LOGO has all their trans shows listed in one spot, for your viewing pleasure.

(via Calpernia Addam’s blog)

Here’s Jacob Anderson-Minshall’s now annual “Trans Year in Review” article, which covers a lot of interesting people and events and media in the trans commmunity for 2008.

Tune in tonight to TransFM for the special “12 Days of Christmas” greeting from us!

It certainly looks like Huckabee is doing some early work to get out in front for the 2012 presidential run, doesn’t it?

As Pam over at PHB points out:

“This man ran for president and intends to do so again. Journalists, particularly openly progressive ones, have an obligation to bore in on pols like Huckabee because their views are often wrapped up with a wink and a smile and sold as protecting family, children, the word “marriage”, etc. as if this is all a benign act that hurts no citizens in this country.”

Jon Stewart took him down in a good way - you can see the clip at Pam’s - and I agree with her that we need go shut this down before it gets too big.

The Advocate had a bunch of LGBT activists, writers, & bloggers pen a letter to the incoming president, including Mara Keisling, Donna Rose, Pam Spaulding, and Tammy Baldwin.

Worth checking out.

Well go figure, but I’m writing a new relationships advice column at www.ourchart.com called Ask Big Sister. & No, I’m not actually a big sister - youngest of 6 - but I always wanted to be! This is an introductory piece, of course, so the readers there get to know who I am and what my gig is.

Since readers over there can ask me questions, of course you can too! I’d love to hear any you’ve got, especially the ones you’d like to see addressed in a column.

A week later, the Trans for Obama campaign is still going: we’ve gotten over 300 donors and have raised nearly $14,000 for the campaign. That’s exciting! A blogger at GLAAD, Mik Kinkead, who is their Transgender Advocacy Fellow, wrote a nice piece about the campaign (and about me).

So keep spreading the word, because there are still weeks left until Election Day, & the more visible we are, the more pols care about our issues.

(h/t to Andrea James)

Kate Bornstein is just popping with thoughts about presidential politics, change & trans. Trans people certainly know something about change, she points out.

We’ve also moved up a ranking in ActBlue’s list of donor groups. We’re at #7 now! And most of these groups have been fundraising for quite a long time. Right now we’re 2 away from hitting yesterday’s goal of 261. I’m really just so damned impressed that I’ve also posted about the Trans for Obama campaing on invert(e) and Bilerico. I’ve never done so much guest blogging ever!

So keep it going, folks!

As reported by Alex Blaze on the Bilerico Project, William Bolthouse, founder and 43% owner of Bolthouse Farms, a farm in California that provides organic juices, lemonades, and smoothies to places like Whole Foods and other organic market places, has just recently given a  donation of $100,000 to proponents of a campaign to strip California couples of the right to marry.

Please take a moment and let Bolthouse Farms and their distributors know that you will no longer be purchasing their organic products, because even though they are organic, they come with some nasty side effects. Sign the petition.

A great rant about Pride by Joe.My.God, which he wrote back in 2005 after watching a NYC Pride Parade:

Because even if Pride doesn’t change many minds in the outside world, it’s our PARTY, darlings. It’s our Christmas, our New Year’s, our Carnival. It’s the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other “Happy Pride!” Saying “Happy Pride!” is really just a shorter, easier way of saying “Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Way to go for not taking a rifle into a tower and taking out half the town! Well done, being YOURSELF!”

I’m not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It’s OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our “debauched” celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.

It seemed a great way to end Pride Month.

A while back I did an interview with Josh & Sara of here!, and I just discovered the videos are now up. I really enjoyed doing this interview, & really enjoyed both of them, which shows.

Part One

Part Two

To all the fathers of the trans community, whether they’re male or female or some other gender of their choosing: have a happy father’s day.

Here’s a cool article by Dana Rudolph of Mombian about Marti Abernathey and her son.

170+ bloggers contributed to this year’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day, which is damned impressive. Go to Mombian to check out all the posts.

Over at Bilerico, “Guest blogger Rev. Ann Fontaine, of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, keeps the blogs Green Lent and what the tide brings in and writes for Episcopal Cafe. She is the author of Streams of Mercy: a meditative commentary on the Bible.”

