can and should be able to speak for ourselves.

Books & More From Joanne Herman

Suspect in trans murder found guilty in separate case

FROM:

by Seth Hemmelgarn

s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

The man suspected of murdering a transgender woman in San Francisco more than two years ago has been found guilty of several charges related to the rape of another transgender woman.

The March 2007 murder of Ruby Ordenana is still under investigation, but Donzell Francis, 41, could face 15 years in prison for charges related to the rape of another transgender woman in 2007.

Michael Swart, the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Francis in the recent trial, said the district attorney's office is presently reviewing the Ordenana case. Sergeant Wilfred Williams, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, said the case is still under investigation.

"Now that the jury has convicted the defendant of committing his atrocities against the victim" whose case was the subject of the recent trial, "the DA's office is looking forward to charging the defendant with the serial rapes of several other transgender women in San Francisco, including the rape/murder of one such victim," Brian Buckelew, director of legal affairs and public information for the district attorney's office, wrote in an e-mail to the Bay Area Reporter .

On Wednesday, December 23, a jury found Francis guilty of one count of forcible oral copulation, robbery, assault causing great bodily injury, and false imprisonment.

The jury acquitted Francis of sodomy, two counts of forcible oral copulation, and one count of kidnapping.

The charges against Francis included sodomy by use of force, using a dangerous weapon (a knife), and tying/binding the victim.

DNA that had been recovered in the Ordenana case hadn't been processed until nearly two years later. The evidence was matched with Francis, whom law enforcement officials suspect went on to assault three transgender women after killing Ordenana. Her legal first name was Rudy.

Lena H., the victim whose case was at the heart of last month's jury trial, was one of those women. She survived the attack. Her name is not being released.

Erwin Fredrich, who represented Francis in the trial, did not return a call for comment on the trial.

Aside from the Ordenana murder, the DA's office is also reviewing two other uncharged cases in which Francis is a suspect: the rape of a non-transgender woman in December 2007, and the rape of a transgender woman known as Vanessa V. in February 2008.

Vanessa V. testified in the Lena H. trial, where evidence from her case was also used to show Francis's propensity to commit sexual assaults.

In addition, he was suspected of raping another transgender woman in September 2007. That case had to be dismissed after the alleged victim returned to her home country.

Francis was charged with the 1997 rape of a lesbian. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of abduction/procurement by fraudulent inducement for prostitution and received three years probation in 1997, according to the district attorney's office.

DNA evidence has linked Francis to all five of the women, not including the 1997 rape case, according to the DA's office.

Records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation show Francis has previously served time in prison.

In 2002, he began a five-year sentence for a domestic-violence related offense. He was paroled in July 2006, then returned to prison again in June 2008, records indicate. He was paroled again in April 2009.

He is currently being held in San Francisco county jail. His bail has been revoked.

Francis is expected to be sentenced in the Lena H. case January 25 in San Francisco Superior Court.

Buenas noticias transexuales Cuba, Ministerio Salud autoriza cirugías CRS, anuncia Mariela

SUSCRIBIRME A NOTICIAS DIARIO DIGITAL

(Diario Digital Transexual; en La Red desde el año 2.000)

Hombres y mujeres que no estén conformes con su cuerpo ya pueden realizarse operaciones de reasignacion de sexo en Cuba, gracias a una resolución del Ministerio de Salud Pública que las autoriza.

BBC-. Así lo confirmó este martes la directora del Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual (CENESEX), Mariela Castro, a través de la televisión cubana.

"Hemos sido autorizados a aplicar el tratamiento completo", dijo quien es también hija del presidente Raúl Castro y agregó que eso incluye "la cirugía feminizante y masculinizante" , algo que estuvo prohibido por dos décadas, hasta el año 2008.

En 1988 se realizó la primera de estas operaciones, apoyada por Vilma Espín, la presidenta de la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas y madre de Mariela Castro. Sin embargo, sin que mediase explicación alguna, se prohibieron nuevas intervenciones quirúrgicas.

Desde que en 2008 se anunció que se reiniciaban las operaciones de cambio de sexo, empezaron a producirse reacciones dispares en la sociedad, desde el silencio incómodo de líderes políticos hasta la total oposición de la Iglesia Católica.

Primera y única

En 1988 se realizó la primera cirugía feminizante, que fue todo un éxito. En los años 90 BBC Mundo conversó con la persona operada, pero la entrevista no fue publicada entonces porque nos pidió que no reveláramos su nombre ni su dirección ni su centro de trabajo.

Los psicólogos le aconsejaron que se cambiara de barrio para iniciar su nueva vida y se le entregó un apartamento en la otra punta de la ciudad. Sin embargo, pocos meses después la nueva fémina regresaba a su antiguo lugar de residencia.

Cuando conversó con BBC Mundo estaba casada, pero afrontaba algunos problemas psicológicos por el acoso de los hombres que conocían su condición y por la frustración de no poder tener hijos a pesar de ser, aparentemente, una mujer normal.

