Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I’m going to Milwaukee for the first time, & for me, Milwaukee is always going to be Laverne & Shirley’s city.

What I’ll be up to:

• Saturday, 4/18: talk for Milwaukee LGBT on trans relationships, 6-9 PM, Martin Luther Church
• Sunday, 4/19: a talk on sex & relationships at The Tool Shed, 5 - 6:30 PM
• Monday, 4/20: Gender Variance Workshop at UWM, 2 - 4 PM
• Monday, 4/20: Queer Heterosexuals Lecture at UWM, 7 - 9 PM

So do come to whatever you can if you’re in the Milwaukee area, & do spread the word. All the links are to Facebook pages, since that’s how the kids are doing it these days.

There’s been a lot going on:

• Susan Stanton finally got a job
• Angie Zapata’s murderer goes to trial with CO’s (gender inclusive) hate crimes law in effect
• Washington state seems to be ready to okay transgender hate crimes legislation
• Same sex marriage is now legal in Vermont
• MA had a huge Trans Civil Rights Lobby Day

Quite a week for the LGBT community!

A friend sent me a couple of links about homosexuality by the K of C — for those of you who weren’t raised Catholic, that stands for Knights of Columbus — and what strikes me as fascinating is the bizarre leap of illogic it requires. Where you end up is where Tri Ess always ended up: only those who identify as gay are gay, so if you don’t identify as gay you’re not, even if you’re a man who is having sex with other men (or a CD having sex with other CDs).

It brings up issues of identity I’ve been mentioning elsewhere. When the same ideas are used to distinguish between actions and identities, they can be useful, but they’re hardly a good excuse for hypocritcal policies & politics.

From NCTE:

Last night, Representative John Conyers of Michigan re-introduced The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, H.R. 1913. This would be the first-ever federal law to provide protections for transgender people. It is identical to the hate crimes bill passed by the House of Representatives in 2007 and includes the language that transgender advocates requested. It is also the first transgender inclusive bill to be introduced during this Session.

In his comments introducing the bill, Rep. John Conyers stated, “Hate crime statistics do not speak for themselves. Behind each of the statistics is an individual or community targeted for violence for no other reason than race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Law enforcement authorities and civic leaders have learned that a failure to address the problem of bias crime can cause a seemingly isolated incident to fester into widespread tension that can damage the social fabric of the wider community. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 is a constructive and measured response to a problem that continues to plague our nation. These are crimes that shock and shame our national conscience. They should be subject to comprehensive federal law enforcement assistance and prosecution.”

Representatives are heading home to their districts for spring recess from now until April 21st. It is vital that you call them in their district offices to urge their support for this critical piece of legislation. Those who oppose this legislation will be active during this time-we need to be as well so that members of Congress are hearing from those directly affected by this legislation. Please take this important step to help address the violence faced by transgender people.

To find your Representative, visit our webpage or go to the House of Representatives webpage at www.house.gov and enter your ZIP+4 to find your member of Congress.

WHAT THE BILL SAYS
The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1913, would:

• Extend existing federal protections to include “gender identity, sexual orientation, gender and disability”
• Allow the Justice Department to assist in hate crime investigations at the local level when local law enforcement is unable or unwilling to fully address these crimes
• Mandate that the FBI begin tracking hate crimes based on actual or perceived gender identity
• Remove limitations that narrowly define hate crimes to violence committed while a person is accessing a federally protected activity, such as voting.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act is supported by nearly 300 civil rights, education, religious, and civic organizations. The bill is also endorsed by virtually every major law enforcement organization in the country-including the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Sheriffs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and thirty-one state Attorneys General.

For more information:

• Read the specifics about this legislation from the Library of Congress, go to their website and search by bill H.R. 1913
  
• View our fact sheet about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act and read additional information about hate crimes on our website.

& That’s exactly why I love NCTE: all the info you need to do what you need to do.

Apparently we left “thou shalt not kill homosexuals” out of the civics textbooks we gave the Iraqis when we “taught” them democracy.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago.

