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Happy 4th

A very happy Independence Day to all of you (Americans).

Just the other day, on our way out of town to Albany, Betty & I happened upon a Revolutionary War battle marker right on 9th Street & 4th Avenue here in Park Slope. I have to go back later this summer to see it closer, because I could barely read it from the car, but it was some evidence that American soldiers had died there (according to one account, probably by bayonet).

Also, a reminder: there is no meeting of the partners group at the Center tonight; it was moved to 7/11 so we could avoid today’s holiday.

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Sliding Backwards

(from The Feminist Majority Foundation)

The Supreme Court handed down this morning a 5-4 ruling that requires the elimination of integration plans at elementary and secondary public schools.

The decision was made in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, et al. and Meredith, Custodial Parent and Next Friend of McDonald v. Jefferson County Bd. Of Ed et al, two cases brought by parents with schoolchildren in Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky. Federal appeals courts previously upheld integration plans in both school systems after parents sued. The Bush administration threw its political weight behind the parents.

In his dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “There is a cruel irony in The Chief Justice’s reliance on our decision in Brown v. Board of Education… The Chief Justice rewrites the history of one of this Court’s most important decisions.” Justice Stevens, who has served on the Supreme Court longer than any other current justice, concluded his dissent, writing, “It is my firm conviction that no Member of the Court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today’s decision.”

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Trans Lawyers

Donna, one of our mHB forum moderators, happens to be the only person we know of who has ever transitioned while working as an attorney at a law firm in New York. Recently she came upon an article about how great it is to be a GLBT lawyer these days, and her reaction was, “Maybe GLB – but T?” and wrote a letter to The American Lawyer about being trans and a lawyer. She refers to a report by the NYCLA from 2005 (which Caprice, another one of our mHB forum moderators, worked on):

A survey by the New York County Lawyers Association of the 25 largest law firms in New York City in early 2005 asked how many attorneys had ever transitioned (that is, publicly changed their gender) while working at those firms. Every one of the firms answered “none.”

She came to the conclusion that in this case, the use of LGBT is used more “reflexively” and so, for T people, “essentially meaningless.”

Thanks to Donna for being willing, not just to transition openly at a law firm, but in being willing to out herself for the sake of setting the record straight, especially because there are, at this point, quite a few people she deals with professionally who don’t know about her history.

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What Logic

More good news during Women’s History Month: the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals just found that Union Pacific’s health insurance plan – which includes no contraception or pregnancy planning coverage – is not discrimination based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on gender.

The logic was that the health insurance plan doesn’t cover condoms, either, so it’s not discriminatory not to cover anything for women.

But, duh, MEN CAN’T GET PREGNANT.

US Judge Kermit Bye, the lone dissenter, objected to this logic because Union Pacific’s contraception policy only affects preventative care for women. Because men cannot become pregnant, it makes sense that the health care plan does not cover pregnancy prevention for men. Therefore, Judge Bye found that while the policy might be “officially gender neutral,” it is still discriminatory, according to the Associated Press.

But here’s the real kicker: the Union Pacific plan does cover Rogaine and Viagra.

So the guys have health insurance for their full heads of hair and hard dicks, because you know, those are important and vital medical concerns, but the women of UP can’t take birth control to prevent pregnancy, because, you know, that’s a minor matter and hardly important to a woman who works for a living.

If this is Women’s History Month, then I suppose we all should have worn orange on St. Patrick’s Day.

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Women’s Health Budget Cut

The Office of Women’s Health – which researches funding on women’s medical issues such as menopause, birth control, pregnancy & the like – was allocated $4 million. $2.8 million of that is already spent or appropriated, and the final $1.2 million won’t be coming at all.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to withhold 30 percent of the funding allocated for the Office of Women’s Health in 2007, an unnamed, high level official told the Washington Post.

The source isn’t allowed to speak publicly about it and remained unnamed.

Um, isn’t that our money?! As taxpayers? Shouldn’t we at least know who made this decision and why? This type of mumblefuck is exactly why we need more women in government. Sure we’re 51%, but with nothing close to that in terms of representation. I guess this is the way the Feds decided to celebrate Women’s History Month: thanks, guys.

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Betty on All My Children

Betty and six other trans people will be the support group that the MTF character Zarf/Zoe goes to visit on two upcoming episodes of All My Children: March 9th & 12th. The other six were Tommy, Brigit, June, Andy Marra of NCTE, David Harrison, & as the group’s moderator, Jennifer Finney Boylan.

But the interesting thing about the episode is that each of these people are only playing themselves; each of them gets to speak about their own lives & their experience being trans. As far as I know, this is not just trans history in the making, but soap opera history as well.

Do tune in.