El primer y único transexual cubano operado recordó, en nuestra conversación, que lo primero que recibió fue un ramo de flores y el carnet de la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas con su nuevo nombre y firmado por Vilma Espín, la esposa de Raúl Castro.

La larga espera

En este momento hay una treintena de transexuales esperando para hacerse una cirugía de cambio de sexo. Si bien es gratuita, lleva años de estudios y tratamiento previo del paciente, tanto en el aspecto físico como en el psicológico.

Llevan décadas esperando que la sociedad los reconozca como transexuales. El avance ha sido lento: aún hoy afrontan problemas para el cambio de nombre y para vestirse de mujer, aunque el "paraguas" de CENESEX les sirve de gran protección.

Recientemente realizaron la primera marcha por las calles de La Habana, celebrando el día contra la homofobia. Todos los entrevistados reconocieron que se ha avanzado pero recalcaron que a veces de forma muy lenta y algunos se cansan de la espera.

"Para mí no hay nada más importante en mi vida", nos había confesado Daniela, una transexual del CENESEX que se quedó en Canadá hace 3 años. "Lo siento, pero no puedo seguir esperando a ver si algún día autorizan las operaciones" , le dijo en ese entonces a BBC Mundo.

Contradicciones

Las reacciones en la sociedad con el tema de la homosexualidad son complejas y contradictorias. Dentro del gobierno existen grandes diferencias, la Iglesia Católica condena las propuestas del CENESEX y la población también está dividida.

Cuando se anunció el pasado año la propuesta de ley que reconoce las uniones de los gay, el presidente del Parlamento, Ricardo Alarcón, se mostró bastante reacio, mientras que el ministro de Cultura, Abel Prieto, expresó su total apoyo.

La Iglesia Católica lanzó durísimas críticas; el propio cardenal Jaime Ortega afirmó que los fieles se sienten "sorprendidos y disgustados" por estas medidas que califica de "ideología liberal del vale todo" que, según él, promueve la homosexualidad.

En la calle hay de todo, pero la sociedad parece cada vez más comprensiva con el tema, las actividades educativas del CENESEX y del Centro de Información del SIDA han sido claves en la aceptación de esta minoría marginada durante años.

Hate crimes bill introduced in Georgia House

SOURCE:



Includes protections for sexual orientation and gender identity

By MATT SCHAFER
FEB. 6, 2009

State Rep. Pedro ‘Pete’ Marin (D-Duluth) recently introduced a hate crimes bill in the Georgia House that includes protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. (Photo by Matt Schafer)

A gay and transgender inclusive hate crime bill has begun to move forward in the Georgia House while a bill requiring HIV testing of prisoners was introduced in the Senate. Rep. Pedro “Pete” Marin (D-Duluth) introduced the hate crimes measure, H.B. 111, which would offer sentence enhancement for hate crimes motivated by the victim’s “race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin.”

“I’ve seen the bill in the Senate dropped a couple of times,” Marin said. “My goal is to make it formal legislation, but a lot of things that we do is to send a message. I think with hate crimes we have to make sure when we punish someone that they are not doing a crime pertaining to someone’s race, gender and so on.”

Although the bill has not received its first committee hearing, Marin said he is working with Georgia Equality to broaden the legislation, including adding disability as a protected status.

“I have a good slate of co-sponsors and I’m working right now with new language because we want to make sure that we have interest groups joining and forming our group,” he said. “I already have talked with folks from Georgia Equality and they’re going to be in touch with Log Cabin Republicans, but then I also have support from the Latino community, the Asian community, the African-American community, and now with the disabilities [protection] we’re bringing another component to it.”

Georgia has never had effective hate crimes legislation. Marin’s legislation would officially amend Georgia's previous hate crimes law, which was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2004 on the grounds that its definition of hate crimes as those motivated by "bias or prejudice" was unconstitutionally vague. Lawmakers had enacted the bill without naming specific categories out of concern that it would not pass if "sexual orientation" was included.

Under Marin's proposal, if a person is convicted of crime motivated by hate toward a protected category, the sentence can be enhanced up to 50 percent for a misdemeanor or five years for a felony, but no more than the maximum penalty for the underlying crime. State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) introduced Georgia’s first hate crimes law, and has continued to introduce hate crimes legislation since it was struck down.

He said he plans to do so again this year.

“This is the bill that has passed out of the Senate at one time or the other, so I'm always hopeful, so I think we'll see how it goes,” Fort said.

The Anti-Defamation League, with Fort’s support, led an unsuccessful charge to pass a similar bill in the Senate last year.

“I am an eternal optimist, I believe in the good will of everyone under the Gold Dome,” said Bill Nigut, ADL southeast regional director.

“That said, it will be very difficult to move the bill forward.We have a lot of education to do, but that doesn’t mean we should give up.” Marin, too, acknowledges the difficulty in moving the bill forward.

“It’s sad to say but sometimes we wish we have that kind of legislation in place, but mainly what we’re doing is trying to send a message,” Marin said. “I don’t know if this year it will pass. I don’t know if next year it will pass, but we are seeing a lot of crimes being committed across the country.”

