For the past three weeks I’ve been co-moderating a Trans Partners’ group at the LGBT Center in Manhattan, and for three weeks we’ve had outright pathetic attendance.
In the meanwhile, I get emails all the time from partners, and I’m in groups online where they post, and they’ve got plenty to say. This group is cheap/free, and yet very few people are coming, and I can’t figure out why.
So partners, why aren’t you coming? Is your partner stealth/closeted & you’re scared about outing him/her by showing up? Do you think it’s a huge bitch session? Do you think it’s a bunch of cheerleaders? Do you think you have nothing in common with other partners? Do you think your stuff isn’t important enough to talk about? Would you rather not think about your partner being trans altogether?
I know you’ve got stuff to talk about, because you write to me, and to other partners, and you post in groups online.
So tell me why you’re not coming.
Her Orangeness
Aurora, closeup.
Book About Misogyny
A Ms. magazine article reports that Jack Holland’s final work, his magnum opus, titled Misogyny: the World’s Oldest Prejudice, was nearly not published. His family were forced to give back half the advance when Viking decided not to publish it, without an explanation.
It brought together two of his favorite things in the world: history and women. He loved women. Jack envisioned the book as a tool in advancing understanding between men and women. He’d been, as a journalist, primarily covering Northern Ireland, so he was very familiar with deep-rooted, vicious conflicts… It was a natural progression for him to take those gifts of observation to an even more personal level with bigger implications. This book [is] about women in Ireland, in Papua New Guinea, in Afghanistan, in the United States… It ties together so many different threads. It [helps us remember] that there is no one bad guy, or person, or religion, or philosophy.
I’m pleased to hear that Carroll & Graf (another imprint of my publishers, Avalon) decided to pubish it, instead: a book about misogyny written by a man who’d observed & chronicled the conflict in Northern Ireland and who grew up Catholic is very, very interesting to me.
Austin College
As it turns out, I’ll also be speaking at Austin College, which is in Sherman, TX – near Dallas. Believe it or not, I’m taking the train there – from New York to Chicago, where I’ll speak at Purdue, and then all the way down to Texas, and then the whole thing in reverse when I’m done.
I’ll be doing a lecture that’s open to the public while I’m at Austin College, at 4:30 on 11/1. Details as to where on campus, etc., to come.
Violence Against Women
The UN has officially declared violence against women a Human Rights Violation, and I have to say, I didn’t realize it wasn’t one officially until now.
A recent op-ed column in The NY Times by Bob Herbert comments on why no one is talking about a murderer who chose to kill only girls, and asks why we aren’t more angry at the misogyny and sexism not just of the shooter’s choice but the media’s lack of outrage. He does a nice job explaining why, too: We don’t care so much about women and girls; we’re seeped in a culture that accepts violence against them.
Initially I was chilled to hear he’d let the boys go when I heard the news, and waited for a while after for an explanation of why he chose only girls and never got it. I guess there doesn’t have to be a reason – not that any reason would make any sense at all.
Trans Partners Drop-in Group
Tomorrow is the Trans Partners Drop-in Group at the LGBT Center, so come! Here’s the info.
Tonight in NYC: Transgender Legal Rights Forum
7PM tonight is the Transgender Legal Rights Forum at the NYC Bar Association. All the info you need is here.
Please Donate
If you can, please donate to help us keep doing what we do. Thanks to all of you who have contributed in the past.
End of the Century
Or more like the end of an era. Today CBGB closes its doors.
Thanks, Hilly, for all those years of punk rock, for influencing 30+ years of music, for great unannounced gigs, hardcore Sundays and stacked chairs.
Sometimes it’s almost seems like all signs are telling me it’s time to leave NYC; it’s not my city anymore, at least not the one I fell in love with, anyway.
< — & Yes, that’s me & Betty (she’s in the tux & I’m in the gown – nutty, right?) on our wedding day. & Yes, those are DMs I’m wearing: Johnny Joey DeeDee, good times, indeed.
I think Richard Hell got at some of it in this Op-Ed for The New York Times, in which he said,
“We all know that nothing lasts. But at least we can make a cool and funny exhibit of it. I’m serious. God likes change and a joke. God loves CBGB’s.”
But you know, we tend to come to regret when we don’t step in and save a well-loved institution or two, and I thought we’d learned that by now in NYC. But alas, apparently not, but I think we will come to regret this loss, to be honest.
Transgender Legal Rights @ NYC Bar Association
Our lovely and talented friend Donna is moderating a panel on Transgender Legal Rights this coming Tuesday, October 17th. Here’s the info:
A panel dicussion about current judicial, legislative, and political developments on the local, state, and federal levels, affecting the legal and civil rights of transgendered persons.
Where & When:
The Association of the Bar of the City of New York
42 W. 44 Street
New York, New York 10036
October 17, 2006, 7-9 pm
Moderator: Donna M. Levinsohn, Counsel, Warshaw Burstein Cohen Schlesinger & Kuh, LLP
Speakers:
- Pooja Gehi, Staff Attorney, Sylvia Rivera Law Project
- Sharon M. McGowan, Staff Attorney, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project
- Pauline Park, Chair, New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
- Franklin Romeo, Kirkland & Ellis Fellow, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Michael Silverman, Executive Director & General Counsel, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.