Here’s her “Code for Allies”:

• We listen to those with whom we work without judging the perspectives, experiences, and feelings of the members of the marginalized group, even when the words feel accusatory towards us. These perspectives, experiences and feelings reveal what we do not know about those with whom we seek to become allies.
• We seek to learn from those with whom we ally in order to educate ourselves and others about the culture and concerns of those with whom we are allied. We examine our fears of “the other. We recognize the interconnectedness of “isms” and other examples of individual and societal prejudice.
• We understand the commonalities and the differences among the various expressions of prejudice and isolation of groups.
• We identify and work to change our prejudicial beliefs and actions as well as to change the beliefs and actions of others, both individual and institutional.
• We build relationships with other discredited, marginalized, oppressed, non-privileged groups.
• We work for the equalizing and responsible use of power and authority.
• We advocate for policies and activities that support those affected by injustice.
• We use appropriate language.
• We confront inappropriate language.
• We ask questions rather than assume we know the answer.
• We take risks.
• We appreciate the efforts by members of our ally group to point out our mistakes.
• We combat the harassment, discrimination, and physical assault that marginalized groups experience in our society by speaking out, by our presence and by working to change the systems that continue oppression and give one group privilege over another.
• We appreciate the risks taken by our allies for their own freedom.
• We recognize that groups need to work on their own and with others - even when that means we may be left out of the discussion and work.
• We support other allies.
• We act as allies with no conditions attached.

Now that’s a plateful, but do go read the whole post.

(via Lena, via Bilerico)

Marti Abernathey has got some interesting info about the HRC protest in Houston over at Bilerico. Worthwhile reading.

The cover story of this month’s Advocate wants to know who’s to blame for Lawrence King’s murder.

Their insinuation is that those who would have advised Lawrence to be open about his sexuality and gender identity are.

Bruce Parker at Bilerico has posted an open letter to LGBT Ally organizations that will be sent to The Advocate in response to this article.

I really enjoyed doing this podcast with Josh & Sara, so I’m pleased to say it’s up on their website as an MP3 now.

I’m doing an interview with Josh & Sara of here! today at 3PM.

(& In the meanwhile, you can check out a past one with Veronica Vera. It’s #107.)

According to Perez Hilton, Calpernia Addams is going to be the star of her own new reality show, where she gets to choose from among eight bachelors.

MTV’s GLBT channel, Logo, will be airing a reality dating show starring a transgender woman as the lead!

Transamerican Love Story is centered on transgender activist and actress Calpernia Addams.

The show follows Calpernia as she whittles down a group of eight bachelors, living together in a Los Angeles-area home, with the help of her best friend and fellow transgender activist Andrea James.

So what do we think of that? Really, I’m not sure what I think, though I do wish Calpernia well in the endeavor, & that she picks a guy who doesn’t suck.

ENDA will be voted on tomorrow, without the Baldwin Amendment.

& Apparently the decision to go ahead was based on HRC surveying 500 LGBT people across the country as to whether or not they should go ahead even though transgender people were included.

As if the 500 organizations that already said NOT to go ahead don’t count at all.

What really pisses me off is that this is how the question was worded:

“This proposal would make it illegal to fire gay, lesbian and bisexual workers because of their sexual orientation. This proposal does not include people who are transgender. Would you favor or oppose this proposal moving forward?”

No mention that the Tammy Baldwin variation isn’t just inclusive of transgender identities, but of GENDER IDENTITY. No mention that the inclusive ENDA would also protect gays and lesbians whose genders aren’t normative. That is, no mention of the butches and queens, sissies and bulldaggers. Apparently there to be hung out to dry along with the trans population. So now we can hear that a woman wasn’t fired for being a lesbian, oh no. She was fired because she’s just too masculine, of course.

Feh. Or, as a friend of mine comments when HRC comes up, “You expect anything from an organization that can’t even put GAY in its name?”

(Sources: PageOneQ, Gay.com, The Advocate, The Associated Press)