Defense in Oxnard school shooting case seeks refiling in juvenile court

Lawyers for 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, accused of killing gay classmate Lawrence King, says the district attorney's process for charging youths as adults is flawed.

SOURCE:

By Catherine Saillant
January 16, 2009

Lawyers for a 14-year-old Oxnard boy accused of gunning down gay classmate Lawrence King are mounting a novel defense, saying the district attorney's process for charging youths as adults is so flawed that the case should be dismissed and refiled in juvenile court.

Ventura County prosecutors last year charged eighth-grader Brandon McInerney as an adult, two days after he allegedly walked into English class, took his seat and shot classmate Lawrence King, 15, twice in the back of the head.

Prosecutors called the Feb. 12 slaying a hate crime amid reports that the two boys had sparred over Lawrence's romantic attraction to McInerney. The charges brought against McInerney could put him in prison for at least 51 years.

Scott Wippert, one of McInerney's attorneys, said the Ventura County district attorney's office abused its power by failing to consider such circumstances as McInerney's youth, his hard family life and the failure of school officials to deal with rising tensions between the two boys.

Wippert requested documents outlining prosecutors' reasoning for bringing adult charges, but the district attorney refused to provide them.

"Someone like Brandon, who was barely 14 and had no juvenile record, should have gone before a juvenile judge, who would look at certain factors to determine whether he is suitable for rehabilitation," Wippert said. "But the DA is saying, 'I don't have to explain myself to anyone.' That's too much power. We as a community should be able to make sure what they are doing is right."

A Ventura County Superior Court judge this month rejected Wippert's argument. But Wippert said he will appeal Judge Rebecca Riley's decision.

His argument challenges Proposition 21, overwhelmingly passed in 2000 by California's voters. The Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act lowered the age at which adult charges can be filed from 18 to 14, and gave prosecutors authority to decide which cases should be filed in adult court.

Filing decisions on serious youth crimes previously had been left to judges sitting on the juvenile court bench. Under the old charging system, if a judge found that a youth could be rehabilitated, even murder cases remained in juvenile court. But a judge could also recommend that a youth be charged as an adult.

Maeve Fox, the prosecutor on the case, dismissed Wippert's defense as a last-ditch attempt to derail the murder case. A pre-trial hearing to determine whether the case should move forward is set for Jan. 26.

"We make charging decisions on a case-by-case basis," Fox said. "And probably the most important criterion in every instance are the facts of the case."

Ventura attorney Michael Mehas, a juvenile justice advocate, said he welcomes the challenge to Proposition 21. He said the law is flawed because it provides no check and balance on a district attorney's filing decisions.

"This isn't a hate crime," he said. "This is about a kid who was being humiliated in front of his peers and who didn't have the maturity to respond in a proper manner."

Witnessed by a classroom of students and a teacher, the events of Feb. 12 are in little dispute. McInerney arrived for school that morning and sat behind Lawrence as their English class got started, witnesses have said.

McInerney withdrew a hidden handgun, pointed it at Lawrence's head and fired twice, witnesses and police said. He then fled the school, dropping the weapon as he left. Police apprehended the youth a few blocks from the school.

Mehas said prosecutors should have taken into account reports of conflict between McInerney and Lawrence. Lawrence, who had declared himself gay and sometimes wore makeup and girls' accessories to school, was reportedly brazen in his efforts to gain McInerney's romantic interest.

School officials were aware of trouble between the boys but allegedly did little to quell the problem, according to student witnesses and media reports. McInerney's parents were divorced and he frequently shuttled between their homes.

McInerney's father had previously faced charges of domestic abuse and his mother had struggled with drug addiction, court records show. Despite that, McInerney made good grades in school and had no trouble with the law until he walked into E.O. Green Junior High that morning, his lawyer said.

While incarcerated at Juvenile Hall awaiting trial, he has been a "model kid," Wippert said.

"The staff loves him," he said. "He's not a monster like the DA is portraying him."

Fox, the prosecutor, said many other youths with troubled upbringings have managed to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. The severity of McInerney's crime calls for punishment, not rehabilitation, Fox said.

"Shooting someone in the back of the head to me is an execution-style murder," she said. "He thought about it. He planned it. And then he did it."

catherine.saillant@latimes.com

Another unholy mess created by a message from the Pope

SOURCE:

FT.COM
December 27, 2008

The Pope ruined my Christmas.

By: Willem Buiter

What is it about the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religious tradition that leads so many of its most prominent spokespersons to make hateful, bigoted, life-diminishing and personal security-endangering statements when it comes to human sexuality? Perhaps there was something inherent in the environment and culture of the Fertile Crescent, and of the Middle East in general, that predisposed the religions it brought forth to declare anathema anything other than abstinence and heterosexual behaviour (the latter only in a setting of monogamy or polygyny, not polyandry, of course). Even so, one would have hoped that the civilising influence of Greek and Hellenistic culture would have filtered most of the sexual bigotry out of the European religious mainstream, and out of its offshoots in the former European colonies.