Fuck this. The word “cleric” used to be such a cool word, and more & more it just seems to be mean “self-righteous, mob-creating fuckhead.” I really don’t think that whole “Thou Shalt Not Kill” directive is that hard to understand. There’s no asterisk, no caveat.

I really loved this ABC clip from What Would You Do? that Feministing posted. I can’t say I agree with Vanessa’s comments (or with Renee or Pam’s) but maybe I’m just that much older than she is, but this is huge progress to me.

I also think there’s a level of affection in public that makes people uncomfortable no matter the orientation of the couple. Even straight couples hear the “get a room!” comments yelled if things get too hot in a public space.

Likewise, making the couple interracial in an all-white or mostly white bar would confuse whether or not the bar patrons were homophobic or couldn’t deal with the intersection of homosexuality and race. I think it’s important to control an experiment like this, to make sure the LGBT couple were a good “fit” for the community that goes to that bar.

But the whole idea of people being offended, as that one woman was, by any LACK of tolerance is very, very cool. As is this.

Kind of remarkable, no?

Like plenty of others, I’ll believe it when I see it, and will continue supporting The Task Force and NCTE over HRC, but this, if it turns out to be true, is a very.good.thing.

Unofficial results from Gainesville are that the good citizens of the historic Florida town voted no to turning back the clock and getting rid of LGBTQ discrimination protections.

58% No on Amendment 1 (and 42% Yes) according to Mara Keisling of NCTE & Allyson Robinson of HRC.

Good news! Not only that, but the “keep crossdressed men out of bathrooms” schtick didn’t work. Go Equality Gainesville!

This year’s Lambda Literary Awards Finalists have been posted. In the Transgender category:

• 10,000 Dresses, Marcus Ewert & Rex Ray, Seven Stories Press
• Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press
• Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Schofield, Homofactus Press
• Boy with Flowers, Ely Shipley, Barrow Street Press
• Transgender History, Susan Stryker, Seal Press

I highly recommend the last of these, which I’ll admit is the only one I’ve read this year, but I’m hoping to read Scott Schofield’s soonly.

In LGBT Studies, that Tomboys book is up for an award, & I hope it wins. It is the book I am most looking forward to reading now that I’m not teaching an excessive amount.

Even cooler is to see Diane and Jake Anderson-Minshall’s joint effort Blind Curves in the Lesbian Mystery category, and good luck to them!

(But I still think they need way more categories for transgender - maybe trans studies & trans memoir/other non-fiction to start, for instance. Surely there’s enough out there these days, & for years when there isn’t, they can just ignore the category.)

Here are some things that have crossed my path in recent weeks that I didn’t have time to blog about in any depth, but they are things that might interest you:

1. A NYT article about lesbian communes:
   

   Behind a locked gate whose security code is changed frequently, the women pursue quiet lives in a community they call Alapine, largely unnoticed by their Bible Belt neighbors — a lost tribe from the early ’70s era of communes and radical feminism.

2. The DABA Girls’ blog (DABA stands for Dating a Banker Anonymous. Briefly, this blog is the whining of women who are used to dating rich guys whose dates are a lot more broke than they were a year ago.)
   
3. Why Natalie Dylan is selling her virginity
4. Queercents’ series on transgender finances

(thanks to Joanne for the first three)

Two female customers at a gay bar attack two trans guys in DC’s Dupont Circle. I mean, attack: whiplash and concussion. Presumably the two women were lesbians but since we don’t know that for certain, I’m not going to say it.

But still.

Today the opposing sides face off in California State Supreme Court about Prop 8. In their corner, the detestable Ken Starr; in ours, the inimitable Shannon Minter.

My friend Megan has already sussgested the headline: Minter Blows Starr Away.

I have absolute confidence in Shannon Minter.

Just got this cool press release which makes me wish I was anywhere near West Hollywood:

Grrrl, boi, lezbo, butch, femme, lipstick, drag king, trans, dyke, bulldagger, tomboy, genderqueer, one-way, kiki, power femme …

Each generation of lesbians uses new and different terms to describe how we present ourselves and what attracts us. GenderPlay in Lesbian Culture is the first ever Los Angeles exhibit to talk about labels and explore gender and its boundaries.

