Another super close-up of my handsome boy.
Aeneas’ left ear, for your amusement (but not his).
17-25 Things You Can Do
I’d been cross-posting NCTE’s 52 Things You Can Do For Transgender Equality, but the numbers started to get a little screwy & then I plumb forgot.
So, for the end of pride month, here’s #s 17 – 25!!
#17: March as a trans contingent in the Gay Pride Parade
#18: Educate a local homeless shelter about how to be trans inclusive
#19: Pass a non-discrimination ordinance in your community
#20: Visit the offices of your congressional representative and educate them about trans issues
#21: Start a local support or education group
#22: Volunteer with an LGBT Advocacy group
#23: Start a Speakers’ Bureau
#24: Break a Gender Rule
#25: Make a Restroom More Accessible to Trans People
You can see the whole list at NCTE’s site, of course.
At the Corner of Turk & Taylor
A memorial plaque commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot will be installed at Noon this Thursday, June 22nd, at the corner of San Francisco’s Turk and Taylor Streets. The 1966 riot was the first known instance of transgender resistanceto police harassment in the U.S.
Jamison Green, Leslie Feinberg, Mara Keisling and Susan Stryker will all speak.
I wish I could be there.
Check this news item for more information about the Compton Cafeteria Riots, and thanks to Donna T for posting the news.
Five Questions With… Cynthia Majors
Cynthia Majors was born and raised in Teaneck New Jersey. She graduated from Teaneck High School in 1970 and Bergen Community College with a BA in 1972. She and her wife Sharla were married in Sept of 1983 and still live in Teaneck. Cynthia has been a member of Chi Delta Mu Chapter of Tri-Ess for about 10 years and is now serving as President for the second time. Besides being an active amateur drag performer Cynthia is also a member of a Drag Performance group called Flavah which has been a regular in the NYC Pride Parade for the last several years . Their photos have appeared in the NY Daily News and the front page of AM New York. In addition Cynthia has been interviewed on both WPLJ and WINS Radio on several TG issues.
1) You were President of CDM and then you weren’t and now you are again: did you take a break or are you feeling reluctant about leading CDM?
To put it frankly, I took a break. I felt that I was getting in over my head because I was trying to do everything myself and it just wasn’t working. I had gone into being President with what I had thought were some very good ideas but when things didn’t work out the way I had hoped I became frustrated and I think it had a very adverse effect on how I handled myself and the group. When election time came around again I had no interest in continuing as President. Now. a little older and a lot wiser, I’ve opted to try it again for several reasons. First I now have a great team working with me. My wife Sharla is the Treasurer and Linda Mills is my VP. I’ve finally learned that things need to be delegated or you burn out-not an easy lesson for a Type A personality to take in.
Continue reading “Five Questions With… Cynthia Majors”
Here Comes the Summer.
Summer begins today at 7:26 am EDT – the moment this post goes up.
Details, Details
This just in: She’s Not the Man I Married will be published in March 2007, and the list price will be $15.95.
A Girl Like Gwen
The Gwen Araujo story aired on Lifetime tonight and unfortunately we don’t have cable, but I’m hoping someone will loan me a copy. Right now I’m not sure I’m up to watching it; I read so many articles, news reports, essays, editorials… and none of them change the ending. I wish something could, still.
There is a thread about the movie – the making of it and reactions to it – on our message boards, if you want to join in.
I’m pleased, too, that they got a good actress to play Gwen’s mother. Stories about transpeople seem to forget sometimes that they have families – mothers, wives, boyfriends, children. Stories like Gwen’s – and recently Kevin Aviance’s – sometimes make me with that I could keep Betty from going outside. But of course that’s no way to live, either. Please, transfolk: be safe. Tell friends where you are. As often as possible make sure there’s someone around who’s got your back.
The Partner's Part
In the ‘middle path’ thread, Marlena wrote:
While being single all these days years has sucked in other ways, one benefit is that it helped me find my equalibrium on the trans spectrum. I can dress generally when I want. The fact that I don’t want to do so constantly — and in fact if I do it a lot I get tired of doing so — tells me something. However, since the vast majority of CDs are in relationships where they’re in either the closet or with an SO who isn’t “do what ever your want” enthusiastic, they never really find their equalibrium point. So on other forums, I hear a lot of pent-up desire talking. I suspect if they had the opportunity dress every day, a lot of them would find that doing your make-up every morning soon gets to be a chore.
and michelleNYC’s recent comments made me think: do wives/girlfriends act as a kind of safety, an anchor, for MTF transfolk? Do we give CDs/TGs a sense of being tethered, so that they don’t go flying off into experimentation & sliding down the slippery slope?
Do we provide a kind of relief, even if at the same time we’re resented for how we might restrict our partner’s gender expression?
I’m a little worried about saying the word maternal outloud in this context.
PBS Pride Shows
Just a reminder to check out your local PBS schedule during June. Our local PBS channel has been showing some great shows for Pride Month: things like back to back episodes of In The Life, a celebration for Oscar Wilde’s birthday, a great little documentary about Queerspawn (the children of LGBT parents, & in particular about Family Week in P-Town), a profile of Audre Lorde. Especially check out the late night programming; tonight at least it was all programming about LGBT folks. Screaming Queens, Susan Stryker’s documentary about the Compton Cafeteria Riots, is on the 30th.
Writer's Desk
I took this photo in order to figure out my desk ergonomics, & it surprised me to see exactly how much of my life it reveals.
Starting at the upper right corner and going around clockwise, you can see: backup ream of HP paper on top of paper sorter stack; vintage lamp; large candle; my father’s old mahogany inbox; iPod (20 gig with black earbuds for subway safety); “Trans in the City” mug (a gift from the Hetrick-Martin Institute) of tea; scissors.
Center bottom: new underdesk keyboard drawer & old trackball mouse precipitously perched.
Starting at the bottom left corner: copy of Sims2 Nightlife on top of my computer tower & external hard drive; ashtray, cigarettes & matches; another inbox with articles I’m reading/using for the new book.
On the hutch, my bottles of painkillers, muscle relaxants, anti-depressants & allergy meds (so I remember to take them), a green page holder, Merriam-Webster’s Page-A-Day calendar, & the upper right corner of my new HP all in one printer.
On the top plane, above my monitor, the bottom edge of my Sandman “Still Life with Cats” poster with four postcards tucked into the frame: (1) Buster Keaton dining with an elephant; (2) postcard from the first Rufus Wainwright show I saw; (3) Our Mother of Sorrows 9/11 prayer card, and (4) Greta Garbo photo (the one the US postage stamp was drawn from).
If you look really close, you can also see that the monitor view is of the message boards, and in particular Lynne’s post about how to prevent CP and RSI, which is what caused me to take the photo in the first place.
(You can see a much larger version of the photo here.)