Apparently not. The current Pope, Benedict XVI is right at home in the abhorrent main-stream Christian tradition of sexual intolerance. In his address ‘Christmas greetings to the members of the Roman Curia and Prelature (December 22, 2008)’ (available thus far only in German and Italian from the Vatican website), the Pope makes a number of extremist, bigoted and intolerant statements about homosexuality and transsexuality.

People are responsible for those results of their words and actions that can reasonably be foreseen. Those uttering the statements or carrying out these acts may not have intended these consequences. They may even deplore them. If, however, these consequences could be foreseen even by a bear of very little brain, let alone by a pontiff with, by all accounts, a mass of grey matter between the ears, then the person using these words or engaging in these actions is responsible even for these unintended consequences. This statement by the Pope will lead to more harassment of homosexuals and transgendered persons and to more discrimination against them in a range of activities, including participation in religious worship. It will probably lead to more acts of violence against homosexuals and transsexuals.

In his address, Pope Benedict argues that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is as important as saving the rain forest from destruction. He also urged humanity to listen to the “language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman. Finally, he argued that behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations between a man and woman (married - preferably to each other) was a “destruction of God’s work”.

How a man reputed to be as educated and intelligent as Benedict XVI can confuse the accumulated prejudice of centuries of dysfunctional organised religion with the message of the founder of Christianity is a mystery to me. Christ, as far as we know from the gospels, never said a word about homosexuality - let along about transgender sexuality. We don’t know whether He was single, married or divorced, monogamous or polygamous, straight, gay, or interested in transgender sexuality. We know nothing of Him between His early teens and His early thirties. When He starts His ministry He travels around with 12 male disciples and associates with a number of female camp followers. We know He liked wine - His first miracle was to change water into wine - but know nothing of His other interest, hobbies and vices.

Christ taught us to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself - the two Great Commandments from both the Old and the New Testaments. If my neighbour is gay, lesbian, transgendered or transsexual, God’s glory is revealed in his or her sexuality as much as it is in the sexuality of my heterosexual neighbour or in the voluntary abstinence of the Pope. If my neighbour is an adult and wishes to express his sexuality with another consenting adult, that sexual sharing is blessed by God regardless of whether is it homosexual, transgender or heterosexual, whenever it enhances the humanity of the other. Did God make a mistake when She allowed homosexuality to evolve in the human species, as it has in countless other animals? Or was She only joking?

Surely, whether something qualifies as right or wrong, moral or immoral, righteous or sinful depends on whether the act, the deed or the behaviour is both motivated by and expresses respect and love for all others affected by it? Homosexuality and homosexual behaviour, transgender sexualty and sexual behaviour and any form of sexuality and sexuality that does not hurt or diminish others but confirms and affirms them, cannot possibly contradict the teachings of Christ. His church, unfortunately, is another matter. When the teachings of an institutional expression of Christianity like the Roman Catholic Church are so radically at variance with the fundamental teachings of the founder of the religion, voluntary receivership and liquidation, with the proceeds distributed amongst the wretched of the earth, may be the best solution.

I consider the Pope’s views on sexuality, as expressed in his 22 December statement, to be a violation of everything Christ taught us and stood for. It is deeply un-Christian and must be rejected and fought wherever similar hateful prejudice and bigotry rear their ugly heads.

About Willem Buiter

Professor of European Political Economy, London School of Economics and Political Science; former chief economist of the EBRD, former external member of the MPC; adviser to international organisations, governments, central banks and private financial institutions.

Oregon Tribe says yes to same sex marriage

Source:



Wednesday 12/24/08

Many Native American tribes historically accepted same-sex relationships. Homosexual and transgender individuals were considered routine and expected.

Many Native American tribes formally recognize these homosexual and trans gendered individuals in the role of the "two-spirit" and these two-spirits were historically recognized in more than 150 different tribes.


In these tribes, the two-spirit was a man or woman who mixed gender roles by wearing clothes of the opposite or both sexes, doing both male and female work, and often engaging in same-sex relations with other members of the tribe. Two-spirit people often were shamans, performing religious and mediating functions for other members of the tribe, because their special status was thought to invest them with exceptional spiritual power, as a result of which they are both feared and respected.

But after a lesbian couple married under a vague Cherokee law that allowed such unions in Oklahoma three years ago, that tribe's council adopted a law banning same-sex marriage. Other tribes across the nation, including the Navajos, the nation's largest tribe soon followed.

Nonetheless, OregonLive.com is reporting that not all tribes have followed this example and last week the Coquilles of Coastal Oregon, after reviewing their tribal history, concluded "same-sex domestic relations were accepted with no exclusions from tribal citizenship, the community, auspices or spiritual activities," and they have probably become the first tribe in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

However because the Coquilles have federal status, a marriage within the tribe would be federally recognized and that could violate the Defense of Marriage Act that says the federal government "may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose."

Some Coquilles elders are calling the new law “a test of tribal sovereignty” and a matter of traditional tribal religious beliefs.

