(Yes, those are two moms reading their Mother’s Day card together.)
Help Qween Amor
Qween Amor was assaulted in Union Square on May 7th, 2013. The suspect is now in custody. Immediately after this video was taken, her suitcase (pictured, red) was stolen. It contained her amplifier, laptop, and all other possessions.
S/he needs help to purchase a new amplifier/boombox, so that she can continue performing & sending her message of love. Contributions can be made via paypal to: QweenAmor@gmail.com.
For Spring
ABC News Anchor Transitions: Dawn Ennis
ABC News Editor Don ‘Dawn’ Ennis Comes Out As Transgender
In a lot of ways, not an atypical mid-life transition, and I wish her well.
She says:
Ennis has not yet undergone a sex change operation, but says her marriage is “wrecked.”
“Despite the heartbreak, [my wife] has encouraged me to start this new life that we both believe better fits who I now am,” Ennis continued. “Trust me, this is NOT the midlife crisis I was counting on — I’d much prefer to have bought a sports car. Even an affair, I think, would have been something we might have recovered from.”
So, yeah. That’s all true.
Today’s Haiku
How warm was the sun?
But winter wasn’t over, so
Tulips will shiver.
Sports + Outness
There have been some interesting articles turning up some interesting facts in light of Jason Collins coming out.
For starters, he wasn’t the first. Glenn Burke was:
Burke made no secret of his sexual orientation to the Dodgers front office, his teammates, or friends in either league. He also talked freely with sportswriters, though all of them ended up shaking their heads and telling him they couldn’t write that in their papers. Burke was so open about his sexuality that the Dodgers tried to talk him into participating in a sham marriage. (He wrote in his autobiography that the team offered him $75,000 to go along with the ruse.) He refused. In a bit of irony that would seem farcical if it wasn’t so tragic, one of the Dodgers who tried to talk Burke into getting “married,” was his manager, Tommy Lasorda, whose son Tom Jr. died from AIDS complications in 1991. To this day, Lasorda Sr. refuses to acknowledge his son’s homosexuality.
And then this one, about Vince Lombardi:
“My father was way ahead of his time,” Susan Lombardi said. “He was discriminated against as a dark-skinned Italian American when he was younger, when he felt he was passed up for coaching jobs that he deserved. He felt the pain of discrimination, and so he raised his family to accept everybody, no matter what color they were or whatever their sexual orientation was.
Now *there’s* an argument for why I should be a Packers fan – if there is one. (Which there isn’t. But still, this one’s better than any. No one told me the famous Packers coach was born in Brooklyn, either. He was only about 15 years older than my dad, and got his start in the NFL working for the Giants.)
I love the way one person comes out and the whole thing pretty much implodes. It’s really, really great to see this happening in professional sports.
Of course the ladies – Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova – both came out in 1981.
(Sadly, in the meanwhile, LGBTQ allies Kluwe and Ayanbadejo have been sacked. So much for the NFL.)
CA College Sports
California has just made it possible for trans college students to play as the gender they are instead of as the gender they were declared at birth.
It’s a good move, although it’s bound to come with complications.
Seattle + Portland
Have I mentioned that I’m going away for about a 10 days to visit Seattle and Portland?! I am, and SOON.
I’m going to Seattle in order to give the keynote at Esprit this year – which is in Port Angeles, WA, & I’m told it’s beautiful. I’ve been told many times it’s a fun conference, too. I’ll be doing two workshops while I’m there as well. I’ll be there from 5/17 – 5/19.
I will probably also be doing some kind of author gig in Seattle while I”m there, possibly on the 20th or 21st.
And I will get to see a very, very old friend in Portland who I haven’t seen in — at least a few years now — which is really too great.
Two Tune Tuesday: New Janelle Monae (w Erykah Badu)
Just DAMN. She is too righteous for her own good. & No, the booty don’t lie. That last rap is too fantastic:
My crown too heavy like the Queen Nefertiti
Gimme back my pyramid, I’m trying to free Kansas City
Mixing masterminds like your name Bernie Grundman
Well I’m gonna keep leading like a young Harriet Tubman
You can take my wings but I’m still goin’ fly
And even when you edit me the booty don’t lie
Yeah, keep singing and I’mma keep writing songs
I’m tired of Marvin asking me, “What’s Going On?
March to the streets ‘cuz I’m willing and I’m able
Categorize me, I defy every label
And while you’re selling dope, we’re gonna keep selling hope
We rising up now, you gotta deal you gotta cope
Will you be electric sheep?
Electric ladies, will you sleep?
Or will you preach?
So here’s the other thing I love about her: she’s wearing heels, which she never does, but somehow, she wears them like they’re combat boots.
Mariette Pathy Allen
Slate’s just done a nice piece about Mariette Pathy Allen, who has been photographing members of the trans community for a long while. Her books were some of the first I saw and read, in fact.
This is one of my favorites of hers, and it’s of Felicity, who died a few years ago at the age of 102. She is sitting in front of a photo of her child self at the turn of the last century.
It was almost a rite of passage when she photographed us when we were at Fantasia Fair in Provincetown nearly a decade ago.
You can see more of her photography on her own website.