As I previously reported, Betty just got a part in a new play called Wolfpit (about which we’re very excited) except that it opens Friday & Saturday night, April 7th & 8th.
Which is the same weekend as the IFGE Conference, which we were intending to go to.
So just so you all know: Betty will not be attending the conference at all, and I’ll only go in order to do my workshops on Thursday and Friday (both in the 2-3:15 slot), which means I’ll be around Wednesday night until about 4pm Friday.
Apologies to anyone who was hoping to meet us ensemble.
TransNation Columns
An FTM journalist named Jacob Anderson-Minshall who did an interview with me for this past month’s Curve magazine is writing a column called TransNation, and I like it. He’s done columns on the NCTE’s Andy Marra, on Calpernia Addams, Gunner Scott of GenderCrash, and columns on the increasing visibility of trans people in the media.
Keep an eye out for the column; it’s good stuff.
Betty in Boots
The Inside Edition website is updated, and “Cross Dressing Husbands” made the preview video, even. If you’re not laughing so hard at the Drunk Dial clip, you’ll be able to see a split second of Betty zipping up her boot – which I’m going to take as confirmation that we will be on, as will Shirene and Shayla (who are the couple shown in the video).
None of us have ever dialed drunk, I promise.
Looks Likely
It’s looking likely that the bit we filmed for Inside Edition will air on Friday’s show, as well. It’s not certain yet, but nearly.
You can check Inside Edition’s website to figure out when you need to be near your TV! Here in NYC it’s on Fox, at noon and again at 1:30 AM.
Shayla & Shirene
When I was researching My Husband Betty, I went to the SPICE conference, and there we met a young, enthusiastic couple named Shalya and Shirene. (Okay, she wasn’t Shayla then, but I can’t remember her original femme name.) But Shirene nodded at everything I nodded at when we were in workshops, and then the four of us – plus the lovely Penny (whose name wasn’t Penny then, either) & Jayme – sat in the hotel lobby and talked about sex the rest of the night!
Shayla & Shirene are going to be on Inside Edition this coming Friday, February 10th. Do watch them; they’re a lovely, articulate, optimistic couple, who are (if I do say so myself) fantastic representatives for the trans community – especially the much-neglected crossdressing set.
^ me, Shayla, and Shirene, at IFGE ’04.
Lisa Jackson Rocks (on Mondays in February)
Lisa Jackson + Girl Friday are playing every Monday in February at Arlene’s Grocery at 8pm, and there’s no cover.
Do go. I’ve told you how good they are. I’ve told you more than once, in fact.
The 3rd Annual Trans Issues Week at Yale
The Third Annual TRANS ISSUES WEEK AT YALE
Feb 20 – 24, 2006
February 20
Kate Bornstein, Author of Gender Outlaw
“Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us”
Monday, February 20th, 8:00 pm
Harkness Hall (WLH), 100 Wall Street, room 309
Sponsored by the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale
February 21
The Gendered Body: Body Modification and Transgender Identity
A forum of trans-identified individuals from NYC moderated by author Helen Boyd
Tuesday, February 21st, 7:30 pm
Yale Women’s Center, 198 Elm Street
Sponsored by the Yale Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
February 22
Intersections: Race and Transgender Identity
A panel of young trans-identified individuals discussing their experiences with
race, gender, and sexuality
Wednesday, February 22nd, 4:00 pm
Yale Women’s Center, 198 Elm Street
Sponsored by the Yale Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program
February 23
King Me!
A Gender Bending performance and Drag King workshop with Queer Soup
Thursday, February 23rd, 7:30 pm
Dwight Hall Chapel, Old Campus at Yale (High St, between Elm and Chapel)
Cosponsored by the Yale Women’s Center and the Yale LGBT Co-operative
TRANSWEEK is sponsored by the LKI, the WGSS, the Yale Women’s Center, the LGBTQ Co-Op, and QPAC
2/6/06 = #6
NCTE’s 52 Things You Can Do for Transgender Equality:
#6 Plan an Art Show of Works by Trans Artists.
Five Questions With… Mara Keisling
Mara Keisling is the founding Executive Director of NCTE (National Center for Transgender Equality). A Pennsylvania native, Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government. She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional experience in social marketing and opinion research.
1) How much do you think your personality and sense of humor have to do with your success as a lobbyist? What personality? What humor?
I’m not yet ready to claim personal lobbying success, though I know we definitely are having an impact and NCTE was integral to getting the first ever piece of positive trans legislation introduced in Congress this year. I do know though that my sense of humor is a vital part of my personality and helps keep me strong. “They†say that keeping one’s sense of humor is important to weathering bad situations and I certainly believe that. And I have always been lucky enough to be able to amuse myself. Hopefully sometimes others are amused as well.
The work we do educating policymakers, though, is deadly serious and I do treat it that way. That doesn’t mean I do not inject humor as appropriate though. I think it humanizes us and me and makes our stories somewhat more accessible to those who may be trepidatious at first.
By the way, kind of as a hobby, I have begun to do a little bit of standup comedy again and may be coming to a town near you, or at least a trans conference near you.
Continue reading “Five Questions With… Mara Keisling”
1/30/06 = #5
NCTE’s 52 Things You Can Do for Transgender Equality:
#5 Invite your mayor or other elected official to address a trans group or town meeting.