Of particular issue will be the tribes recognizing the marriage of one of it members, Kitzen Branting, 25, to her lesbian partner, Jeni Branting, 27, who is not a tribal member, and extending Federally recognized tribal benefits to her. Kitzen and Jeni Branting have been in a committed lesbian relationship since high school and entered a legal domestic partnership in Washington last year, now they plan to marry under the tribes new rules this coming spring.

Native Americans are "sensitive to discrimination of any kind," says Coquilles Chief Ken Tanner. "For our tribe, we want people to walk in the shoes of other people and learn to respect differences. Through that, we think we build a stronger community."

The new law stirred "some strong feelings" among a minority of tribal members who opposed it, Tanner said, but only two members of the tribes seven member counsel failed to support the new law. "I think it is going to have a very positive impact on this tribe," Tanner added.

The Branting’s are planning their wedding for May in the tribal plankhouse. Chief Tanner has agreed to officiate.

Posted by Paula Brooks at 7:09 AM

Mexico: Transvesties to get new ID Card.

In the event that you missed this one.

Step by step we move forward, albeit sometimes we go a step forward and two backwards, temporarily of course - In any event, Hip, Hip... Hurray! (backward(?)) Mexico - he, he, he.

I may be nit-picking, but I understand that a transvestite (Transvesti in parts of Latinamerica) roughly translates to crossdresser and this group also includes heterosexuals men or women who crossdress at least part time, Transgender as me, but they do not identify themselves with the opposite gender.

I remember that during the time I worked with TransActionSF, we were having discussions about Transgender Terms and Definitions because we felt then, as I feel now, that we continue to be defined by others and sometimes the description does not really defines us clearly; we should define ourselves.

Just a nit-picking thought?

Aurora

Source: "Manuel Ortiz" manuel@alianzanews.com

Transvesties to get new ID Card.

Mexico Transvestites To Get New IDs

Mexico City ordinance allows new gender to be official

MEXICO CITY -- Transsexuals in Mexico City can get new - and altered - identity documents starting Monday if they provide a birth certificate and a medical certificate to local authorities thanks to a new municipal ordinance.

Those eligible for the benefit are those people who have a report issued by two specialists certifying that they have undergone - or are in the process of undergoing - a sex-change procedure, whether or not it involves surgery.

One of the promoters of the initiative is municipal assemblyman Jorge Carlos Diaz Cuervo, of the Alternative Social Democrat party, who told Efe that the aim of the reform is to put a halt to discrimination.

The 42 family courts in Mexico City will receive the requests to modify the name and sex on the birth certificates of interested transsexuals, who must prove that they are adult Mexican citizens who have subjected themselves to "a process of (sexual) reclassification."

The leftist-led Mexico City assembly in recent years has approved some avant-garde and controversial reforms, including the law eliminating the penalties on having an abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and the cohabitation law that permits unions between homosexuals.

The assembly also approved the Advance Intent Law by which terminally ill or injured capital residents can elect to reject medical procedures that might prolong their lives - and presumably their agony - and instruct authorities to allow them to die naturally without any medical intervention. EFE

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s "The Best & Worst of National News" October 2008

THE BEST

Op-ed in Chicago Sun-Times Voices Need for Inclusive Hate-Crime Legislation

The Chicago Sun-Times published an opinion piece reflecting on the prevalence of hate crimes against LGBT people at the 10-year remembrance of Mathew Shephard's murder. In his October 17 op-ed, "Expand hate-crimes law to cover transgender people," Ricky Garcia, the Public Policy Director of Equality Illinois, highlights the dangerous lack of comprehensive federal and statewide hate-crime legislation. Garcia draws upon his personal experience working in Illinois, and speaks to the need for gender identity to be included in the state's hate crimes law, which currently only encompasses sexual orientation. Most brutal attacks in the state have been against transgender people and those who do not fit traditional gender stereotypes. Garcia says, "unfortunately, as shown by the news, gay and transgender folks here in Illinois and across the country are too often the victim of brutal hate crimes."Â He also points to the recent murders of Lawrence King in California and Angie Zapata in Colorado as two tragic examples that highlight the dire need for inclusive state and federal hate crime legislation.

READ ARTICLES:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/1226870,CST-EDT-open17.article
http://www.suntimes.com/aboutus/feedback/index.html

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD encourages you to contact Ricky Garcia and the Chicago Sun-Times to thank them for drawing attention to the urgent need for inclusive hate crime legislation.
E-mail Rick (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

Denver Post Shares Moving Story of Family's Loss.

Monica Zapata, the sister of Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old woman who was brutally murdered in her home because she was transgender, shared her story in the Denver Post on October 7. In "Ten years after Matthew Shepard, no change," Monica paints a moving portrait of her sister Angie and the ramifications her murder has had on her family and friends. She calls upon readers to stop hate crimes, pointing out that not enough change has happened since Matthew's death, and that LGBT youth continue to be victims of hate-motivated violence. She says, "My sister and Matthew were both torn down in their prime. At the threshold of their lives, they were brutally torn down and denied the opportunity to achieve their hopes and dreams." Monica highlights the need for federal hate-crimes legislation and reminds readers that the time has come to end violence against LGBT people.

