Category: trans

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The Task Force is Hiring

A search has just been launched to fill two key permanent full time positions here at the Task Force: HR Director & Board Liaison. Will you please forward this link and the attached job descriptions to people you know over the next 3 days? It sounds like applications will begin being reviewed next week. http://www.thetaskforce.org/about_us/employment

The Task Force is an equal opportunity employer. Women, transgender people, and people of color are especially encouraged to apply. The Trans Audit Committee, which I’m a part of, would love to see a pool of gender non-conforming and transgender candidates applying for these jobs. For your information, in addition to our general benefits package for full time employees, The Task Force also offers a health supplement for gender identity-related care.

The functions of these positions are very important to executing the mission of the Task Force. We will be working expeditiously to fill them. Here is a little more about each job:

Human Resources Director –

The Human Resources Director is responsible for all aspects of human resources, including the Task Force’s programs for recruiting, orientation, workplace training, and staff performance evaluation.

Executive office Board Liaison –

The Executive Office Board Liaison serves as the primary staff support to the boards of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund. Continue reading “The Task Force is Hiring”

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Wendy Carlos at the DNC?

A reader sent this along:

Didn’t Wendy Carlos (Switched on Bach, The Well Tempered Synthesizer, A Clockwork Orange, etc.) sing / preform the National Anthem at a DNC? I think it was one of the Jimmy Carter Conventions which would be 1980 or 84. There was a bit of an uproar since the Convention Program listed . . . her former first name . . . but out came Wendy.

Can anyone confirm this?

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President Obama’s Accomplishments for Transgender Americans

President Obama’s Accomplishments for Transgender Americans is a new document (pdf) that you can download to print or send to your friends & family.

In honor of these accomplishments & to celebrate President Obama’s speech tonight, do consider donating to his campaign.

President Obama has taken unprecedented steps to expand rights, benefits, and resources for transgender people. From jobs and health care to veterans’ benefits and safer working, learning and traveling environments, the well-being of transgender Americans has been a priority of this Administration.

PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK PIVOTAL STEPS TO ENSURE THAT TRANSGENDER AMERICANS HAVE STRONGER PROTECTIONS AGAINST HATE CRIMES AND DISCRIMINATION

  • On October 28, 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law, making it a federal crime to assault another individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. This is the first time gender identity has been protected by federal law.
  • Obama Administration Officials have collaborated with transgender advocates to discuss strategies to prevent bullying and end gender-based violence.
  • The State Department now includes an evaluation of the state of LGBT citizens in its annual country reports, in order to better identify abuses, state-sanctioned homophobia and transphobia overseas.

PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK STEPS TO HELP MAKE SURE THAT PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS ARE SAFER FOR TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES

  • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clarified that Title VII sex discrimination law covers transgender workers.
  • The Obama Administration ended the Social Security Administration’s gender “no-match” letters, helping to protect the privacy of transgender workers.
  • President Obama sent the first U.S. Executive Branch official to testify before Congress in support of the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • President Obama banned employment discrimination based on gender identity in the federal government.
  • President Obama‘s Office of Personnel Management produced and distributed guidance to promote safer federal working environments for transgender employees.

PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS WORKED TO SAFEGUARD TRANSGENDER YOUTH FROM BULLYING AND HARASSMENT IN SCHOOLS

  • President Obama worked with educators across the nation to prevent bullying and his Department of Education clarified that laws enforced by the department include protections against gender and sexual harassment of transgender students.
  • President Obama’s Secretary Of Education reaffirmed federal support of young people forming Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA) under the Equal Access Act.

FROM VETERANS TO FAMILIES, PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS IMPROVED ACCESS TO RESPECTFUL, QUALITY HEALTH CARE FOR TRANSGENDER AMERICANS

  • The Department Of Health and Human Services confirmed that federal health care programs and those receiving federal funds are barred from discriminating against transgender people.
  • President Obama required all hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds to recognize a patient’s designated partner, both for hospital visitation and decision-making rights, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services is collecting health data on LGBT populations in an effort to help researchers, policy makers, health care providers, and advocates identify and work to reduce health disparities in the community.
  • Under President Obama’s leadership, the Veterans Health Administration established policy to ensure comprehensive and respectful health care to the transgender and intersex Veterans enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system or who are otherwise eligible for VA care.
  • The Veterans Health Administration now allows transgender veterans to update their medical records according to their gender identity.
  • The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced grant opportunities to address HIV health care quality specifically for transgender women of color, a demographic disproportionately limited by quality care.
  • The Affordable Care Act bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity in operating insurance exchanges.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CONTINUES TO ADDRESS THE UNIQUE DISCRIMINATION FACED BY TRANSGENDER AMERICANS SEEKING SAFE, EQUAL HOUSING

  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced new anti-discrimination rules in federally funded housing prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • HUD’s Live Free fair housing education and outreach campaign specifically targeted the transgender community, to inform them of their resources and rights to report discrimination.
  • The Obama Administration has set a goal of ending youth homelessness, including LGBT youth homelessness, by 2020, and has awarded a $3.3 million grant to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center to begin to address LGBT youth homelessness.

