Helen Boyd Kramer's journal on gender and stuff
First, there’s that porn flick How to Fuck in High Heels.
Then, there’s the all-kink inclusive summer camp we’ve been to called Dark Odyssey, which is taking place from 9/16-21 in a campgrounds in Maryland (although sadly, we can’t make it this year).
& Here’s two I didn’t mention (at least not by name):
I really like this Spare Parts harness.
& I mentioned not too long ago that I’m a big fan of this silver bullet vibrator.
As if timed exactly to make me nuts, there will be a film festival that intersects gender and South Asia. Really, I’m not kidding. I’m flabbergasted at how unfair this is.
The press release is below the break.
It’s the answer we all should be giving in response to these people: yes, they have the right to speak, but no, we have no reason to take them seriously. It’s crackpottery of the 1st order, so ENOUGH.
Honestly, we need to get the media to start implementing Godwin’s Law – because once anyone is compared to Hitler, the conversation’s already over.
Washington, DC, August 17, 2009-The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rolled out a new phase of their Secure Flight program over the weekend. Passengers will now be required to provide their birth date and gender when they book an airline ticket as part of a move to help distinguish passengers from those on the government’s “watch list” (often called the “no-fly” list).
NCTE has issued a new (.pdf) FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about the Secure Flight program and its impact on transgender people. The resource includes information about how to navigate the new process, particularly if you have identification that does not match your gender presentation. NCTE firmly supports the right of transgender people to maintain our privacy and to travel freely.
Breaking News: Dwight DeLee, convicted of manslaughter and not murder for killing Teisha Green, did get the maximum allowable 25 years in jail today, + 5 years of supervision after his sentence.
Here’s the AP version of the story, & here’s the Essence magazine article about Teisha Green, by her mother.
(h/t to Andy Marra of GLAAD & TLDEF)
This is the text version of the keynote talk I gave at TransOhio this past Saturday. From what they’ve told me, it was recorded so hopefully we’ll get a video link in not too long.I did interrupt myself so that the people listening could participate in the Nationwide Kiss-In.
First, thank you to Shane and Sarah and all the other TransOhio people who made this event happen. It is a very cool event, & I’m honored to be a part of it: thank you again for inviting me.
Recently I received a letter from a woman who had transitioned. She was married and had two young children, and was trying to figure out if there had been any way she could have transitioned where she might have left out some of the pain & confusion her wife and family had experienced. In the email she sent me, she mentioned how it’s expected for couples to try to stay together through transition, and I had to rub my eyes and read it again.
Is it?
Whether it was her perception or indicative of a larger change, it surprised me. When Betty and I first met, it was considered absolutely unlikely that any couple would make it through transition. Shoot, it was a huge toss-up that any wife could tolerate her husband crossdressing. But it was when I started writing back to this woman, to explain how that had never been the case before, that it hit me: I started my first online support group nearly 10 years ago – 10 years this coming February, actually. That’s like 50 in trans years, right? In large part I founded it – and this might make some of you laugh – because I wasn’t angry or sad enough to fit in with the culture of the existing partners’ groups. I was weird for being supportive, and occasionally felt like I was a minority of one. I wasn’t, of course – people who are good with the whole thing don’t seek out support groups – but it was still rare, then, to find anyone who was just looking for community, for other couples in similar situations, to share notes and stories and have someone to be “out” about their partners’ transness with. So to hear, 9 short years later, that now it’s assumed that a couple will stay together, or at least try like hell to do so, shocked me.
Continue reading “TransOhio Keynote: The Metamorphosis of Us”
(h/t to Miqqi Gilbert, via FB)
(all day). Do come up & say hi.
What we’ll be doing at 2PM EST:
kissing.
What I read before getting on the train: a great piece about angry white America, and a Dan Savage column in which he answers the question “Do post op trans people have any obligation to tell their lovers they were once the other sex?”.
I don’t think I’ve explained very much about what’s going on with us these days, & in the upcoming weeks, & I’m starting to get a lot of emails and messages asking what’s up.
So, here’s the nutshell version:
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
I’m leaving today for Columbus, OH, where I’m speaking at the TransOhio Conference, & yes, I am traveling by train. Tons of people from our MHB boards are joining me, including my lovely wife. (“She said ‘wife’!”)
They closed the online registration yesterday, but they WILL be registering walk-ins at the conference, so even if you haven’t registered yet, you can still come. They’ve made it very reasonable – $30, $20 for students, and that comes with lunch. Students can go for $11 but with no lunch & no me. Basically, it’s a tiered system, allowing people as much conference access as possible. There’s a meet & greet on Friday, 8/14, AND a brunch on Sunday. (The day-of registrations are more expensive, and may not come with a guarantee that there will be room for you at lunch.)
So yes, make your plans to come while I’m on a train to Pittsburgh!