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_10661633

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD encourages you to contact the Denver Post to thank them for giving space to Monica Zapata's powerful story about her sister Angie and for encouraging readers to take a stand against hate.
E-mail Denver Post (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

Associated Press Explores Experiences of Gay Seniors

The Associated Pressdrew attention to the estimated 2.5 million gay seniors in America and the challenges they face in an October 4 article titled, "Gay elders' distinctive challenges get a closer look." In his story reporter David Crary highlights the recent partnership between the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), and shares the stories of several LGBT seniors and how they have worked to overcome a lack of familial and institutional support. Ruth Juster, an 85-year-old lesbian Crary profiles, illuminates the need for increased outreach to gay and lesbian seniors, explaining, "Society looked down on us. A lot of people remained under the influence of that prejudice and kept their lives secret. We have to reach these seniors and let them know life is much different now. You have to speak up."

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.ohio.com/news/nation/30480519.html

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD encourages you to contact David Crary and the Associated Press to thank them for increasing awareness about LGBT seniors and the challenges they face.
E-mail David Crary (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

"Choice" Issue Debunked Los Angeles Times

Following Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's comments prior to the election implying that being gay is a "choice," the Los Angeles Times published an October 8 opinion piece by Nathaniel Frank titled, "Gay is a choice?" Frank, of the Michael Palm Center, a public policy group that works on LGBT issues, debunks the legitimacy of the choice argument. He says, "calling homosexuality a choice is the time tested way politicians signal their belief that it is the wrong choice." On Palin's assertion that her gay friend has made a choice to be gay, Frank writes, "if Palin's gay friend is like other gays and lesbians, her sexual orientation is neither a choice to be tolerated nor a sentence to be served. It's an expression of her freedom to be herself, a freedom that, as Palin said in the debate, 'is always just one generation away from extinction.'" Frank's op-ed is a reminder that rhetoric that inaccurately suggests sexual orientation is a choice can be used as a justification for discrimination and intolerance towards LGBT people.

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-frank8-2008oct08,0,7682829.story

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD encourages you to contact the Los Angeles Times to thank them for providing a space for this clear and convincing argument against the baseless assertion that being gay is a "choice" and the discrimination that is validated by this argument.
E-mail Los Angeles Times (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

THE WORST

Glenn Beck and James Dobson Make False Claims About Prop 8

Prior to the elections, an episode of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck featured an interview with James Dobson, head of the anti-gay organization Focus on the Family. The subject of the interview was Proposition 8, which since has passed, and will eliminate future marriages for same-sex couples in California. Beck and Dobson made repeated false and misleading claims about Prop 8, suggesting that if it was not passed churches would be called "organizations of hate." Dobson continued by saying "There's no question about it. If Proposition 8 fails, there will be a spate of lawsuit against churches …." Dobson then repeated discredited assertions about schools, saying, "all textbooks would have to be republished" and "everything in schools will change." By giving an uncontested platform to an anti-gay activist to state falsehoods about Prop. 8, CNN Headline News and Glenn Beck perpetuated the kind of fear and misinformation that contributed to the passage of Prop 8.

TAKE ACTION:
Glenn Beck, whose program will move to Fox News in 2009, has made repeated anti-LGBT remarks on his program. GLAAD urges you to contact the Fox News Channel and remind them that the LGBT community and our allies will continue to hold Beck accountable if he continues to make inaccurate and misleading claims about our community.
E-mail Mr. John Moody Senior Vice President, News Editorial, FOX News Channel (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')
E-mail Ms. Sharri Berg, Senior Vice President, News Operations - FOX News Channel (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

Radio Station Gives Anti-Gay Activist Platform to Attack Transgender Youth

Kentucky News Talk radio station WKYX's gave Richard Nelson of the anti-gay group The Family Foundation of Kentucky a platform on the outlet's website to perpetuate misinformation about medical care for transgender youth. Nelson made a baseless and fallacious attack on Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatric endocrinologist in Boston who provides care and treatment to transgender youth. Nelson falsely claims both that the treatment is permanent and makes the false assertion that it is "the first step necessary for a sex-change operation." Expressing a blatant disregard for the struggles transgender children encounter, Nelson dispassionately states, "When little Johnny comes in for a checkup wearing a dress and women's jewelry, has it ever occurred to anybody, including his parents, that he should be told to wear pants and stop playing with Barbies?" These kinds of uninformed attacks disregard the expertise of medical and psychological professionals, and only serve to perpetuate distortions and fear of transgender people.

READ ARTICLE:
http://www.wkyx.com/local-news-details.asp?NewsID=7927

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD urges you to contact WKYX news editors and tell them not to make cheap, sensational grabs for ratings by attacking transgender youth and deceiving audiences about medical decisions that they make with their families and doctors.
E-mail WKYX News (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

Dr. Phil Show Fails to Present a Fair and Accurate Dialogue on Transgender Children

On the October 29th episode of Dr. Phil, Dr. Phil McGraw interviewed transgender children and their parents. Also on the show to discuss gender identity were Dr. Dan Segal, a clinical psychologist from UCLA, and Glenn Stanton of the anti-LGBT organization Focus on the Family. While Segal's dialogue was backed by research and medical experience, Stanton was not a credited or unbiased source in any way. While we encourage informative dialogue, the Focus on the Family representative was not an expert on developmental issues or transgender children and should not have been presented as a professional counterpart to Dr. Segal. Stanton baselessly asserts that children develop transgender identities when their parents fail to enforce gender roles.

