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This TDOR: Why Not “Tranny”?

& To close this year’s Trasngender Day of Remembrance, a note from Mara Keisling of NCTE on what the day means, why not “tranny,” and what next:

The Day of Remembrance, which we commemorate tomorrow, is a time of mourning for transgender people, a time to honor the lives tragically cut short by another person’s hatred or fears. It is also a time to look at how we can have fewer and fewer deaths to commemorate on this day in years to come.

Each year as I look at the names and faces of those we have lost, they touch me profoundly and they also call me to a renewed commitment to the work ahead of us. We have to use every tool available to us to stem the tide; one of those tools is federal law.

A full year has passed since the passage of the first federal law to offer protections to transgender people-the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. While the law certainly won’t end the problem of hate crimes, it does provide new avenues to address violence when it occurs. For the very first time, the Department of Justice and federal law enforcement officials have been authorized to take action to address the violence that transgender people face. And, while it’s easy to be cynical about the government, there are people in law enforcement who are truly and deeply dedicated to working with us to address the violence.

We’ve been at the table with the FBI and other departments as they’ve worked to update their training programs to include explicit information about gender identity and change the way they record information so we gain vital knowledge about the extent of the problem. I know, paperwork doesn’t seem like it will do anything. There is something very important about seeing the word “transgender” there in the manuals and forms because it means that the federal government is making a record and taking notice of the horrific violence we as a people face. It is information they can use to prosecute a crime and ensure that local law enforcement takes violence against us seriously. It will also help formulate violence prevention programs.

But there’s also something awful about knowing that those forms will record the terror of victims of hate-motivated violence. Law enforcement officers will note down the weapons used, the damage done and the derogatory words that are said to harm a transgender person-someone’s child, or partner, or parent, or loved one.

One of the reasons that we don’t use the word “tranny” at NCTE is because we’ve heard too many stories of violence. We know that when someone hears that word, it often heralds the beginning of an attack. And words matter when we look at hate crimes; the language used is, in fact, part of how we determine if something is a hate crime, because words are one of the weapons used to hurt the target of the violence. Because in a hate crime, damage is done to hearts and spirits as well as to bodies-and sadly, that’s the perpetrator’s point. We hear regularly, especially over the past few weeks, from transgender people who tell us that “tranny” is a word that feels hostile and hurtful to them. We shouldn’t use words that cause pain to others, especially when the word is one that, horrifyingly, transgender people hear as they are being bludgeoned. We have to use our words differently than that.

This week, the Department of Justice brought federal hate crimes charges under the new law for the first time, against white supremists who attacked a developmentally disabled Native American man in New Mexico. Disability was one of the other new categories added to the hate crimes laws, along with gender identity. It is a reminder that violence to any of us hurts all of us.

There are many more cases that are currently in the midst of the legal and investigative processes that have to happen before charges are filed. Each of these cases makes a statement that hate crimes are intolerable and illegal.

But we also have to keep our eye on our goal-ending violence against transgender people. We do this by educating people about the realities of our lives and by asserting our human rights to express who we are and to live in safety. To make this a reality, we have to build a climate of acceptance, free of derogatory words and angry fists, and filled with respect for the differences among us.

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TLGB Orgs Unite for TDOR

I’m really pleased to see this group of organizations sign on to the same statement. It’s not every day we see any kind of unity in the trans community.

New York, NY, November 19, 2010 – Today the National Center for Transgender Equality, Transgender Law Center, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and the Trevor Project released the following statement regarding Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, 2010:

Today we stand together as one community to remember and honor the lives cut short by anti-transgender intimidation and violence including:

– Amanda González-Andujar of New York, NY
– Ashley Santiago of Puerto Rico
– Dana A. “Chanel” Larkin of Milwaukee, WI
– Angie González Oquendo of Puerto Rico
– Sandy Woulard of Chicago, IL
– Victoria Carmen of Newark, NJ
– Stacy Blahnik Lee of Philadelphia, PA

We also call on mainstream and LGBT media to give voice to transgender people and continue to share stories about the lives of transgender people who inspire understanding and acceptance.

On this day when our community remembers those stories and victims of anti-transgender violence, we are reminded about the power of insults and slurs like “tra**y.” We should not use words that cause pain to others; especially words that transgender people too often hear before they are attacked in anti-transgender hate crimes.

Instead, we urge the LGBT community to speak out for transgender people – about their lives and who they are. Transgender people continue to remain largely invisible in our culture and as a result suffer job losses, discrimination and violence. Together, we must stand united as an LGBT community and allies marching towards an America where people are accepted for who they are.

For resources about transgender issues please visit:
www.hrc.org/issues/transgender.asp
www.transequality.org
www.transgenderlegal.org
www.glaad.org/transgender
www.transgenderlawcenter.org
www.glsen.org
www.thetaskforce.org/our_work/public_policy/transgender_civil_rights

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Phyllis Frye Becomes Texas’ First Trans Judge

Phyllis Frye has been a long-time advocate on trans and queer issues: this is exciting news!

