Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
While I’m sure it can be difficult for some trans people to comprehend, there are a ton of us out there who were incredibly offended by Gold’s piece for Bilerico. One of those people is Peter Toscano, who asked for other allies to post on his blog in support of all the trans people we know & love.
Damn is that cool.
A graduate student in journalism at CUNY recently wrote a cool article / multimedia presentation on the recent changes to the name change laws in New York State. Our own Caprice Bellefleur, the veteran mod of the mHB forums, who works with the Name Change Project, was interviewed.
A New York County appeals court ruled on October 21 that a transgender person does not need a doctor’s note to change his or her name. This decision reversed a Civil Court denial of a name-change petition. (See here for more information.)
The decision could impact all of New York state, Caprice Bellefleur said by email. Bellefleur is a volunteer lawyer for the West Village Trans-Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal assistance to transgender people seeking to legally change their names. “Any decision that eases the [name-change] process can be used to argue for the same result across the state,” said Bellefleur.
The editors of Bilerico fired Ronald Gold & took his post down.
I firmly disagree with the opinion that posting his screed had anything to do with website hits or publicity, and I disagree emphatically.
The only remaining dilemma, in my opinion, is that Ronald Gold is not the only one, & is in fact representative of some people with queer genders who don’t understand that trans people are categorically different, in their experience of gender, than those who are not trans.
It took me a long fucking time to understand that. It was only when I met stone butches who transitioned to femmey gay men and former straight men who transitioned to geeky tomboys that I realized it had nothing whatsoever to do with gender conformity.
Trans people do not, as a whole, reject gender non-conformity. They are not trans because they are invested in the binary. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
I forgot to mention the other day that those stunning photos were by Betty; she’s been taking some amazing photographs of the campus since fall. She’s also taken a few really great ones of our kittoi; this is Aurora on her double-harness deciding that she does not like snow.
And no, it doesn’t amaze me to find out my lovely wife has yet another fantastic skill.
I mean, really, this isn’t a joke?
I’m going to say again: those of us with queer genders who aren’t trans seem to have a beam in our own eye on this one. We just don’t get it, over & over & over again. No, female & male personalities don’t exist. But male & female people DO — wither social construction & all.
It’d be laughable for a man who actively resisted being pathologized to turn around & pathologize others if it weren’t awful. Shame on you, Ronald Gold. You should know better than to distrust the narratives of people who are a minority & misunderstood, but perhaps you’ve forgotten you are one, too.
So Mr. Gold, try to dust off your brain & remember when people told you that you just hadn’t met the right woman, because the argument you make concerning trans people is about as uninformed, inexperienced & myopic. & I say that with utmost respect for what you’ve achieved.
It’s always so good to hear when another partner support group starts! Go Madison!
Just to let you know there is a SOFFA support group starting in Madison.
It will meet every other Tuesday evening, 7p-9p, beginning January 19.
It will meet at Outreach, 600 Williamson Street.
We will be focusing on the SOFFA experience and narrative.
It is a drop-in, peer support group.
What a cool thing: a list of feminist books for five year olds.
It’s good news: Ireland has a possible law going before Parliament that will recognize the chosen gender marker/identity of trans individuals. The Green Party is pushing for it.
We’re expecting a foot to 18 inches. If you want to see it live, you can. The storm’s name – I had no idea we named winter storms – is Winter Storm Allison.
(Thanks to Lynne & Megan for the info & webcam.)