TAKE ACTION:
GLAAD encourages you to contact the Dr. Phil Show and voice your concerns about the platform afforded to the anti-LGBT organization, Focus on the Family, which allowed them to perpetuate misinformation about transgender children. Ask why producers presented Glenn Stanton as an equal counterpart to Dr. Dan Segal when Stanton lacks expertise or credentials in the fields of psychology, medicine or transgender issues.
E-mail Stephanie Granader, Dr. Phil Producer (Just click here, pre-filled fields, all you'll have to do is 'SEND')

Transgender Study Shows Pay Disparity Between Sexes

By the DiversityInc staff

October 17, 2008

Keywords: discrimination, sexual discrimination, LGBT, transgender, equal pay

A new study on transgender employees suggests the same employee gets higher pay as a man than as a woman, according to 365 Gay. The study looked at pay disparities by examining the salaries of 64 transgender workers before and after they changed gender through hormone therapy or surgery.

The study, published in an academic journal called The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, found that average earnings increased slightly for women who transitioned to men, but fell by nearly a third for men who transitioned to women.

"I think the gap that we've found has to do with ideas about gender and how masculinity is valued in the workplace," says Kristen Schilt, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago, who conducted the study with New York University professor Matthew Wiswall.

Transgenders used to measure glass ceiling

By The Canadian Press
10.15.2008 3:06pm EDT

(Berkley, California) A recent study has found a new way to examine pay disparities between men and women: Comparing the salaries of transgender employees before and after their gender changes.

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The study in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, an academic journal published by The Berkeley Electronic Press, found that while the average earnings for biological females who transitioned to male slightly increased after the transition, it fell by nearly a third for workers who went from male to female.

The research was based on interviews with 64 individuals employed before and after a gender transition with hormone therapy or surgery.

“I think the gap that we’ve found has to do with ideas about gender and how masculinity is valued in the workplace,” said Kristen Schilt, a sociology professor at University of Chicago who conducted the study with New York University professor Matthew Wiswall.

Schilt, who is currently expanding the research into a book slated for release in 2010, also did an analysis of U.S. legal cases involving transgender discrimination. Nine out of 10 cases involved biological males who transitioned to female, she said.

Transgender people don't even exist under the law

 

Delaware Online

 

 By DOUG MARSHALL-STEELE • September 28, 2008

 

It was February 1998 when the first sexual orientation anti-discrimination bill was brought before Delaware lawmakers. It and five subsequent such bills over the ensuing decade have failed to become law. The first two bills were voted down; the last four were the victims of two hostile Senate presidents pro tem and their use of the anti-democratic "desk-draw veto."

Even more unjust than ignoring the workplace needs and other rights of their gay constituents, our lawmakers have never even considered the civil rights of transgender Delawareans. There is no law in the Delaware Code nor has there ever been a bill seeking to protect these citizens.

While sexual orientation is at least addressed in hate crimes law, gender identity is not. Not only are transgender Delawareans mostly invisible in public discourse, as far as Delaware law is concerned, they do not exist as such.

Transgender residents are also not protected by federal law. Most courts have ruled transgender citizens are not included under Title VII, which bans sex discrimination. The Americans with Disabilities Act explicitly exempts transgender people. Yet more than one transgender person is murdered in this country each month, and discrimination against them abounds.

"Transgender" is an umbrella term for those who see their gender identity as being different from their sexual markers -- chiefly genitalia and DNA -- at birth. Thus, transgender can describe male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals, although many transgender people do not choose to transition physically from one sex to the other.

The term also includes cross dressers who do not do so for entertainment purposes, but to be more comfortable with their self-perceived gender identity.

Transgenderism refers to gender identity: Who does one understand oneself to be? Homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality all refer to sexual orientation: To whom is one sexually attracted?

Transgender citizens may or may not be gay. Children as young as preschoolers have self-identified as transgender. Psychiatry and the related sciences have been unsuccessful in truly altering a transgender identity. Transgenderism, like homosexuality, is not a choice.

The social challenges faced by transgender citizens are daunting. Workplace discrimination may result in unstable housing conditions, which can put these citizens at the mercy of public programs and officials who may not respond respectfully or appropriately to them. Such stressors may force them into a health care system that is often unprepared for transgender people's needs.

In light of the extreme bias against them, many transgender people remain hidden, reinforcing the belief their numbers are negligible. Dr. Lynn Conway of the University of Michigan estimates there is one male-to-female transgender person -- or transwoman -- per every 500 people. In Delaware that would be more than 1,700 transwomen, without counting transmen.

