From a Dad
If you haven’t yet read this letter from the father of a gender variant 10 year old to the KRXQ talk show hosts who encouraged violence against kids like his son, do. Here’s an excerpt:
No, my kid is making me tell you to tolerate all gender expression.
Women in crew cuts who are straight. Men in dresses and makeup who are straight and married to straight women. The same people, in terms of gender expression, who are gay. Everyone.
You don’t have to love them. You don’t have to wear a dress yourself. You don’t have to have a gay marriage, or marry a butch woman. None of this will be mandated in the world which I’m trying to make by talking with you. You, a person I desperately want to ignore.
As Betty said after reading it: “I have such hope for the 21st Century.”
You will too. Go read it and the other letters on this new blog.
June Starts With a T
As far as I can tell, President Obama’s press release starting Pride Month is the first time the T has been mentioned as part of the gig! Back in 2000, Clinton used the “gay & lesbian” terminology.
What’s interesting to me is that this change in terminology IS a sign or progress. It can be hard doing the work, waiting for things to change, & while having the POTUS acknowldged the T may seem like small fry (say, compared to a gender-inclusive ENDA passing), but it is something.
(h/t to Josie!)
GLAAD Action Alert: KRXQ
TAKE ACTION: Demand that KRXQ Radio Hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States Apologize for Encouraging Violence Against Transgender Children
June 2, 2009— In a lengthy May 28 tirade on the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States verbally attacked transgender children. While discussing a recent story about a transgender child in Omaha, Nebraska and her parents’ decision to support her transition, the two hosts spent more than 30 minutes explicitly promoting child abuse of and making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children.
You can listen to the entire segment beginning at 4:48 by clicking this link:
http://robarnieanddawn.com/newsite/a…%20America.mp3.
Among the comments made by the hosts:
ROB WILLIAMS [11:12]: This is a weird person who is demanding attention. And when it’s a child, all it takes is a hug, maybe some tough love or anything in between. When your little boy said, ‘Mommy, I want to walk around in a dress.’ You tell them no cause that’s not what boys do. But that’s not what we’re doing in this culture.
ARNIE STATES [13:27]: If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him. Because you know what? Boys don’t wear high heels. And in my house, they definitely don’t wear high heels.
ROB WILLIAMS [17:45]: Dawn, they are freaks. They are abnormal. Not because they’re girls trapped in boys bodies but because they have a mental disorder that needs to be somehow gotten out of them. That’s where therapy could help them.
ROB WILLIAMS [18:15]: Or because they were molested. You know a lot of times these transgenders were molested. And you need to work with them on that. The point is you don’t allow the behavior. You cure the cause!
ARNIE STATES [21:30]: You got a boy saying, ‘I wanna wear dresses.’ I’m going to look at him and go, ‘You know what? You’re a little idiot! You little dumbass! Look, you are a boy! Boys don’t wear dresses.’
ARNIE STATES [29:22]: You know, my favorite part about hearing these stories about the kids in high school, who the entire high school caters around, lets the boy wear the dress. I look forward to when they go out into society and society beats them down. And they end up in therapy.
To her credit, co-host Dawn Rossi stood up to Williams and States during the segment. Despite her apparent lack of familiarity with transgender issues, Rossi repeatedly defended transgender people and made an on-air apology for her colleagues’ defamatory remarks.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, California, where the show is produced and demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize. Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve.
John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com
Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com
Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com
Please use the share page functionality at the top of this page to alert any of your friends and others who may also wish to take action. When contacting KRXQ, please ensure that your emails and phone calls are civil and respectful and do not engage in the kind of name-calling or abusive behavior.
About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.
Dear Abby
Check out this answer by Dear Abby (now known as Jeanne Phillips!) about whether or not a woman should tell someone about another person’s trans gender.
Well done, Abby. I’m wondering when we can work this out as a Right to Privacy issue. Anyone?
(h/t to Dawn.)
Superhero Betty
How sweet is this? Ron Hogan is interviewed by The Undomestic Goddess and names Betty his super-hero! That so rocks.
Remember Them as Soldiers
What bugs me about this NPR story about a Civil War soldier is that the people who live in the town Albert Casher, nee Jennie Hodgers, are embarrassed by who s/he was:
Dina says some residents believe that embracing the story of Jennie Hodgers will help bring tourists to town. “Other people, I think, frankly, would rather everybody not know we had a cross-dresser in Saunemin,” she says.
She fought from start to finish in the Civil War. She went on to live as a man for the rest of her life, having gotten used to the freedom, the income, & the friends she made as a soldier.
“The women who went to war,” she says, “who disguised themselves as men and carried a gun, were overwhelmingly working-class women, immigrant women, poor women, urban women and yeoman farm girls.”
Surely not! Women couldn’t have chosen to live as men because the rest of their choices sucked!
So this Memorial Day I’d like to honor all the transgender people who fought in their nation’s wars: the trans guys, the trans women pre-transition, the crossdressers of all genders.
Sex Resources for Trans Women
Today’s Feministing “Ask Professor Foxy” column is from a trans woman who can’t find good sex resources for her. I’ve made a few suggestions, but maybe you all know other good places to check. So far I’ve recommended:
- the sexuality forum on our MHB message boards
- the GenderLife forums
- Christine McGinn, who has done workshops on orgasms for post-op trans women
With your input, I can put a bigger list together.
NYS GENDA Call-In Day is TODAY!
The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) has been passed by the Assembly and has enough support to be passed by the Senate. Get on the phone and call the lead Senate sponsor Tom Duane and your Senator to tell them that you want them to bring GENDA to the Senate floor and pass it. It is vital that they hear from you.
You can reach Senator Tom Duane at (518) 455-2451 and you can find your State Senator’s Albany phone number here.
GENDA would amend the state’s human rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression, providing crucial civil rights protections for transgender New Yorkers by banning discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life.
With more than half of the Senators indicating their support for GENDA, we know that we have enough votes to get it passed in the Senate if it comes to the floor for a vote. So now is the time to call Senator Duane and your State Senator!
Talking Points:
- Reach Tom Duane at (518) 455-2451 and find your Senator’s Albany phone number here. Call their offices on Wednesday to tell them that the time is now to end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers. Remember to give them the number of the GENDA bill (S.2406).
- Ask your Senator to vote for GENDA, and ask lead Senate Sponsor Tom Duane to bring the bill to the floor for a vote now.
- Tell them about the broad support for GENDA statewide, including:
- 78% of New York voters
- Unions representing 2.1 million working New Yorkers
- 27 Fortune 500 companies based in cities like Rochester, Corning, New York City and White Plains.
- 344 clergy and lay leaders, representing over 20 different denominations
Do it! Don’t just Twitter it!
NYS Needs GENDA (& Your Help)
NY residents: Sign up for the STATEWIDE CALL-IN DAY FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY:
We need your help pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a bill that would make it illegal in New York State to fire someone, evict them, or deny credit or admission to school solely based on their gender expression.
On April 21st, 2009 the NYS Assembly passed the GENDA bill for the second time, 97-38.
Now the NYS Senate needs to hear from voices all across NYS that GENDA matters and needs to come to the floor for a vote before the end of session on June 21st. If you sign up, you will be notified of when you need to call your senators.