The OPENING EVENT, at the One Museum on Saturday March 14, will feature singer Phranc, emcee Marie Cartier and performance art from Latina trio, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan.

More…

The NAACP has been one of our strongest allies in the fight against Proposition 8 in California. The national NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund (LDF) and the California branch of the NAACP joined other civil rights groups in filing a major brief before the California Supreme Court in support of equality, and LDF recently urged the California legislature to enact resolutions calling for the invalidation of Prop 8.

The NAACP is getting some push-back for these efforts. Now is the time for us to support them and show that coalition politics goes both ways. Please join me in expressing your support for their statement of equality to your local NAACP branch:

• Donate to your local branch or to the national LDF
• Post a note on the NAACP page on Facebook
• Contact someone at the NAACP to express your support

We are not alone in this fight. Let’s show that we know how to step up to the plate when others step up for us.

(via EJS & NCLR)

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City invite you to Christine Jorgensen Reveals: A very special benefit performance supporting the work of Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (Between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Tickets are $40, and you can buy them here.

Has anyone else seen this video? It’s unbelievably paranoid, no?

I’m not sure what part of “your religion stops where my government starts” they don’t understand. They can say anything they want, and usually do. What they can’t do is fire someone for being homosexual, or censor television whose morality they don’t approve of. That’s it. They just don’t get to control shit for the rest of us. But they are perfectly free to avoid watching shows with gay characters, they don’t need to go to same sex weddings, etc. etc.

I’m never going to get this kind of “I don’t get to control you therefore I’m oppressed” type of thinking.

This week Freedom to Marry is featuring a ton of guest bloggers talking about marriage equality, and my post goes up today at 1PM.

It’s both a pleasure and an honor to be given the chance to say something in support of full marriage equality for everyone.Do go read tons of the posts this week, & direct your friends and family and community members to do so, too.

If you don’t feel convinced, or even if you do, watch this:

“Fidelity”: Don’t Divorce… from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

My friend James Hipps of www.gayagenda.com called a radio morning show after the DJs used “fag” on the air today, and he ended up on the air.

You’ve got to hear it.

Forget the gay-baiting. The gender-baiting is astounding. Is this how it is now? That a guy can be “pro gay marriage” and still a hateful schmuck?

It may be an advertising hook, but this list of gender-y blogs is pretty thorough, covering feminist issues, LGBT issues, and even folks like me.

Transgender Workplace made it, as did other sites I contribute to, like Trans Group Blog and Invert(e), but I’m especially happy to see Sugarbutch rounding out the list at 100.

On May 16, 2007, Sean Kennedy, a 20-year old gay man, was attacked on the streets of Greenville, South Carolina. He died of his injuries later that night. Yet, because of the lack of hate crimes legislation, his attacker may be eligible for parole in February!

Sean was a brave young man with a bright, infectious smile. But his life was cut short and justice left unserved.  Now, PFLAG is joining with Sean’s mother, Elke Kennedy, and asking all of our members to write to the parole board and urge them to rule that Moller must serve his complete sentence for this heinous, anti-gay crime.

Because South Carolina – and many other states- lack protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, Moller was able to plea-bargain to involuntary manslaughter charges (considered a “non-violent crime”) and received a suspended five to three years sentence for his crime. Because of the credit he received for time served before sentencing, his full sentence means that he will be free in September 2009. And he is also eligible for parole in February, which means that he will have served only 8 months of his full sentence for Sean’s death.

The parole board is currently conducting a review on whether to grant Moller parole. It is critically important that they hear from our community, and that we each send a strong message that it is unacceptable to grant such early parole following a brutal anti-gay murder!

Please join us in writing a letter to the parole board, and ask them to deny Stephen Moller’s parole. If you have the time, please write a personal letter by hand or by computer, as those will be the most effective, and if you knew Sean or his family personally, please include that information.

More…