A 2007 poll by Peter D. Hart Research Associates revealed that 72 percent of Americans agree that "fairness is a basic American value and employment decisions should be based solely on qualifications and job performance, including for transgender people."

I contend that the next anti-discrimination bill in the Delaware Legislature should cover not only sexual orientation but also gender identity. Eleven states, the District of Columbia and numerous counties and municipalities have already passed laws protecting transgender citizens. We should, too.

Further information about transgenderism is available from Delaware Renaissance and the National Center for Transgender Equality, both accessed from the links page of my Web site at www.towardequality.org.

Doug Marshall-Steele, of Milton, is a member of The News Journal Community Advisory Board.

"Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets. "
Napoleon Bonaparte
 
http://hladc-sf.blogspot.com
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Are you gay?

- By Aurora Grajeda:

Originally posted on 03/05/07

Are you gay? Silvia asked lifting her gaze away from my shining pearly-white nails, professionally manicured in the style known as French, the baby pink flesh showing through the neutral-colored nail polish, we were confirming our upcoming first lunch date in 2 plus years of working together.

I tried to think how many times she had asked during the 2 1/2 years of us working together. Today, I didn’t answer with the usual question: Why do you say that?

Today I firmly said, “no“

“Mmmm… Are you sure? Silvia asked, lifting her eyes to mine, pondered, “mmm… I don’t know…” Looking again at my nails… “Are you really sure you’re not gay?”

Tired of her regular queries about my sexuality, this time I said “No, I’m something else”, “What are you then?” She inquired, “I think I’m a girl” I answered.

After a couple of under-the-breath “uhms” And “aahs”, she asked if we could reschedule our lunch date.

“Sure”, I answered walking away.

Why did I tell her? As my boss’ Executive Assistant, she was the Office Politician par excellence who loved the taste of power, was very good at how to keep it and increase it; whereas I, all I wanted was to keep doing the work that I enjoyed, was good at it, was getting paid very well for doing it and having just started hormonal reassignment treatment, was looking at a future with hefty gender transition related expenses.
A superfluous question knowing that a) I resented being thought of as a gay man; it is a question of gender and not sexual orientation, b) the charade was over, I had removed the facade and now I was living my life in a rigorously brutal honesty, and c) I wanted to give her the opportunity to show me her acceptance, tolerance or rejection.


She outed me.

I witnessed and experienced my co-workers reactions, from the utter fixation with the restroom’s ceiling that some men had recently developed - as soon as they noticed my presence in the room - coupled with the not quite whistling but rather an in-between-the-lips and barely audible soft hissing of the latest “Music Brain Worm” In their heads, to the ones that acknowledged me with a curtly nod, or the ones that actually said hi and conducted business with me with a hardly noticeable discomfort, and last but not least, there was a group that never changed a iota, either because of acceptance, tolerance or conscious non-interference in other people’s business. And then, there were the others.


These were the most vicious and cowardly ones, the invisible closeted transphobes that had their own sub-division, passive-aggressive and active-aggressive.

The former chose to live with their misery and only passively projected it on me, among the latter, there was a small delegation of women who approached David, my Director, and shared with him their potential future feelings of violation were I to come into the ladies’ room, the most aggressive ones were David’s superiors who pressured him to cancel my contract, he didn’t yield because my pay came out of his Dept.’s budget, he refused until he was presented with an ultimatum whose dictates were never disclosed to me in neither one of the two official meetings I had with him RE: My “Outing”.

On the first, we talked, he was happy with my work, he pledged his support and wished me well on my journey, told me about his superior’s pressure.

I was reassured and calmer for the next few weeks until he called me again for our second meeting, he looked tired as he told me how fortunate he was because of my hiring, the satisfaction of getting more than what he expected and was paying for, deploring the bad news, he informed me of a directive to cancel my contract because of a job consolidation move, implemented over his objections, or so he told me .

A bucket full of icy water couldn’t have frozen me as much and his voice became a muffled distant murmur as realizations of the travails coming my way started materializing in countless foreboding thoughts which brought fear and anger.

David’s voice brought me back, “Do you want to say anything?”, the breath I drew felt like the first one in some time, with tense body and through clenched teeth I replied, “I’m trying very hard to put aside the thought that this is one of these ‘let’s get rid of that thing type of thing’ “.

His blanching face made his hair look whiter, he said that wasn’t the case.

“Whatever!” I thought, “Effective when?”, I asked, “One month” he answered. We had some shop talk on how best to maintain the continuity of my projects, tie loose ends etc.

And so it came to pass, August 11, 1999 was the last day worked at PG&E by this Transgender Woman beginning to face a hostile world that had no place for her.

“ Aaand no, I’m not gay.”

This piece which is an extremely abbreviated version of why and how I lost my 65K per annum job, was presented for the Mission SRO Collaborative’s writing project for it’s first issue of “Hotel Voices", published in the spring/summer of 2006, it was also published in Poor Magazine online the summer of that year.

The themes were about the experiences of SRO Hotel’s residents and/or how we came to be living in SRO Hotels, which is a step short of homelessness.

Also at the Daily Kos From this Author “Gay Panic” Defense? My Ass!