UNDER PRESIDENT OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP, TRANSGENDER AMERICANS AND THEIR INTERNATIONAL LOVED ONES ARE NOW ALLOWED PASSPORTS AND IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS ACCORDING TO THEIR GENDER IDENTITY

  • The State Department now allows transgender Americans to update their passport gender markers without requiring invasive medical procedures.
  • The Obama Administration updated the nation’s immigration procedures to allow transgender people to update and record their gender on immigration documents without being required to undergo invasive medical procedures.

PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS EXEMPLIFIED ACROSS HIS ADMINISTRATION HIS UNPRECEDENTED COMMITMENT TO INCREASED VISIBILITY, DIGNITY, AND RESPECT FOR THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY

  • President Obama appointed three openly transgender people to serve in his administration, making him the first president ever to do so.
  • The U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan became the first U.S. Cabinet Secretary to address a transgender-specific community event.
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Trans United for Obama Congratulates Transgender Delegates

WASHINGTON, August 28 – As Democrats from all over convene in Charlotte, NC to nominate Barack Obama for reelection as President, there will be at least 11 transgender people in official roles.

Delegates and Committee members are equally divided between male and female and, under the Democratic National Committee’s rules, should demographically reflect the Democratic electorate in each state. In 2008, each state was mandated to set a goal for LGBT delegates. Each State has their own procedure in electing and appointing delegates. The DNC Chair appoints 25 at-large Standing Committee members to each committee, including the 2 co-chairs and 4 vice chairs. Each jurisdiction also sends its allotted number of committee members.

In 2000, Jane Fee of Minnesota was the first transgender delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 2004, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas sent transgender people in their delegation to Boston. In 2008, “gender identity” was included in the Democratic platform at the Denver National Convention and Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Texas sent delegates. Now, in 2012, we have our largest and most diverse contingent of openly transgender delegates.

In 2009, the DNC added “Gender Identity” as a characteristic of full inclusion within the party. The language of the 2012 Democratic Platform will be fully inclusive of transgender people’s civil rights.

The 2012 transgender Americans who are part of official DNC Convention are:

  1. Barbra Casbar Siperstein of New Jersey, Super Delegate (member of the Executive Committee of the DNC)
  2. Dana Beyer, M.D. of Maryland (Credentials Committee)
  3. Kylar William Broadus of Missouri (Platform Committee)
  4. Janice Covington of North Carolina (Delegate, 8th Cong. Dist.)
  5. Cris Land of Oregon (Delegate, 1st Cong. Dist)
  6. Daria Lynn Lohman of Arizona (Delegate Alternate for AZ)
  7. Marisa Richmond of Tennessee (At Large Delegate for TN)
  8. Diego Miguel Sanchez of Massachusetts (At Large Delegate for MA)
  9. Jamie Dianne Shiner of Wisconsin (Delegate, 8th Cong. Dist.)
  10. Melissa Sklarz of New York (Credentials Committee)
  11. Meghan Stabler of Texas (Delegate, 5th Cong. Dist.)

You can see all of their photos and statements at the delegates page of the Trans United for Obama website. Continue reading “Trans United for Obama Congratulates Transgender Delegates”

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WI Book Festival

I’m going to be speaking at this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival in November with my friend and fellow artist Miriam Hall.

You can check out the schedule & the list of authors who will be speaking or reading.

And check out the book Trans-Kin that Miriam has a piece in. It just came out this week.

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Octavia.

& Here’s a short film about an African-American trans woman who’s been doing sex work on the streets of LA but who has been getting her act together to change her life in significant ways. Her name’s Octavia.

She just won Quest, a pageant for trans women. From the APAIT website:

QUEST: Woman of the Year takes place on Saturday, December 10, 2011, at 7:00pm. The event will be held at the David Henry Hwang Theatre at East West Players, 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles CA 90012. QUEST: Woman of the Year is designed to encourage the empowerment of the often marginalized transgender community while celebrating uniqueness and diversity.

I’m sure they always need sponsors.