So my lovely wife has been working a lot of hours for a lot of months in order to create Lawrence University’s new website. It launched this week and I for one wanted to congratulate her on this gigantic project. Well done, doll!
And Back in the States…
… Arizona legislators want to make it illegal for people to use the “wrong” bathroom, and to make the offense punishable with fines and jail time. They’ve raised the usual bugaboo of pedophilia – which, if anyone has noticed, we don’t seem to care one whit about when it’s done by straight men – and which Mara Keisling clarifies:
“These (anti-discrimination) laws are in effect in more than 160 cities and 16 states,” said Keisling, and that the problem of sexual predation on minors that the discriminatory policy alleges to address, “isn’t happening anywhere. It just doesn’t occur. It’s one of the terrible things that opponents of equality always raise in hopes of scaring people.”
Oh, and by the way? “Birth gender” is an oxymoron. Pass it on.
Go Canada!
Canada has just passed a bill that would protect transgender people nationally. The Prime Minister voted against it, and it still has to make it through the Senate, but still: impressive.
I’m adding a bit sent in by a reader about how the Canadian system works, and some info on what’s actually going on up there in terms of this specific bill. Interesting stuff.
Kate Bornstein Needs You
Kate Bornstein is fighting cancer. Help her kick its ass by donating something to help her pay her bills and for her treatment.
I can say for one thing: I don’t know that I’d be around without her. Please let’s keep her alive. She blew the roof off this trans thing for so many of us; she continues to do amazing work year in and year out, and her heart is about as big as they come. I know that every time I see her, or talk with her, I have a renewed sense of my own dedication to this movement.
So give until it hurts. Masochist that she is, she’ll love that.
RIP Erica Andrews
What a sad thing to hear: Erica Andrews, who was still in her early 40s, died of a lung infection a week ago now. She was not, as the articles make her out to be, a “drag queen” or “female illusionist” – or at least not those things only – she lived as a woman 24/7 and talked specifically about being a transsexual woman. They did get the “one of the best” part right, at least.
There’s a nice video tribute here, and here’s a clip of her on Tyra. She did one hell of a Joan Crawford, too.
The Onion Wins Again
The Onion has saved me from having to say: fuck CNN & their coverage of the Steubenville verdict. (But do sign the petition, which has now collected 200k signatures, and which demands an apology for their rapist-sympathetic coverage.)
College Basketball Star Heroically Overcomes Tragic Rape He Committed
Just fuck the idiots who treat athletes as if they don’t have to be civilized. I hate the sports cult bullshit, hate it.
(That said, these two NFL guys spoke at the GLAAD awards about being allies to the LGBTQ communities, and I was impressed. My wife had a nice chat with Kluwe, too. More of this, please.)
Post Revel Flu
… and I manage to return home with the flu or a stomach virus or whatever miserable thing it is. But at least, at least! it waited until all the good stuff was over, & even waited until the flight was over, because that would have sucked in a big way.
us at the #glaad awards
… and there’s this one, too, of me and my wife.
#glaadawards: John Leguizamo
I was a giant fan of his in the early 90s when “House of Buggin'” was on TV and I was maybe the only white girl living in Washington Heights. No, really.
I didn’t see To Wong Foo when it came out, believe it or not. Mostly I went to see him on stage, for Freak and Spic O Rama and Sexaholix, which I loved (even just that clip of it is NSFW).
And he was a totally nice guy, too.
But this PSA kinda gives you the lowdown.
My wife, in the meantime, had a lovely time chatting with his wife, and a good time was had by all.
(And John, if you happen to read this: I’m not the trans one. That was my version of funny.)
Habemus Papam
It’s really too bad I didn’t put money on it, because I was right,: homophobic from the Global South, as predicted.
He sounds like poverty might actually rate, however, which would be a nice change of pace for the Church, to rediscover poor people again, and maybe focus on that instead of on so-called morality. (So called as morality only seems to matter if people are female or queer; sexual abuse & all that rot they never say a damn thing about.) He is flexible on condoms as contraception – if they’re being used to prevent infection, and hey, he’s a Jesuit, but on the conservative end of Jesuit, which means: expect anything once he’s learned more.