Phyllis Randolph Frye, longtime legal advocate for the transgender community, was sworn in this morning as the state’s first transgender judge. Frye was appointed by Houston Mayor Annise Parker as an Associate Municipal Judge. The city council unanimously approved her appointment, along with a couple dozen other appointments, with little fanfare and no dissent.

It was only 30 years ago that Frye risked arrest every time she entered City Hall. At that time the City of Houston and most American cities had ordinances criminalizing cross dressing. Frye defied the law to fight for it’s repeal, which finally happened in 1980.

It’s kind of hard to believe that it was illegal to crossdress in so many states and cities as recently as 1980, but it’s true. Making crossdressing illegal was, of course, a way to restrict and criminalize members of the LGBT communities – whether those people were butches, queens, or transgender.

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Brooklyn Queers Say It Gets Better

Oh, the lovely queers in Brooklyn say it gets better, too:

= makes me homesick, yes it does. I miss being in clubs full of crossdressers and drag queens, strippers, sex workers and straight guys. I really do.

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Let Them Serve Openly

Democrats, grow a pair already & get this done. These men and women want to fight for their country, and no one should bar a citizen from being able to do that. Gays and lesbians have always served: it’s up to us, as citizens, to recognize their service and the diverse life experiences it comes with. Doing anything else is – I’m gonna say it – unpatriotic.

The dog tags also remind him of a fraternity roommate at the University of West Virginia. The young officer, who had recently married, was killed in Korea.

Phillips was a graduate student studying theater when he heard the news. His student status made him exempt from the draft, but, he said, “I thought I should do something.” He enlisted in the Army over the objections of his father back home in Elkins, W.Va. Having known since he was 17 that he was gay, the 22-year-old lied on the enlistment form, just as gays and lesbians still do today.

. . .

The young =sergeant shared sandbag bunkers, tents and Quonset huts with other soldiers, but the lack of privacy “was not a problem.” He kept a photo of a “girlfriend” from college on his footlocker so no one would get suspicious. “I acted all my life,” he said of his pretense at being straight.

Only once did Phillips confide his secret, telling his company commander. “He reached over and took my hand and said, ‘It’s OK, buddy, this is between you and I.” It was a tremendous relief. He was straight, but he was understanding — there were people back then who were.”

. . .

When Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators earlier this year that the military’s policy on gays “forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens,” Phillips could relate.

He recalled how when he came down with malaria in Korea, it was a black sergeant who carried him to a Jeep and took him to the hospital. The Korean War marked the first time black troops served alongside whites. For years, opponents of desegregation had argued that blacks would ruin morale and unit cohesion, a line of reasoning often heard now in the debate over gays in the military.

“If somebody’s protecting your back,” whether they are black or gay, Phillips learned in Korea, “who cares?”

More of Garrison Phillips’ story can be found here.

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“…the best they can hope for in life.”

Oh, wow. An Administrator at UW – Eau Claire was invited to a Queer Film Festival (the Eau Queer Film Festival) which was put together by students. Sometimes people really should just say no. Instead, he wrote back that he thinks gays and lesbians are people, BUT:

“However, I decry attempts to legitimize their addictions and compulsions. These, our fellow humans, deserve our best efforts to help them recover their lives. We only hurt them further when we choose to pretend that these walking wounded are OK the way they are, that their present injuries are the best they can hope for in life.”

The real kicker for me is that I know this guy doesn’t mean any harm. I think he probably thinks he’s being considerate and respectful, and worse still, sympathetic. I’m entirely serious.

Some people just implode when given even the smallest chance.

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Feeling Blue & Seeing Red, LGBTQs?

Kevin Lembo of CT won for Comptroller of CT.
The openly gay mayor of Providence, RI, just became a US congressman.
An African American man who is gay won a seat on the NC House.
Barney Frank got re-elected.
& Lexington, Kentucky, elected a gay mayor.

All of that & more, here.

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White House Anti-Bullying Campaign

Did you need another reason to support Dems this Election Day? How about this cool news?

The Obama administration is launching a campaign to prevent anti-gay bullying and other harassment at school, advising educators that federal law protects students from many forms of discrimination.

and:

In another example, the advisory discussed a school in which students are subjected to anti-Semitic comments while a swastika is scrawled on a bathroom wall. Administrators might find and punish the perpetrators, the advisory said, but the school would still be responsible for determining whether Jewish or other students feel intimidated by incidents that add up to a pattern of misconduct. In that case, further action would be required.

“Discipline alone was likely insufficient,” Ali wrote. Other possible steps, she said: counseling the perpetrators, publicly labeling incidents as anti-Semitic and publicizing how students can report harassment.