Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
In a couple of weeks we’re going upstate to watch good friends get married, so right now they’re in the middle of that stomach-knotting freakout time right before the big party. I’m sure it’ll all be perfect, but today is our own 8th wedding anniversary, & no, I’m not explaining these two songs. If you were there, you know how we used them.
(Happy Anniversary, my many-named love!)
Here’s a remarkable article about how the SCLC – a civil rights organization – just called up its LA chapter’s president for protesting Prop 8. That’s right – the org took a neutral position on the matter, which is bad enough, but now they’re thinking of chastising a chapter head who didn’t remain neutral. I say: good for him.
In some of the places my RSS feed goes, it’s coming up spammed. We’re about to update my WP blog software, which hopefully will fix the problem, but if anyone else sees this happening wherever you read me (FB, LJ, etc.), do let me know in a week if it hasn’t stopped.
From the Empire State Pride Agenda:
Today, the trial begins for the murder of Lateisha Green, a 22-year-old transgender woman who was tragically shot and killed in Syracuse on November 14, 2008 just for being transgender. The Pride Agenda expresses its deepest sympathies to Lateisha’s family and outrage that transgender New Yorkers continue to be targeted for violence and discrimination based solely on who they are.
This morning, the Pride Agenda’s Director of Public Policy & Education, Ross Levi, will speak at a press conference in Syracuse, along with other local LGBT leaders, about the trial and the need for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act. And throughout the trial, our friends at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) will be in Syracuse, working with Lateisha’s family to ensure that the public learns as much as possible about Lateisha’s life, the tragic circumstances of her death and the tremendous violence that transgender people continue to face. You can learn more about Lateisha Green and stay updated on the trial through these organizations’ great resources, including an online resource kit, Twitter, Facebook, and the GLAAD Blog.
No family should ever have to suffer such a devastating loss, and no one should ever have to fear that their life is in danger simply because they are transgender. That’s why we’re calling on the State Senate to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would include gender identity and expression in the State human rights and hate crimes laws. We’ll keep you updated as developments on GENDA happen.
To follow what’s going on via Twitter, check out @Andy_Marra or TLDEF, or hashtag #justisceforteish
A very happy birthday to my big sister Kathleen! I joked recently that I’ll be forever grateful that there is someone older than me in the world, as stupid as that was, but at some level it’s true. Not having had a kid sibling myself, as the youngest, means there is no one in the world who I can remind of the time she got a marble stuck up her nose.
(Okay, I didn’t ever do that. but it would have been Kath who took me to the emergency room if I had.)
From NCTE:
Contact Your Senators About Hate Crimes Bill
Dear Friends,
We have good news: The Senate is likely to vote on the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, S.909, as early as next Wednesday, July 15. As you may remember, the companion bill, H.R.1913, already passed the House of Representatives this past April after NCTE’s successful lobby day. With a final push, you can help to make this important bill become a law.
This bill expands the coverage of existing hate crime laws to include crimes not only based on race, color, religion, and national origin, but also bias-motivated crimes based on the victim’s actual pr perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.
TAKE ACTION
On Wednesday, July 15, call your senators toll free at 866-659-9641 between 9am and 5pm ET. Continue reading “From NCTE: Final Hate Crimes Push”
A cool anthro prof gives an hour-long video lecture about YouTube, Web 2.0, and all the new networking tech. Fascinating stuff, especially if you missed some of the important historical “moments” in the development of YouTube.
DC Trans Coalition and Office of Human Rights Launch Bathroom Access and Safety Campaign
Groups Mobilizing Community to Ensure Enforcement of the Human Rights Act
Washington, DC –  On Friday, July 3rd, the DC Trans Coalition (DCTC) along with the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR) launched the Bathroom Access and Safety Campaign, otherwise known as the Pee in Peace Campaign – a community mobilization project designed to ensure bathroom access and safety for all residents, including transgender, transsexual and gender non-conforming individuals, in the District.
Even with the District’s comprehensive Human Rights Act, which includes protections for gender identity or expression, trans and gender non-conforming people continue to experience verbal and physical harassment ranging from being attacked and thrown out to even being arrested for simply trying to use the bathroom in the District. In fact, according to a recent citywide survey for transgender and gender non-conforming people, 70 percent of respondents indicated that they had experienced problems accessing or using gender segregated bathrooms. Continue reading “DC Bathroom Campaign”
This morning, the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education (Labor HHS) eliminated traditional sources of funding for abstinence-only programs by passing the appropriations bill for FY 2010.
The Labor HHS subcommittee and the Obama Administration has recognized what we already knew: abstinence-only sex education programs do not work. The evidence is irrefutable that spending for abstinence-only education is not only wasteful, but also the programs put young women’s health at risk. A 2004 study by the House Committee on Government Reform, conducted at the request of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-30-CA) found that over 80% of the curricula used in the largest federally funded abstinence-only programs contained “false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.” >In addition to pulling the plug on funding for failed abstinence-only sex education programs, the bill eliminates a ban on syringe exchange programs, which have been proven to be a highly effective strategy for preventing HIV.
(via email from FeministMajority.org)
As of today, Chi Delta Mu, the Tri-Ess chapter of the tri-state area, voted to leave Tri-Ess and become an inclusive & independent trans group.
At issue were the chapter’s non-compliance on three major required items: (1) that the local members be due-paying members of national; (2) that the group keep its focus on providing “support and education on behalf of heterosexual crossdressers, their spouses, partners and families”; and (3) that the local chapter file a financial statement with national.
From what I know, CDM hadn’t done (3) in a long while, hadn’t been (2) in a long while, and (1) that most of its members were not members of national.
From what I understand, there was nothing contentious going on – just National asking the local to respect its rules of the charter, and the local realizing that their group had evolved in such a way that becoming compliant again wasn’t going to work for them as a group.